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Gavin Williamson ignores pleas to correct his tutoring scale claims

Labour will accuse Gavin Williamson of breaching the ministerial code if he does not correct his “error” over the scale of the tutoring programme. Williamson has refused to correct his claim last week that the government’s flagship tutoring programme would reach “six million pupils”. The department confirmed to Schools Week the pledge was for “six […]

Green: Extended school day could be used to teach more ‘life skills’

An extended school day could be used to fit more “life skills” into the curriculum, the shadow education secretary has suggested. Kate Green told the Festival of Education this morning that “proper time” was needed in the curriculum for skills like managing money, understanding our political system and cooking. Green announced earlier this year that […]

DfE contradicts its own minister’s claims on tutoring scheme scale

The Department for Education has contradicted its own education secretary’s claim that six million pupils will benefit from the rollout of tutoring, raising the question of whether Gavin Williamson misled parliament. Williamson told parliament on Monday he had “outlined a clear plan to roll out tutoring to six million children up and down the country” […]

Pupil premium change: Labour accuses government of £133m ‘stealth cut’

The government’s pupil premium funding change is a “stealth cut to school budgets at a time when children need more support than ever”, the shadow education secretary will warn tomorrow. Kate Green will tell the annual conference of teaching union NASUWT that the decision by ministers to base pupil premium funding on free school meals […]

Kate Green reveals Labour’s education recovery priorities

A Labour government elected tomorrow would focus on addressing educational inequalities and look at the “content of what’s happening in schools” to check it is preparing pupils for a “unpredictable but exciting future”, Kate Green has said. The shadow education secretary addressed ASCL’s virtual annual conference this afternoon, and revealed she would look to “design […]

‘Compelling logic’ in call to scrap GCSEs, says Green

Calls to scrap GCSEs deserve “serious consideration”, the shadow education secretary has said, as she pledged a review of the “whole of the assessment system”. In her first interview with an education sector publication since taking the job, Kate Green told Schools Week that there was “a lot of compelling logic” in the case being […]

Shadow education secretary apologises after calling Covid-19 a ‘good crisis’

Shadow education secretary Kate Green has apologised after calling the Covid-19 pandemic a “good crisis” which Labour should not let “go to waste”. Green’s remarks, made at the Labour Party’s virtual party conference, ‘Connected’, last week, sparked a furious backlash and were used by Boris Johnson at prime minister’s questions to attack party leader Sir […]

Green: ‘Messing’ with school structures not priority

“Messing around” with school structures should not be a Labour priority, the shadow education secretary has said.  Speaking at an online event at Labour’s “Connected” party conference, Kate Green said she would not be “scrambling successful schools for the sake of having perfect structures”, indicating the party would not move to bring all academies back […]

Labour seeks assurances over GCSE and A-level results amid claims of unfairness in Scotland

Labour is seeking “urgent assurances” from the government that the GCSE and A-level results process in England will treat pupils fairly, amid claims poorer pupils in Scotland were penalised under a similar system. Kate Green, the shadow education secretary, has written to her opposite number Gavin Williamson for reassurances that he “will not allow similar […]