ASE summary and response to main party manifestos
This week has seen publication of the manifestos from the Liberal Democrats, Conservatives and Labour. Other parties including the Green Party, Reform UK and those in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland have also released details of their plans or will do shortly.
Below we’ve summarised the main points of the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat manifestos that have more relevance to science education and have provided comment on what has been outlined.
Conservative manifesto (https://manifesto.conservatives.com/):
- Providing new teachers in priority areas and key STEM and technical subjects with tax-free bonuses of up to £30,000 over five years, beginning in September 2024, which they will extend to eligible teachers in further education colleges.
- Attracting more teachers through the recruitment and retention premium and an ambition to reduce teacher workload.
- Introduce the Advanced British Standard.
- Support teachers in primary schools to use tried and tested techniques, including the existing phonics programme and the mastery approach to maths, to ensure every child can master these learning foundations before they enter secondary education.
- Support children in their transition to secondary school and ensure they continue to receive a broad and enriched education during and after school, including via - Music Hubs.
- Delivering a lifelong learning entitlement giving adults support to train and retrain, by enabling adults to apply for loans to cover new qualifications.
Labour manifesto (https://labour.org.uk/change/my-plan-for-change/ )
- Recruit 6,500 new teachers – a commitment which has been included in Labour’s “first steps for change” their top six priorities. Labour aim to get more teachers into shortage subjects, support areas that face recruitment challenges and tackle retention issues.
- Review how bursaries for teachers are allocated, as well as the structure of retention payments.
- Introduce a new Teacher Training Entitlement to ensure teachers stay up to date on best practices with continuing professional development.
- Reinstate the School Support Staff Negotiating Body, to help address the acute recruitment and retention crisis in support roles.
- Create a new Excellence in Leadership Programme, a mentoring framework that aims to expand the capacity of headteachers and leaders to improve their schools.
- Introduce new Regional Improvement Teams, to enhance school-to-school support, and spread best practice.
- Launch an expert-led review of curriculum and assessment, working with school staff, parents and employers. The review will consider the right balance of assessment methods whilst protecting the important role of examinations.
- Bring forward a comprehensive strategy for post-16 education. Guarantee training, and apprenticeships, or help to find work for all 18- to 21-year-olds.
- Take a community-wide approach to supporting pupils with SEND, improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, as well as ensuring special schools cater to those with the most complex needs, requiring all schools to co-operate with their local authority on school admissions, SEND inclusion and place planning.
- Establish Skills England to bring together business, training providers and unions with national and local government to ensure we have the highly trained workforce needed to deliver Labour’s Industrial Strategy.
- Labour will transform Further Education colleges into specialist Technical Excellence Colleges.
Liberal Democrats manifesto (https://www.libdems.org.uk/manifesto)
- Tackling the ongoing recruitment and retention crisis by creating a teacher workforce strategy which ensures students are taught by a specialist teacher in their subject area.
- Ensure that all teacher training posts are paid and introduce high-quality professional development programmes for all teachers, including training on effective parental engagement.
- Establish a standing commission to broaden curricula by drawing on best practice and ensuring children learn core skills including critical thinking, verbal reasoning and the arts.
- Strengthen careers advice and links with employers in schools and colleges.
- The Party announced several commitments to SEND education and support for disadvantaged students.
- Create new Lifelong Skills Grants, providing £5,000 to all adults to spend on education and training throughout their lives with the goal to increase this to £10,000 when public finances allow.
- Develop National Colleges as centres of expertise for key sectors, including renewable energy, to deliver high-level vocational skills needed by businesses.
ASE comment
Before the election was announced ASE laid out our four pledges for a new government to help transform science education for a brighter future.
We have reviewed the main policy points from the Conservatives and Labour and have issued the following reactive statements:
Reaction to the Conservative manifesto
The Conservative Manifesto acknowledges the importance of education, aspires to make sure every child reaches their full potential, and praises the role that teachers play in our education system. The manifesto also makes commitments that seek to address the shortages of specialist STEM teachers in secondary schools with tax free bonuses for new teachers.
However, the manifesto does not go far enough to support the much-needed transformation of education in the UK. Beyond the offer of a tax-free bonus for new teachers, there is little new that seeks to address the serious recruitment and retention crisis that blights our schools. Whilst teacher numbers overall may have increased, the ratio of teachers to pupils has fallen. And in the sciences the shortage of teachers is particularly severe.
The UK is consistently failing to attract science graduates into teaching. In 2022/23 in England just 54%[*] of the target for postgraduate trainees for secondary STEM subjects was met and only 17% of the target for secondary physics teachers. This crisis and shortage of specialist teachers cannot be solved by competitive salaries alone – evidence shows that lack of status, workload, as well as a lack of support for professional learning and development are all contributing factors to the retention crisis. We are calling for political parties to set out a much bolder vision that enhances the attractiveness of the teaching profession, fosters long-term retention and values inspirational and effective teachers.
Whilst progress has been made in English and Maths, the most recent PISA results released at the end of 2023 showed that UK students are falling behind international standards of science learning. Yet it is a sound education in science that can and will play a vital role in helping to develop the next generation of innovators, scientists, informed citizens and problem solvers. Unfortunately, there is no clear plan to update our outdated, content-heavy science curriculum. We are calling on the next government to undertake bold action to reform of the science curriculum, in a way that ensures it incorporates the latest evidence-based pedagogies, applied learning techniques, advancements in AI, and critical topics like climate change, which are essential to preparing students for the future. Only then can we ensure all children have the opportunities to develop a love of science learning that will drive participation, engagement and knowledge-building throughout their education and beyond.
Reaction to the Labour manifesto
We welcome the Labour Party’s recognition of the need to recruit more expert teachers, tackle retention and raise the status of teaching and support staff. This is particularly important for the sciences. However, we urge all parties to resist the temptation to focus on pay alone as evidence shows that teaching shortages are caused by a variety of factors, and any future strategy to tackle the recruitment and retention crisis needs to take an innovative approach that places status, wellbeing, respect and ongoing support for professional development at its heart.
We are pleased to see that Labour promise to launch an expert-led review of curriculum and assessment and to review post-16 education and apprenticeships, though this lacks detail on timescales and vision for what is to be achieved. Curriculum reform for the sciences is urgently needed to ensure it incorporates the latest evidence-based pedagogies, applied learning techniques, advancements in AI, and critical topics like climate change, which are essential to preparing all students, regardless of their circumstances and background, for the future.
We welcome Labour’s proposal to create access to a new Teacher Training Entitlement, but would like to see more detail on how this might be implemented, if it extends to technician staff and what support or funding will be given to ensure widespread uptake and access.