It’s happened twice in my educational career. The elections of 1997 and 2010 featured governments of long-standing being overturned (18 years of Conservative rule in 1997, 13 years of Labour in 2010) and significant changes in education policy taking hold. Actually, make that three significant turnarounds...the first one being the 1983 Conservative election victory.
Education seems to offer an opportunity for rival parties to offer distinct differences in approach that the electorate can identify…and a quick road to policy change once that electoral majority is achieved.
With the grammar school war largely lost, the Tories in the 1980s recognised the value of technological investment in Education, coupled with a willingness to let ‘free-market’ policies impact the sector, whilst loosening LEA control … whilst at the same time ‘nuking’ the qualifications system… welcome GCSEs. TVEI (the Technical and Vocational Education Initiative) tried to break the stronghold of the academic curriculum. At the same time as freeing the educational market, the government seized control of academic curriculum details and ushered in the National Curriculum. Most teachers from those periods will remember the colour of their subject folder… History was purple…
Whilst some aspects of that period of reform still remain fixed in place, such as our 5 Inset days (BAKER days), others have morphed. The Tory ‘free-market’ limited government concepts became the Grant-Maintained School programme along with City Technology Colleges – looking to find a new way to release school-led innovation into the education system… all a bit strange when the deadhand of the National Curriculum and Key Stage testing was ruling our day-to-day!
The ‘education, education, education’ mantra of the Blair New Labour government brought with it significant investment in technology – a key element of the first wave of reform and was coupled with an expansion of the Specialist school programme in secondary schools. Government ministers regularly spoke at BETT and the money injected over several years in Teacher training (the NOF ICT training c.2000 – 2002), electronic registration (2000), laptops for teachers and whiteboards for schools was considerable…and that’s without the Curriculum Online behemoth.
To maintain its reforming zeal badge, the Labour government’s second-term featured the mould-breaking City Academy programme from 2002 onwards…50 super-schools (such as Thomas Deacon Academy, Peterborough) no-expense spared new buildings in areas of challenge and deprivation.
These schools – independent of LEAs – were then supplemented by a rolling programme of Building Schools for the Future waves around England. At the same time, we in the EdTech world didn’t realise how lucky we were to have BECTA at the forefront of policy and practice development.
The Tory victory in 2010 brought an almost immediate stop to the BSF programme. This created a (political cliché alert) Postcode Lottery of school rebuilding… some parts of the country had their new buildings, others didn’t get their new schools for at least 5 more years - and some still wait! This gave funding space for the development of the Free Schools programme, widespread academisation and then academy groupings (MATs) as the demise of LEAs was pursued relentlessly. BECTA found its place in the ‘Bonfire of the Quangos’ … Instead of all for one, one for all, education felt more like everyone for themselves.
One positive development has been the way that the centralisation of the build programme and development of uniform processes to manage these projects has contributed to a significant saving of resources.
There was money for new Free Schools of all shapes and sizes and eventually a realisation that voters across the country were not going to put up with their kids being taught in buildings that were quite literally falling apart. The School Rebuilding Programme has ensured that schools do not lose hope that their turn will come. On a broader level, crisis management overwhelmed any reforming zeal left as pandemic and lockdown and RAAC remediations dominated the thinking bandwidth.
Like the Labour government before it, the impetus for educational reform and innovation seem to ebb towards the end of a long period in government and a ‘more of the same’ feel now dominates. Both those governments had been hit by economic troubles and as the money ran out, it seems that a lot of the thinking did too.
If curriculum, school organisation, the school building estate and technology have been themes running through previous incoming ‘new brooms’, there is little indication that much will change in 2024.
This current election doesn’t seem to be an ‘education’ election campaign. My thinking on this was confirmed in a recent ‘the Rest is Politics’ podcast from Rory Stewart and Alistair Campbell, who have noted that education has been conspicuous by its absence from the last few weeks’ campaigning.
Barely featuring and short on ambition in many expressions of party policy, the aim has been to make noise but not commit to massive spending… probably because there isn’t much money to throw at the challenges. There’s little structural change on offer, only minor tweaks to the curriculum offer and limited attempts to woo the profession. For #EdTech there’s little, and the school echo chamber on new schools is silent.
Perhaps aware of this, Labour has gone for appointing Sir Kevan Collins to the role of:
“… school standards adviser if they form a government next month. His brief would include finding solutions to the “biggest barriers to opportunity” for children including teacher shortages and high absence rates.” Schools Week, 24/06/2024
In terms of learning from history, I think this election is like the 1979 variant… the country’s wealth and the individuals’ wallet are the issues calling the tune… maybe 2029 will see something different… if I’m still commenting in 2029 then – dearest gentle reader - my retirement plan has failed!
*If this seems to be written framing a Labour victory on July 4th, then all I’ve done is follow the poll predictions for what will happen…