East Worthing and Shoreham Labour Party

90 years on from the Fisher Act: we realise a key aim

Are we serious about closing the gap in educational attainment so that the least well off in society have equal chances of succeeding in their future as their better off counterparts? If we are then we must properly embrace the Government’s legislation, which raises the education leaving age from 16 to 18. Our world is changing, and on both a social and economic level, we must change too. More and more jobs now require specific rather than generic skills. And in order for Britain to remain a competitive nation, and equally importantly, for ordinary people to have the best chance of finding employment so that they can support themselves and their families, we must provide as many opportunities as possible for them to gain these skills.

I had hoped to speak at Conference on this issue- unfortunately the Environment, Health and Education debates, crammed into the last, short day, were woefully short and so I did not get the opportunity.

However, writing my speech did get me back into thinking about this important, and oft misunderstood issue.

This year’s cohort of Year 7s will be the first to be required to remain in eduaction or training until the age of 17. They will turn 16 in 2013. Those in Year 5 now will be the first to be required to remain until 18.

But the emphasis of my speech was on the nature, not the detail, of the proposals. Raising the education leaving age (or ‘participation’ age, as some would have it) is a controversial one, at least among some groups. Partly this is due to a misconception in the first instance - we are talking about education, not school. They are two very different things.

The 1918 Education Act, drawn up by Herbert Fisher, a Liberal politician, included in it a provision stating that young people up to the age of 18 should participate in at least part-time study. Through the recent legislation, we are finally realising this aim.

Below is a copy of the speech I would have loved to have delivered (!).
Also linked to is a speech by Ed Balls to the Fabian Society, from November last year. It is an interesting read.

Chair, Conference
Poppea Daniel, delegate for East Worthing and Shoreham CLP. 
At the moment, 16 is the end of the road for the education of many. In the future all young people will continue learning until they are eighteen, on courses which are tailored to fit their needs, their situations, their aspirations.
Many have concerns about doing this. But by raising the education leaving age, we are not stopping young people from going out to work. We are not keeping young people in the classroom when they don’t want to be there. What we are doing is we are providing the learning environment which works best for each individual. For some this will be while working, for some this will be in the community and for some, this will be in the classroom.

It’s not about staying in school; it’s about staying in education.
The constituency I come from is in general a well-off area. However, deprivation still exists among this prosperity. It is no coincidence that economic deprivation goes hand in hand with lower educational attainment. In our least prosperous ward, 40% of working age adults have no qualifications, while next door in the most prosperous, the figure is half that.
As we further progress to a skills based economy, education will increase in importance as a catalyst for social mobility.
In an increasingly competitive global economy we need to maintain and build on our strong position. To do that we must close the skills gap between our country and others. We must also close the skills gap that exists in our country between rich and poor.
Raising the education leaving age shows our commitment to helping the least well off in our society, by equipping them with the skills to succeed.
We need to ensure that people understand what we are proposing. This isn’t about keeping people in the classroom; this is about keeping people in education; this is about keeping people learning, providing them with invaluable life-long skills.
This is something only our government, a Labour government, can deliver: the Tories are committed to cutting courses, narrowing opportunities for young people, continuing to propagate the out of date notion that academic learning is somehow superior to a vocational education. An education which gives the individual the skills to progress and to succeed, and gives our society and gives our economy the skills to progress and to succeed.

This is about giving choice; giving flexibility of learning; and giving opportunities for the future.

Thank you -