LIFE
forcing overworked headteachers to
send begging letters to parents asking
them to pay for essentials such as toi-
let paper. In fact, real terms per-pupil
spending on those aged five to 16
doubled between 1997 and 2010 and
was then ring-fenced by the coalition
government. Between 2015 and 2017,
spending was frozen in cash terms,
which amounted to a real terms cut
of about 4 per cent. If any headteach-
ers couldn’t cope with a 4 per cent cut
after their budgets had doubled in the
previous 18 years, that suggests seri-
ous financial mismanagement.
Yet instead of challenging this
pro-Labour spin, successive Conserv-
ative education secretaries, beginning
with Justine Greening, have accept-
ed it and done their best to extract
more money from the Treasury. This
is both politically naive — teachers
are overwhelmingly left-wing and
will continue to complain about ‘Tory
cuts’ even if school spending dou-
bles again — and fiscally imprudent.
According to Andreas Schleicher of
the OECD, there is almost no corre-
lation between the amount of money
a nation spends per student and its
results in the Programme of Inter-
national School Assessment. South
Korea consistently tops this interna-
tional league table, yet spends below
the OECD average, while the US, one
of the highest spenders, has hovered
around the midpoint since 2003.
Will the new Education Secretary,
Gavin Williamson, stop playing in
defence and go on the attack? Prob-
ably not. As part of his leadership
pitch, Boris promised to ‘undo’ the
education cuts by injecting an addi-
tional £4.6 billion a year. Needless to
say, the National Education Union,T
he reluctance of the Con-
servative party to take credit
for the success of its educa-
tion reforms is a source of increas-
ing bewilderment to me. With each
passing year, the A-level and GCSE
results of free schools and academies
provide yet more evidence that lib-
erating state schools from the dead
hand of local authority control has
had a transformational effect — and
2019 is no exception. Free schools
such as the London Academy of
Excellence in Stratford and Michaela
Community School in Wembley have
chalked up some of the best results
in the country, while academy chains
such as the Harris Federation and the
City of London Academies Trust have
cemented their places at the top of the
league table. Yet, incredibly, educa-
tion is still a vote loser for the Tories.
In the 2017 general election,
Labour did unexpectedly well among
30- to 39-year-olds, with a 26-point
lead over the Conservatives, and
among 40- to 49-year-olds, with a
five-point lead. Why? In part because
parents bought into the cuts narra-
tive being peddled by the National
Union of Teachers, which spent more
money on campaigning in the 12
months beforehand than Ukip did.
To hear the NUT tell it, Scrooge-like
Conservative education ministers
had cut school spending to the bone,
which is a rebranded version of the
NUT, has already dismissed this as
hopelessly inadequate, claiming the
real figure needed to ‘reverse’ the
‘savage’ cuts is £12.6 billion.
If Boris is serious about wanting
to raise standards, he should set aside
at least 25 per cent of that increase
to turbo-charge the academies and
free schools programmes and prom-
ise to put a Michaela in every town. In
London, 25.7 per cent of students got
top grades (7, 8 and 9) in their GCSEs
last week, compared to just 16.4 per
cent in the north-east. In part, that’s
because the north-east hasn’t bene-
fitted from the Conservative reforms
as much as other areas. Of England’s
442 free schools, only nine are in Tyne
and Wear, County Durham or North-
umberland. Williamson should make
addressing this inequality his priority.
There’s one more thing the gov-
ernment could do, which is stop local
authorities from getting in the way.
Katharine Birbalsingh, the inspira-
tional head of Michaela, originally
wanted to set it up in Lambeth but
was stymied by the Labour-run
local authority. Earlier this year, the
free school chain I co-founded was
approached by a local school to see if
we wanted to take it over. Labour-run
Ealing council, in collusion with the
local NEA, stopped us. Incidentally,
our school’s results this year were the
best yet, with more than 50 per cent
of all GCSEs graded 7, 8 or 9, com-
pared with a national average of 20.8
per cent. Not bad, given 40 per cent
of the kids are from disadvantaged
backgrounds. Remove the shackles
from the most successful free school
and academy groups, and together we
can complete this revolution.No sacred cows
A lesson in raising
school standards
Toby Young
MICHAEL HEATH
Will the new
Education
Secretary stop
playing in
defence and go
on the attack?
Probably not