By Lucy Phillips
4 January 2010
The government has pledged £50m extra support for primary school pupils in a drive to win key election battle ground from the Tories.
Schools secretary Ed Balls today vowed to increase spending on education despite the mounting public deficit. The £50m fund will be used to guarantee one-to-one tuition to any six or seven year old falling behind in literacy or numeracy. The ‘catch-up’ support could also include help from newly trained dyslexia specialists.
‘Even though money is going to be tighter over the years ahead, by protecting schools spending, making tough choices and reducing inefficiency we can afford to make this pledge,’ said Balls.
Teaching unions welcomed the spending commitment. ‘With the relentless pressure on classroom teachers to continue to raise standards, the provision of one-to-one tuition will provide them with much needed additional support in their drive to ensure that no child is left behind,’ said Chris Keates, general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers.
But the National Union of Teachers questioned the thinking behind the announcement and reiterated its call to abolish the primary school testing regime.
General Secretary Christine Blower said: ‘In many countries children do not start formal education until Key Stage 1. The government should look to Robin Alexander’s Primary Review, which questioned the school starting age and follow its recommendations of smaller class sizes and ensuring a broad and balanced curriculum, rather than focusing on perceived failure in a narrow range of subjects at such an early age.’
Balls claimed that the schools budget will go up ‘every year, year on year, this year, next year and the year after’ under a Labour government – in contrast to the Tories, who have so far only committed to protect spending on the NHS.
The Conservatives also stepped up their election campaigning on returning from the Christmas break. Tory leader David Cameron published a draft manifesto on health, confirming their promise of a real-terms increase on the health service from 2011.
4 January 2010
The government has pledged £50m extra support for primary school pupils in a drive to win key election battle ground from the Tories.
Schools secretary Ed Balls today vowed to increase spending on education despite the mounting public deficit. The £50m fund will be used to guarantee one-to-one tuition to any six or seven year old falling behind in literacy or numeracy. The ‘catch-up’ support could also include help from newly trained dyslexia specialists.
‘Even though money is going to be tighter over the years ahead, by protecting schools spending, making tough choices and reducing inefficiency we can afford to make this pledge,’ said Balls.
Teaching unions welcomed the spending commitment. ‘With the relentless pressure on classroom teachers to continue to raise standards, the provision of one-to-one tuition will provide them with much needed additional support in their drive to ensure that no child is left behind,’ said Chris Keates, general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers.
But the National Union of Teachers questioned the thinking behind the announcement and reiterated its call to abolish the primary school testing regime.
General Secretary Christine Blower said: ‘In many countries children do not start formal education until Key Stage 1. The government should look to Robin Alexander’s Primary Review, which questioned the school starting age and follow its recommendations of smaller class sizes and ensuring a broad and balanced curriculum, rather than focusing on perceived failure in a narrow range of subjects at such an early age.’
Balls claimed that the schools budget will go up ‘every year, year on year, this year, next year and the year after’ under a Labour government – in contrast to the Tories, who have so far only committed to protect spending on the NHS.
The Conservatives also stepped up their election campaigning on returning from the Christmas break. Tory leader David Cameron published a draft manifesto on health, confirming their promise of a real-terms increase on the health service from 2011.
