The shadow education secretary has admitted that Labour is still “working on” how to fulfil its plan to recruit 6,500 more teachers to England’s schools.
Speaking at an event at the Labour Party conference on how the opposition can tackle the recruitment and retention crisis, Bridget Phillipson also said that the education secretary Gillian Keegan has become a “one-woman attack ad factory for the Labour Party”.
Labour set out its mission for education earlier this year, including policy announcements such as a pledge to recruit more than 6,500 new teachers, to revise the delivery of the Early Career Framework (ECF) and to deliver a “Teacher Training Entitlement”.
But the party faces a big challenge in delivering on its teacher supply pledge, as the sector has been plagued by a deepening recruitment and retention crisis in recent years, with schools also facing huge vacancies.
Pressed by Tes on how exactly the Labour government intends to recruit the extra 6,500 teachers, Ms Phillipson said: “We are working on planning around how we bring it to life, looking at what we did last time around and how we make teaching a more attractive place to be.”
Ms Phillipson added that the party managed it the last time they came into power in 1997.
The shadow education secretary was also asked where the 6,500 figure had come from by the panel’s chair Laura McInerney, co-founder of Teacher Tapp.
Ms Phillipson said the number came about partly from calculations around how much the party can raise from ending the tax breaks for private schools.
Sir Keir Starmer has said that a Labour government would remove private schools’ VAT exemption in order to provide more funding for state schools.
Keegan’s ‘contribution’ to Labour’s cause
Ms Phillipson also took aim at her counterpart during today’s conference session, referencing Ms Keegan’s recent comments in the media and in the Commons.
Ms Keegan has faced criticism in recent months for her comments on Portakabins and her off-camera comments suggesting she deserved praise for her handling of the crumbling school buildings crisis while others had “sat on their arse”.
“I do have to say that I think Gillian Keegan is probably a one-woman attack ad factory for the Labour Party,” Ms Phillipson said.
Ms Phillipson said that Ms Keegan was “making such a contribution to our cause” and said that she had wondered if the education secretary should get an honorary membership of the Labour Party.
The sector will ‘notice the difference’
The shadow education secretary also said that “for too long we have undervalued and underappreciated” teachers.
Asked by attendees how much money Labour would allocate to schools if elected, Ms Phillipson said that she “cannot make commitments around levels”.
Ms Phillipson also said that she was “determined” that the sector would “notice the difference” in the first 100 days of a Labour government.
Asked about Labour’s plans for multi-academy trusts, Ms Phillipson said that the focus would be “about getting the foundations right”.
Ms Phillipson was also asked whether Labour would rename the Department for Education if it won the next election, as happened in 2010, when it was known as the Department for Children, Schools and Families.
She replied that she was “not that complacent” about winning the election, and was not getting into the business of renaming departments.
However, Ms Phillipson said that she would want to ensure that the DfE would have a “wider focus”.
