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Jeremy Corbyn: Tories are asset stripping education system Jeremy Corbyn: Tories are asset stripping the education system
(about 1 hour later)
Jeremy Corbyn will accuse the Tories of being responsible for a “crisis in our schools” as he addresses a teaching union. Jeremy Corbyn will accuse the government of overseeing a crisis in British schools, as he becomes the first party leader in at least 40 years to address the National Union of Teachers’ annual conference.
The Labour leader will tell the National Union of Teachers (NUT) on Friday that the government’s push for academies and free schools will lead to the “asset-stripping of our education system”. Corbyn will say on Friday that ministers are trying to “shut parents out of a say in how their children’s schools are run”, in a speech that will attack an overhaul of education announced by the Conservative party last week.
Corbyn’s speech at the NUT conference comes more than a decade after senior Labour figures stopped appearing regularly at the gathering following the hostile reception given to the then education secretary, Estelle Morris. “George Osborne used the budget to announce the forced academisation of all schools. This is an ideological attack on teachers and on local and parental accountability – an attack which was nowhere in their manifesto at the last general election.
The government’s plans to force all schools in England to turn into academies have come under fire from Labour, the unions and Conservatives in local government who will be stripped of the power to run schools in their areas. “The Tories want to shut parents out of a say in how their children’s schools are run. I want schools accountable to their parents and their communities – not to those pushing to be first in line for the asset stripping of our education system.”
Corbyn will tell the NUT conference in Brighton: “George Osborne used the budget to announce the forced academisation of all schools. This is an ideological attack on teachers and on local and parental accountability – an attack which was nowhere in their manifesto at the last general election. He will add: “There is a crisis in our schools now ... Children are facing rising class sizes; there is a shortage of teachers, and parents already face a crisis in school places.”
“The Tories want to shut parents out of a say in how their children’s schools are run. I want schools accountable to their parents and their communities – not to those pushing to be first in line for the asset-stripping of our education system.” He will argue that forcing every school to become an academy will do nothing to address those key problems, and will instead mean another £700m on “needless reorganisation” that does not address issues that matter to parents or teachers.
He will add: “There is a crisis in our schools now … Children are facing rising class sizes; there is a shortage of teachers, and parents already face a crisis in school places. Corbyn’s speech – which was announced on Twitter just a few hours before the conference began – follows a period of rocky relations between Labour and the NUT.
“The forced academisation will do nothing to address any of those problems. And yet £700m will need to be found to fund this needless reorganisation … that fails to address a single issue that matters to teachers, parents or pupils. JC to speak at @NUTonline Teachers' conference - more than a decade after senior Labour figures attended #solidarity https://t.co/8mICbxHYQY
“At the same time school budgets are being cut in real terms – for the first time since the mid-1990s. They have the wrong values and the wrong priorities.” Senior party figures stopped appearing regularly after a hostile reception for Baroness Estelle Morris when she was education secretary. In 2002, she faced heckling and a slow handclap. Afterwards, she said: “If I told them that tomorrow was Sunday, I think they’d say it wasn’t and pass a motion against it.”
Corbyn’s appearance at the conference was not officially confirmed until his campaign team posted a note on Twitter, informing the account’s more than 110,000 followers, just a few hours before the five-day event is due to officially open. In 1995, David Blunkett, then Labour’s shadow education spokesman, was trapped in a room for 30 minutes after being pursued by activists shouting: “Sack the Tories, not the teachers!”
He is likely to be given a warmer welcome than Lady Morris, who was heckled and slow hand clapped by delegates in 2002 when she was the last Labour education secretary to speak at an NUT conference. Related: Nicky Morgan under fire over Mumsnet post on academisation
Afterwards she said: “If I told them that tomorrow was Sunday, I think they would say it wasn’t and pass a motion against it.” Labour’s own academy policy in power led to run-ins with the unions, and the relationship particularly soured with the NUT. Corbyn’s position on the left of his party has meant a close relationship with the unions, who hope he will take a tougher line than New Labour over the plans. His speech is designed to reach out to teachers.
It resulted in the drying up of Labour speakers at the NUT conference, though they continued to speak at summits of other teachers’ unions, including the NASUWT. He will add: “The pressure of work forced more teachers to quit last year than ever – over 50,000 – and the government has now missed its trainee teacher recruitment targets for the last four years in a row.
Corbyn will tell the trade unionists that Labour will work with them to halt the academies plan and acknowledge the pressures being placed on teachers. “That has resulted in half a million children now being taught in classes of over 31 in primary schools.
“The pressure of work forced more teachers to quit last year than ever – over 50,000 – and the government has now missed its trainee teacher recruitment targets for the last four years in a row,” he will say.
“That has resulted in half a million children now in being taught in classes of over 31 in primary schools.
“One in four schools are increasing their use of supply teachers; one in six are using non-specialists to cover vacancies; and more than one in 10 are resorting to using unqualified staff to teach lessons.“One in four schools are increasing their use of supply teachers; one in six are using non-specialists to cover vacancies; and more than one in 10 are resorting to using unqualified staff to teach lessons.
“Labour will work with you, with parents and pupils, with local authorities and with our communities to defend education and stop these plans for forced academisation.”“Labour will work with you, with parents and pupils, with local authorities and with our communities to defend education and stop these plans for forced academisation.”