• '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…

    22.30 Oct. 1st, 2020 | News

  • 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…

    15.00 Sep. 25th, 2020 | News

  • Shadow education secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey sacked

    The shadow education secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey has been sacked by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer. A spokesperson for Starmer said she had been “asked to step down” after sharing an article that “contained an antisemitic conspiracy theory”. Earlier today, Long-Bailey shared an interview with actor Maxine Peake in the Independent, in which Peake claimed that…

    15.15 Jun. 25th, 2020 | News

  • Long-Bailey: Lack of 'overarching message' on education contributed to Labour's defeat

    The lack of an “overarching message” from Labour on its flagship national education service was one of the reasons it lost the last general election, the new shadow education secretary has said. But Rebecca Long-Bailey said the “fantastic” policy will survive and be developed by Labour under Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership. She has pledged to…

    7.00 Apr. 24th, 2020 | News

  • Angela Rayner at Labour party conference 2019

    My, but Angela Rayner is a canny political operator. Early on a Sunday morning, not a high point for crowd engagement, even at party conferences. The delegates had been whipped into a fervour by discussions of motions from the conference arrangements committee, and then a fairly somnolent speech from the leader of Welsh Labour. The…

    13.43 Sep. 23rd, 2019 | Reviews

  • Labour manifesto: Plans to let councils 'run schools' dropped

    The Labour party has dropped official plans to let councils “open schools”, instead stating it will “oppose any attempt to force schools to become academies” if the party should take power. Schools Week previously revealed how Labour’s draft manifesto included a pledge to allow local authorities to open schools. It backed up a previous promise…

    14.38 May. 16th, 2017 | News

  • Greening's first education questions: Green paper 'will help' SEN pupils, and four other things we learned

    The government’s new(ish) education team faced its first proper grilling in Parliament this afternoon during the first education questions since Justine Greening’s appointment. Buoyed by the new additions to its own team, Labour went on the attack over grammar schools and funding, while Greening and her ministerial colleagues were forced to defend some of their reforms against criticism from…

    16.59 Oct. 10th, 2016 | News

  • Labour reshuffle: Rayner stays, Mike Kane becomes shadow schools minister

    The Labour MP Angela Rayner will continue her work as shadow education secretary following a reshuffle of the opposition frontbench, while former teacher Mike Kane will be responsible for the party’s schools policies. Rayner has revealed that she will continue to lead Labour’s education team, backed up by Kane, who is the new shadow schools minister. They will work with existing…

    9.21 Oct. 10th, 2016 | News