14 September 2006

He didn’t say he would stand in any forthcoming leadership or deputy leadership election as Peter Hain had the night before and he didn’t say he wouldn’t as David Miliband had also the night before but then he didn’t do himself any harm either.

Alan Johnson’s first speech of what he called the ‘new term’ saw the Education Secretary in characteristically ebullient form. Addressing an audience at the Social Market Foundation (SMF) this week on the theme of ‘education’s role in tackling poverty,’ he identified the eradication of poverty as an issue that ‘distilled old Labour and new Labour into real Labour.’ It was a neat play with words that suggests he is positioning himself carefully.

It will be interesting to see how much time he’s able to afford education matters over the coming months; there’s certainly plenty that needs doing with an education agenda positioned around three critical objectives. Firstly ‘getting the basics right,’ this covers anything from adult basic skills to functional skills to Every Child Matters to Sure Start with the Respect agenda and synthetic phonics all thrown in. Secondly there’s ‘developing potential,’ a heady mix of 14 – 19 reform and reform of the adult qualification framework all laced with the silky attractiveness of the Gilbert Review of personalisation. And then thirdly there’s the whole issue of ‘building UK Skills,’ tackling the global challenge that seems increasingly to be exposing our skills weaknesses and coming to a head later this autumn with a Bill for FE, further review of local government responsibilities and of course the Report for which most lips are already wetting, Lord Leitch’s Final Report on the profile and strategy for UK Skills up to 2020. It’s an in tray that would make most people blanch.

Alan Johnson’s speech, however, conveyed a convincing mastery of his brief; a man perhaps securing how own destiny. Identifying a vision for the future, “we must personalise the way we deliver public services so that no one is left behind,” he carefully took the Blairite model of public – private provision, “we must take a pragmatic rather than a dogmatic approach to balancing state, voluntary and private providers” and applied it to reform of the education system; “our focus must be on the quality rather than the nature of delivery.” In other words, worry less about who is delivering the services and more about the quality of them. Careful positioning on a sensitive issue.

His argument was threefold; firstly, that despite the improvements in the school system, not everybody has benefited. An important recognition in a week that has brought us a new draft code for school admissions, a drop in English results at Key Stage 3 and some pointed questioning in the latest OECD education stats that have the UK education system performing well in many respects but facing the continuing challenge of young people leaving school with poor baseline qualifications in others. Secondly that it is actually getting harder for people to escape from poverty. Like the rest of his Party, Alan Johnson firmly believes that education is “the engine of social mobility.” An echo here of Ruth Kelly’s 2005 summer speech to the IPPR and a concept clearly still important to the Party. The mobility argument has been used in the past to support projects such as Academies and the Level entitlements and was re emphasised here; “the Academies programme is lifting performance in our poorest areas at four times the average rate.”

And thirdly that “inequality in Britain is still prevalent; the big concern here is that while some people are doing very well, others are not and thereby feeling isolated and frustrated. Women, older workers, some ethnic groups and those on benefits and needing to work have all been identified as fitting this category. The Government has thrown a number of initiatives at this area but it’s a long haul.

He then turned to the education system to highlight ways in which it was tackling many of these issues. Much of it was familiar stuff; the importance of the early years now boosted by the £20bn Sure Start programme and the introduction from next year of the early year’s curriculum. The importance of the Level 2 entitlement and the need to encourage more young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to go on to university, a point emphasised in his second major speech this term, that to Universities UK the next day. ‘Looking ahead over the next 10 – 20 years’ he told UUK, “who goes to universities, what goes on in universities and what comes out of universities are 3 key priorities for Government and HE.”

But it was in the section on schools that he made his most interesting comments. There were two.

One was on the contentious issue of targets where he argued that as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review he wanted to look at “the potential of targets that encourage progression.” His concern, particularly in the context of this seminar, seemed to be the negative impact of targets, that they encourage people to focus on those on the borderline leaving out those at either end. “We need to make sure our targets do not hold back those who are roaring ahead, nor fail to allow those who have slipped behind to catch up.”

National targets or Public Service Agreements (PSAs) are set alongside the Spending Review. At present there are 110 of which 14 lie with the DfES with a few others shared with other Depts. According to the current DfES Annual Report, the Dept is on course in 9, ahead in 2 and slipping in 11. Targets can provide a useful mechanism to measure progress and hold a Government to account but as the Education Secretary was implying they can also drive behaviour and it might just be that next summer’s Spending Review will see a less heavy handed approach to target setting. It will be interesting to see what emerges in July 2007.

The other interesting comment was if anything Brownite in tone. In his Budget earlier this year, the Chancellor had pledged to ‘raise per pupil expenditure in the state sector to that currently being spent in the private sector.” There have been some nifty calculations since to suggest that this might take up to 2024 to achieve. Alan Johnson’s point seemed to be that, funding apart, there is a lot that each can learn from each other, “one of the most emotive issues around is how the state and independent sectors interact.” “Independent schools must work more closely with the state sector, sharing facilities and expertise, getting involved with trusts and academies.” The authentic voice of real Labour perhaps.

© Edexcel Policy Watch 2005. Steve Besley is General Manger of Education Policy at Edexcel. Policy watch is a service intended to help busy people understand developments in the world of education. Visit Edexcel at www.edexcel.org.uk