Rab Butler Revolutionised Education In 1944. Let’s do It Again
Over the past century, there have been two pivotal moments in England’s education system: the 1944 Butler Act and the 1988 Baker Act. The former was a time of innovation, with the creation of new schools, colleges and a focus on artistic curriculum. Baker’s act was underlined by Margaret Thatcher’s neoliberalism, leading to a prescribed national curriculum and a call for stronger accountability.
Nowadays, schools are blamed for issues ranging from exam results, mental health, diet, and addiction. However, the system cannot take responsibility until five systemic structural problems are addressed. The first is a lack of suitable teacher recruitment and retention, a growing crisis that has been ignored by the government and leads to unstable turnover rates.
Second, the existing curriculum is inadequate, and exams are not being assessed correctly. The current focus on numeracy and literacy fails to address high-level IT skills, analytical thinking, interdisciplinary problem-solving, teamwork and communication, social interactions with different cultures, and fostering independent thinking while considering others.
Third, there is a need for overhaul and rethinking of the centralized governance and accountability system. The education minister holds too much power rather than sound judgment. Schools should be accountable, not to the minister, as they should be accountable, but as academics have become "government schools" and have become an embodiment of nationalized systems such as totalitarian states.
Fourth, the school admissions process must cease to have a false prospectus based on parental choice. Many schools favor children of wealthy families over those from challenging backgrounds, resulting in covert selection processes.
Finally, the discrepancy in funding between state-funded schools and independent private institutions continues to widen, placing social mobility out of reach for many children, and equity and opportunities are illusory.
Thus, a 2020 Education Act is needed. The education experts from the top three parties should establish an educational entitlement program to address the five critical issues mentioned above. The comprehensive and inclusive solution would entail a focus on unlocking the innate potential of all students and ensure that access to education from the earliest years until old age is equal, regardless of background or financial status.
