Thank goodness for the Labour Party. Labour gave me and many others a good, comprehensive education, maintenance grants, and all free at point of use. I have always loved learning. A National Education Service free for us all, from cradle to grave will be Labour’s plan, whatever age, wherever you are. What will you be learning?

I want to brush up on dressmaking skills, or maybe find out more about gardening, or learn to speak a new language. Maybe you could brush up on computer skills, train to be a vet, or a doctor, or an engineer. We all benefit from learning skills, and expanding knowledge. It’s the way we will rebuild our society, just as Labour rebuilt our country for the peace in 1945, after a war which had divided Europe and the World.

• Education for everyone is one reason we need a Labour government. Labour will have my vote.

• Maybe you’re not sure yet how to vote. You could vote Tory, for more of the same.

• You could also vote Lib Dem, for more of the same. It’s your decision.

You know, LibDems were the ones in coalition with the Tories who TRIPLED tuition fees and put young people starting out in life in debt from the very beginning. Now that is just not fair. The Tories have starved our schools of cash and, along with the Liberal Democrats, saddled a generation of young people with a lifelong debt burden. Jo Swinson was a cabinet member in that government and her party, joined by several Tory MPs will again join the Tories in coalition. That would put paid to opportunities for all of us, but especially young people hopeful of a future, with dreams and ambitions. Youth should be an exciting time in life, not one of fear, stress – and poverty.

LABOUR WILL SCRAP TUITION FEES.

Lib Dems pledged to vote against increase in fees in Coalition and then tripled them.

With Tories using our NHS for profiteering so Academy Chains have led to a break up of LEAs and has allowed Tories to cream off funds for profiteering.  Our public funds intended for the education of our children are ending up in the pockets of friends of the Conservatives, and it is our children who are suffering. The Labour Party will put an end to this.

Wakefield City Academies Trust was in 2015 named a “top-performing” academy sponsor by Nicky Morgan, then education secretary, and handed a £500,000 slice of a £5m fund to improve schools in the north of England. Since then, things have gone awry. The trust has sunk to the bottom of the league tables to become one of the lowest-performing academy chains in the country. And it has been plagued by question marks over its finances.

In July 2016, the Education Funding Agency investigated the trust. Its draft report, leaked to the TES, found that its interim chief executive, the businessman Mike Ramsay, had paid himself £82,000 over a three-month period. It concluded that the trust was in an “extremely vulnerable position as a result of inadequate governance, leadership and overall financial management”. Later that year, it was reported that the trust had paid almost £440,000 to IT and admin companies owned by Ramsay and his daughter.

When our education service fails, it isn’t just the individual that is held back, but all of us. When we invest in people to develop their skills and capabilities, we all benefit from a stronger economy and society.

Imagine how good the future will be when a Labour government transforms lives with a National Education Service. Here’s how that will be achieved:

• Early Years Education and Childcare

Labour will ensure provision of school meals for all primary children, and a nursery education for 30 hours every two year old child to give our children the very best start in life.  Hungry children can not learn. We will rebuild Sure Start and introduce universal free childcare for all 2, 3 and 4 year olds.

• School Inspections Overhaul. OFSTED has failed because it measures deprivation, not excellence. Labour will replace OFSTED with regular “health checks” led by local government. Inspectors would then follow up on concerns raised by the checks, and by parents, teachers and governors. This means that in-depth inspections will arise from a genuine need, instead of taking place at random.
• Bring Back LEAs The break-up of our Local Education Authorities  and loss of centralised services such as support for mental health (CAMHS),  home tuition for  children who are sick or anxious or children with special educational needs . This is not nurturing and  developing abilities of children to reach their potential – which is what schools exist to do. Schools have become ultra competitive, slavishly focused on published league tables, pitted against one another, resulting in bewildered and stressed children struggling to please their teachers, refusing to attend and self harming. Labour will stop this competition between schools. Labour will ensure there is co-operation and not competition between schools.
• Bring Academies and Free Schools Back into LEAs Labour will end privatising academy chains and free schools programmes and bring all schools into a democratically accountable system.
• Further Education Labour would introduce free, lifelong education in Further Education (FE) colleges, enabling everyone to upskill or retrain at any point in life., and enriching leisure time.
• Higher Education  The Tory and Lib Dem Coalition government tripled university tuition fees which are now £9,250 per year. Labour will scrap tuition fees for all students and bring back maintenance grants. Labour will  also invest in the Arts which have been cut by the Tories.

See Also:

• Life Long Learning Interim Report
• Angela Rayner – I’m not okay about an education system that lets you fail or be chucked out
• Angela Rayner outlines a ten point charter for a new National Education Service
• From Cradle to Grave: Jeremy Corbyn’s  National Education Service Will Transform Britain
• Academisation of the Demolition of Our Education System
• Pupils with behavioural issues failing to meet exam bench mark
• The great Academy School Scandal