GE2017 | Schools Week

Political visits in schools can be ruled unlawful

Schools that host campaign visits from politicians risk breaking the law or charity rules if they don’t act with political balance. Candidates from all the major parties have made dozens of visits to schools since the general election campaign began. But schools have to adhere to the strict rules governing political campaigning that include providing […]

Think tanks reveal true costs of election manifesto pledges

The education manifesto pledges of political parties have come under the microscope by two thinks tanks today. The Education Policy Institute has published a study analysing each party’s schools spending pledges, the impact of slashing free school lunches and the use of grammar statistics. Meanwhile the Institute for Fiscal Studies has also analysed school spends, […]

Less rhetoric, more funding for schools, please

The Conservative manifesto talks about governing from the mainstream, but its education policies hardly match the rhetoric, claims Kiran Gill I recently wrote an assessment of Labour’s manifesto policies on education, and one of my marking criteria was on how well the party could shift the “narrative” of education. By narrative, I mean the stories […]

UKIP pledges to open new grammar school ‘in every town’

UKIP has pledged to open a grammar school “in every town” after launching its general election 2017 manifesto today. The manifesto stated grammar schools boosted social mobility by giving “children from poorer backgrounds access to career paths they might have previously thought out of their reach”. To back this up, the party highlighted a statistic […]

Conservatives backtrack on £60m for primary school breakfasts

The Conservative Party has admitted that a key manifesto commitment to provide breakfasts for every primary school pupil in England could cost far more than the £60 million initially promised. In a second embarrassing U-turn for the party following the debacle over its social care plans, the Conservatives now say the costs of providing breakfasts “will vary depending […]

Conservatives’ free breakfast pledge ‘costed at just 7p per meal’

The Conservatives have set aside just under 7p per pupil for its manifesto pledge to give all primary school pupils free breakfasts, in what food experts have labelled a “black hole” in the government’s manifesto calculations. The party’s manifesto, launched last Thursday, scraps universal infant free school meals (UIFSM), which cost an estimated £600 million a […]

Marking Labour’s education manifesto: could do better…

Labour’s manifesto shows that it wants to do an awful lot in education. But look for specifics and you’ll struggle, says Kiran Gill If the polls are to be believed (even if they are not to be believed) the Labour manifesto is unlikely to be implemented next parliament. So I assessed it against some different […]

Fee forgiveness is welcome but Tories are unforgivably silent on pay

The authors of the Conservative education manifesto clearly spent a great deal of time and trouble choosing their words very, very carefully. First, I want to see the evidence that supports the claim in the manifesto that ‘contrary to what some people allege, official research shows that slightly more children from ordinary, working class families […]

‘Mixed bag’ Conservative manifesto has surprises and threats

Coming last in the publication of your manifesto has its advantages. Other parties have shown their hand. You can tweak your messaging accordingly, exploiting the weaknesses of your opponents. After school funding pledges from Labour and the Liberal Democrats, many school leaders were keen to see if the Conservatives would deliver. We’ve been clear for […]