News from the New Party

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Towards a fairer education system

The controversy stirred up by David Willetts' speech distancing the Conservative Party from its historic support for grammar schools has been described as a "Clause 4" moment for David Cameron's new Conservative Party by more than one commentator this morning.

One might well ask: how many Clause 4 moments does David Cameron need? Depending on who you talk to, this latest bombshell from Team Cameron is either evidence of the seriousness of the new Conservatives to take on Gordon Brown, or a disastrous, unprincipled leap in the dark inspired more by electoral advantage than by conviction. Many Conservative MPs and party members are up in arms. Many more are hardly bothered: Mrs Thatcher herself never opened a single grammar school in ten years as Prime Minister, and indeed presided over the destruction of many during her tenure as Secretary of State for Education under Edward Heath.

So what is all the fuss about? In terms of the actual policy, not much. If Margaret Thatcher was disinclined to open grammar schools, one can hardly fault David Cameron or David Willetts for declining to promise to carpet the country with them. The issue is, however, totemic for many Tories - and indeed for many parents whose concern is with their children's future in the face of an education system where qualifications are progressively devalued to disguise the fact that many schools are failing to deliver adequate standards of education at all.

To the extent that this is a touchstone issue for the Tories, the comparison with Labour's Clause 4 is apposite. There is a lot more politics in this than policy. David Cameron never tires of picking fights with his own right wing, but the idea that the Tories' new direction on education is somehow an inspirational device to wrest the next election from Gordon Brown is equally improbable. Adopting Labour Party policy may make sense for the Tories from a strategic point of view between now and the next election, but it's not a trick that can be deployed too often, or at the same time as claiming to be giving the electorate "a real choice".

The underlying reality is that the choice for British education is not between academic selection and its absence, but between a state education system and private education. One unanticipated side-effect of Labour's clamping down on parental choice in school selection (as exemplified by the Brighton schools lottery) was a stampede to the independent schools in the area. The practical upshot of Conservatives' commitment to shore up a failing state system may be to create a much greater schism in the education system than anything that academic selection might inflict. Those parents who are able and motivated to do so will always seek out the best schools for their children. If they cannot take refuge in grammar schools they will do so in independent schools. Those children unfortunate enought to be brought up by parents who are unwilling or, more likely, unable to offer their children the best school places will inevitably be left behind.

The solution to the problem is not selection, but privatisation. Give parents the choice of school and the ability to fund that choice through vouchers. If schools are in a position to compete for funding and students, the result will be an increase in standards all round, and ultimately a more level playing field than any other system can deliver.

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Towards a fairer education system