Good morning,
It is such a pleasure to be here with you all today to share the Conservative Party’s vision for elevating our schools and ensuring that education continues to be the tool that enables every young person to realize their full potential. I am thoroughly impressed with the work being done here at Ridgeway, and with the incredible teachers who are working above and beyond to guarantee that the students here are given access to the tools and resources they need to succeed later in life. This school is a testament to the fact that so much can be accomplished when teachers and parents are empowered to make the choices they believe best suit the unique needs of their students.
Our party’s new leader, William Croft, has talked a lot since being elected about the need to unleash innovation and choice in our schools. The belief that the people on the frontlines of education in this country, from parents, to teachers, and indeed to the students themselves should play a leading role in shaping education policy is at the core of the Conservative Party’s education policies. We know that you know far more about what your children and students need to thrive than bureaucrats in London do. That is why I believe, and my party believes, that the Government should work to empower teachers and parents rather than stand in their way.
That is what I am here to talk about today: the Conservative Party’s vision to promote innovation, flexibility, and opportunity for young people across the United Kingdom. We believe that the role of the state should be to enable individuals and schools to meet the unique needs of their communities, while ensuring a base standard of academic achievement for all students to meet. The National Curriculum aims to provide the latter, and the Conservative Party has consistently supported commonsense efforts coming from Parliament to ensure no child is left behind as a result of a lackluster basic plan of study. Indeed it was the Conservatives who, in 1988, first put forth legislation to guarantee a base level of educational attainment that all students should achieve by the end of their years in school.
But getting the balance correct is critical, and we cannot allow uniformity to come at the cost of innovation and positive new ideas. The New Labour education reforms of the late 1990s, that amended the National Curriculum to what we know today, were of course well intentioned. While they have indeed achieved some good, they have also resulted in schools losing the autonomy and flexibility they need to try new ideas on their own. That is why the Conservative Party believes in handing back more power to schools and teachers, by reforming existing education law to allow schools to experiment with positive new ways of teaching. A Conservative Government would allow schools to request, through the Secretary of State for Education, permission to pilot new courses and teaching methods that are not presently stipulated within the National Curriculum. We would also allow high performing schools to request exemptions from existing education regulations, providing schools with proven track records of success the earned autonomy to attract better teachers through higher pay or to make changes to the school calendar to allow for new and innovative teaching methods. If, for example, a school wanted to pay for teachers to start the school year a week early to engage in collaborative lesson planning, they should have the power to do so. We want schools and the teachers who make them run to have the power to adopt new ideas that work for their students, and we want to ensure that the Government doesn’t get in the way of these ideas being brought to fruition.
The Conservative Party is passionately committed to giving parents more say in the education of their children. We Conservatives believe that there is no one more qualified to determine what is best for children than their parents, and we want that fact reflected in the law. So when schools do want to try out these experimental methods of teaching, we will ensure that there is a statutory requirement written into the law that parents must first be properly consulted on any proposed changes. Parents should have the right to review these proposals, openly discuss them with school administrators and teachers, and if they oppose them, make that opposition known to the relevant authorities. Parents are uniquely invested in the upbringing and education of their children, and the Conservative Party is determined to ensure that they have the right to have a say in their child’s future.
Our party is also committed to expanding choice and freedom in Britain’s education system. A child should not be stuck in a poor performing school, with their parents helpless to do anything about the situation other than to wait around for Parliament or the local authorities to get their acts together. Top down reform can be important, but as a party we know that one-size solutions rarely meet the unique and diverse needs of the millions of students across the country. That is why the Conservatives support expanding the successful City Academies model, allowing more schools to become Academies and to enjoy the freedom the scheme provides, and to encourage more Academies to expand into underprivileged rural communities.
Unlike the Labour Party, we do not believe that financial barriers should limit gifted students from getting the high quality education and special attention they need to make the most out of life. We recognize that not all students, simply because of the circumstances of their birth and of no fault of their own, don’t have access to schools like this one. That is why a Conservative Government will enthusiastically support grammar schools, and will bring back the Assisted Places Scheme, so that every family no matter their background can send their children to the school that is best for them. Our party makes no apologies for wanting to utilize the transformative power that grammar schools have, and that choice in schooling provides. Choice is a good thing, and parents should not be penalized for wanting better for their child. And under a Conservative Government, they won’t be.
The issue facing us today, and the reason I have come here to speak with you all, is of paramount importance. Because truly, there is nothing more important than providing our young people with the best possible shot at a great, productive, and meaningful life. All of us politicians, no matter our political affiliation, of course want the best possible future for every British child. But for us Conservatives, the way to do that is clear. To give more power to parents in working with schools for their children’s education, to enable teachers to innovate and produce new ideas in their curriculums, and to allow choice and opportunity to break down barriers. We believe Britain is strongest when communities and families have a meaningful stake in the future of our country. That will always be the guiding principle of the Conservative Party, and I look forward to continuing to make the case for our education policies in the years to come.
