The latest international education rankings show that this Conservative government is failing our children. The PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) study is conducted by the OECD and measures the results of 15-year-olds around the world in maths, reading, and science. Results for the UK are as clear as they are disappointing. The Tories’ misguided focus on changing the structures of schools—instead of what happens inside them—has ensured that our children have made little progress in the last three years. The UK is now ranked 27th in maths and 22nd in reading out of over 70 countries. Given that we were already in the bottom quarter of countries in the Pisa rankings, this is an embarrassing failure for the government. Last January, the former Education Secretary Nicky Morgan promised the education select committee that the government would measure performance by just such international tables of student attainment as Pisa. So it has failed by the very measure of success it set for itself. Even though there is now yet another secretary of state, it should be clear that more of the same is simply not good enough to improve attainment in our schools. Our failure in the Pisa rankings is no surprise to anyone who pays attention to what actually helps improve outcomes in education. Speaking at the launch of the Pisa results, José Ángel Gurría, the general secretary of the OECD, was emphatic that the four ways to improve attainment are to invest in teachers, support disadvantaged schools, delay the sorting process and break down stereotypes. This is the exact opposite of the policies that this government is pursuing. The OECD says that we need to invest in teachers. How does the Conservative government respond? By cutting school budgets for the first time in nearly two decades. The same government is also missing its targets for initial teacher recruitment for the fifth year in a row. Growing workload, and the constant and chaotic interference in our schools by Whitehall, have led—to no-one’s surprise—to a crisis in the morale of the teaching profession. No wonder we are now facing a worrying problem in recruitment and retention as talented teachers leave the profession in droves. Worse, the failures in recruitment are happening in the subjects where we need talented teachers the most. Subjects like maths and physics are of huge importance, not simply because of their role in the Pisa rankings, but because they help prepare our young people for jobs in an economy that is now undergoing structural shifts on a scale unseen since the industrial revolution. However, the penny still hasn't dropped with the Conservatives—they have recruited barely more than four in every five maths and physics teachers that we need. And on the sorting process, we again have a government that not only is failing to listen to the advice offered by the OECD, but is actually doing the exact opposite of what it recommends. Despite the auspices of a consultation, ironically titled “Schools that work for everyone,” this government’s approach was made clear when Prime Minister Theresa May pledged to lift Tony Blair's statutory ban on new grammar schools. For months now May, Education Secretary Justine Greening and the rest of her government have made it clear that they will look back to a mythical golden age for answers to the 21st-century problems facing our education service. The Conservatives persist in ignoring the overwhelming evidence that grammars do nothing to increase social mobility. They seem unable or unwilling to understand that, for the overwhelming majority of our children, more grammar schools will amount to nothing less than pulling up the ladder in front of them. I can only hope that the OECD adding their voice to the chorus calling for the prime minister to think again may lead to a change of course. But I won't hold my breath. Our schools, our children and their parents, and our teachers deserve far better than they are getting from this Conservative government. Talk about those who are “Just About Managing” is cynical and politically dishonest, when, with every step they take, the Tories turn their backs on the people who need help the most. When the experts call for more investment in schools and teachers, this government offers only more cuts. When all the experts call for an end to early selection, this government turns back the clock to the days of the 11-plus exam. When our country is crying out for unity and a sense of purpose, this government offers only division and disarray. We need to ensure that every child gets an excellent education that enables them to reach their full potential. Nothing less will do.
