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Defending Teachers, Defending Education

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January 2004

London Challenge

Tony Blair promised that education would be his top priority. For thousands of London parents and school students this is just another broken promise.

New Labour have forced the Tory philosophy of the marketplace firmly into education. Teachers, pupils and schools are measured and graded through SATs and league tables. Schools compete with each other for the pupils that will give them the best results.

In London there are many schools in a relatively small area. This has made the scramble for places particularly sharp. Labour politicians have led the charge, with supposed “Left” MP Diane Abbott sending her son to a £10,000-a-year City of London School and Blair himself rejecting the local Islington secondary school.

Now Blair has launched the “London Challenge”, promising “radical structural reform” of London’s secondary schools. Beneath the spin, this will mean more privatisation, more selection, more threats to the conditions of school staff.

Labour ignore the fact that private-sector involvement is already proving a failure. In Southwark, WS Atkins had to pull out of its contract to run education.

30 new “Academies” are promised in London by 2006. Parents should not be fooled by the promise that this will mean proper investment in education. This handful of schools may be well-resourced but, in return, they will be allowed to select pupils and will operate independently of Local Authorities. School admissions could become even more of a free for all.

Most schools will continue to suffer cuts. The little extra funding promised for 2004/5 may not even be enough to cover the shortfalls in existing budgets. More jobs will be lost and more pupils will fail to get the support they deserve.

With money tight, more schools will be tempted to follow the Government’s “remodelling” plans and replace qualified teachers with lower-paid support staff. The London Challenge promises to “make sure London leads the way in remodelling its workforce”. Of course, you can be sure Labour Ministers will be sending their children to schools where all classes are taught by qualified teachers. It will be black and working-class youth who will lose out, once again.

But Labour’s attacks on education will be met with opposition. Parents, teachers and school students are all angry at the raw deal they are getting. What’s needed is a clear lead – particularly from the trade unions. A joint campaign between staff and the community over cuts, shortages, SATs or privatisation would be a real challenge to Blair’s plans.

Martin P-D