Being in government is hard. That is perhaps why the mood at the Labour conference in Liverpool this week felt subdued. There wasn’t the jubilation one might have expected of a party that has recently won power after 14 long years in opposition.
The fact that the conference began amid an embarrassing row over gifts and hospitality accepted by the prime minister Keir Starmer and senior members of his government cannot have helped. But before that controversy erupted, a downbeat tone had already been set by the tough messages from the government about our bleak financial circumstances. Full marks for honesty, but it isn’t exactly uplifting.
In education, this cautious approach is reflected in policy. This week, the chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the first stage of the rollout of free breakfast clubs, while the prime minister talked about an overhaul of apprenticeships and the education secretary outlined plans to open new nurseries in primary schools next year.
While these plans make perfectly good sense as far as they go, they are policymaking in miniature. The money allocated for breakfast clubs and nurseries is a drop in the ocean of national expenditure, and both initiatives will have to be significantly scaled up to meet Labour’s manifesto commitments.
Labour education policy
The plan to introduce new nurseries is an attempt to deliver on a pledge to expand free childcare in a sector that is grappling with funding shortages, insufficient staff and limited places. Without more substantial investment, many of these issues will continue to beset early years education.
Meanwhile, the overhaul of apprenticeships focuses largely on addressing a specific problem - the way that many employers use the current levy system to pay for high-level training for existing employees rather than entry-level training for new recruits.
While reform may be sensible and necessary, we’re going to need broader, bolder initiatives to fill the skills gaps that are stifling the economy, and, in particular, we urgently need better support for our chronically underfunded further education sector.
Skills England, the new body set up by the government, may eventually offer some solutions, but it is far too early to tell.
Transformational change?
This is not to decry the announcements made this week. They represent thoughtful, mature policymaking aimed at tackling complex issues. However, they lack the scale necessary to address deep-seated problems caused by years of underfunding and staffing shortages, let alone deliver transformational change.
In particular, high levels of child poverty and a special educational needs and disabilities system teetering on the edge of collapse are vast, intricate challenges. They require not only detailed policy solutions but also billions of pounds in public investment.
The creation of a cross-government task force to address child poverty is a vital and welcome first step, but it must lead to real, tangible action - and soon.
It’s clear that the government feels the weight of the nation’s financial challenges. Little wonder, then, that the mood among delegates in Liverpool this week was less than celebratory.
Achievable challenge
However, this sense of constraint doesn’t have to define the future.
Labour’s real challenge is shifting from grim stewardship to delivering the bold, transformative changes needed to address the deep-rooted inequalities between rich and poor in our country.
While this journey will undoubtedly be challenging, it’s also vital and achievable.
Education will be key to driving this change. From my conversations with school and college leaders, it’s evident that the profession not only stands ready but is raring to work with the government to create a brighter, more equitable future. It cannot come soon enough.
Pepe Di’Iasio is general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders
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