It is ludicrous for soft-left luminaries to argue that “education should be depoliticised”. The very choice of what and how education should be taught, organised, funded and a consideration of “who wins and who loses” are all intensely political.
Britain’s schools need a socialist manifesto: smaller class sizes; no league tables or Sats; democratic control of academies; a fully comprehensive schools system; the abolition of private and faith schools; and a curriculum that encourages critical thinking.
Many of our schools are brilliant. But with better funding, smaller class sizes, an end to the destructive competition between them and with more professional judgment allowed for teachers, all state schools could match the results of the more lavishly funded private schools.
Dave Hill, Middlesex University; Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition parliamentary candidate for Brighton Kemptown.