Education: The Falling Standards.
In the first eight weeks of government Labour:
- Caused teachers to be sacked by imposing spending caps on councils.
- Labelled 18 schools as failures without offering any justification for doing so.
- Threatened LEAs with 'hit squads'.
- Authorised more Grant Maintained Schools.
- The budget did not offer to provide any more badly needed funds for schools.
- Told teachers how to teach while demanding co-operation.
- Rewarded Chris Woodhead with promotion.
- Demand more time for literacy and numeracy, without cutting back on other subjects elsewhere in the curriculum.
Class Sizes Rise As Teacher Numbers Fall
(22nd May 1998).
In Despite Labour’s promise to reduce class sizes, this is the 5th
year running that primary class sizes have risen. And for the seventh year running
secondary class sizes have failed to improve.
Don Foster MP, Liberal Democrat education and employment spokesman today commented on the new class size and teacher vacancy figures released by the DfEE.
He warned: "Unless the Government takes urgent action, including more funding, another of Labour’s early pledges will bite the dust. The day after waiting lists rose to an all time high, class sizes have also risen.
"Despite the rhetoric, the Government is giving no more money to LEAs than it had already promised. Instead, LEAs will be forced to borrow money to build the necessary extra classrooms.
"If the LEA budgets aren’t increased, schools will have no choice but to lay off more teachers causing class sizes to continue to rise. The £22 million allocated from the standards fund for the recruitment of teachers is, in reality, only enough if the 1500 teachers are all Newly Qualified Teachers outside of London.
"All of this underfunding in the public services is coming about in spite of increasingly strong public finances, and a growing ‘War Chest’ being built up by the Chancellor."
Lib Dem
Policies: Education
Lib Dem Policies: Higher
education