Teacher sabbaticals, a “creative” curriculum and long-term tutoring are among the recommendations set out by former education secretary Lord Blunkett for a Labour government.
Lord Blunkett’s 137-page Learning and Skills Report was commissioned by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer last autumn and sets out priorities for the party to address in the education sector if it comes into power.
Lord Blunkett - David Blunkett, who served in Sir Tony Blair’s Cabinet during the “education, education, education” era - said he hoped for education to be back among central government’s top priorities.
He told Tes: “It’s been heartbreaking that from being a predominant aspect of policy from both major political parties, it’s literally slipped away to being hardly mentioned at all.
“This is a failure by those in power to understand the incredible economic and social, as well as educational, significance of equipping the nation for the world of tomorrow.”
Lord Blunkett added: “Education is not a nice-to-have, it is an absolutely essential feature of recovery now and the survival of the British economy. We’ve just got to keep hammering the agenda over and over again.”
He has written the report as part of a Council of Skills Advisers, which includes Kevin Rowan, head of organisation, services and skills at the TUC, entrepreneur Praful Nargund, and Rachel Sandby-Thomas, registrar at the University of Warwick.
Lord Blunkett’s recommendations: curriculum reform
Included among the report’s recommendations is the creation of a reformed curriculum that draws on “a body of knowledge developed over many years” while also “embracing the reality of today and the demands of the future”.
The report states: ”The national curriculum is now highly prescriptive and supports a traditional notion of education that focuses on subject-specific, knowledge-rich learning delivered in a very passive way.”
Lord Blunkett says Labour should “design an inclusive, inspiring, creative and future-broadening curriculum which will liberate talent, promote the enquiring mind of every young person, and prepare young adults for the ever-changing world, designed to ensure that no child is left behind”.
The focus on curriculum follows shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson’s speech at the Labour Party conference last month, in which she called for a curriculum that “values and nurtures creativity alongside academic success”.
Lord Blunkett’s report also champions subjects that have “taken a hit” in recent years, such as art, music and drama.
Importance of vocabulary
It also suggests placing extra importance on oracy and a “renewed emphasis on vocabulary, particularly in early years and key stage 1”.
Teacher sabbaticals
The report recommends sabbaticals for teachers every five years as a recruitment and retention measure.
It states: “A sabbatical of up to one academic term should be offered every five years of service in order to link teachers with the opportunity of other work placements, research opportunities or overseas exchange programmes - once workforce planning allows for sufficient capacity within the school and college system.”
This would start with those teaching key stage 4 and above, and then expand “as necessary”, and funding would be offered for travel and temporary accommodation.
Lord Blunkett told Tes: “If we can attract people and hold them into the profession, we’d save a lot of money and a great deal of time, but we would also reduce the pressure on existing teachers.”
Teacher pay rises and wider policy costs were not laid out in the document but would be addressed by shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves and shadow education secretary Ms Phillipson in the future, Lord Blunkett said.
Tutoring
The report also discusses the National Tutoring Programme, which it says should be reformed and “embedded as a permanent feature” in order to “allow all young people to access private tutoring services on equal terms”.
Digital skills
Lord Blunkett’s plan also focuses on children’s digital literacy and calls for primary school pupils to learn about ”genuine programming, whether that is simplistic CSS/Html coding or even more advanced languages such as Python”.
Assessment
Assessment on the new curriculum would be “multimodal”, the report says, “so that young people’s progress is no longer just measured through written exams”.
Labour has said all schools should offer “breakfast clubs”, funded through the abolition of the non-domicile tax rate.
Today’s policy document builds on this and proposes the return of New Labour’s core Sure Start objectives, of which Lord Blunkett was an architect.
Oak National Academy
A Labour government “should support the continued expansion of resource platforms such as Oak [National] Academy”, the report says, “as a means of providing more pupils with access to quality lessons, with the added benefit of reduced pressure on staff”.
This recommendation comes despite criticism of Oak by some education figures and union leaders.
Schools Bill
Asked if a Labour government should pursue the policies in this year’s Schools Bill, Lord Blunkett said academisation would not be scrapped and he stressed the importance of collaboration with local government.
Ofsted reforms
The report says Labour should launch a national review of the inspectorate “to ensure that the inspection and accountability regime makes the most positive and constructive contribution possible to the education system as a whole”.
Expanding on this, Lord Blunkett told Tes that Ofsted, and its leadership, was “embedded in the distant past”, and set out the hope for the organisation to become more of an aid than a threat.
“Ofsted should be geared to actually being helpful rather than merely critical,” he said.
Schools ‘focused on survival’
Asked what schools should focus on changing in their day-to-day operations in order to help achieve the aims set out in the report, Lord Blunkett said: “Survival is probably at the moment top of headteachers’ agendas, so I’d be very reluctant to criticise them. But looking ahead, with a great deal more elbow room and support, understanding of the change in the world of work would be my recommendation.
“I think many of them are just in the business of surviving in terms of the financial outlook, with the energy crisis, the issue of pay and the likely outcome of the further round of austerity from next Monday’s autumn statement.”
