Now is the time for a clear and ambitious vision on education

It feels uncomfortable to be writing about education and the general election so soon after the appalling events in Manchester. Too many people in too many places will have seen the axis of their world shift.

Yet the date of the election moves ever closer, and with it some big decisions about the shape of our education system – what it will look like in five years’ time and how it will prepare our young people for this turbulent world they face. And perhaps that is, in fact, pertinent to what has happened at the Manchester Arena – because a great education system helps, in part, to protect us against hatred and intolerance by teaching the values of civilised and respectful behaviour.

I have no doubt whatsoever that all the political parties believe in the importance of a great education system. But to improve further on the high standards we already have in our schools, colleges and universities, the next government needs to recognise the importance of resources and evidence.

Across the country, thousands of parents and children are taking part in a national day of action over school funding – showing the depth of public concern about the impact of real-term cuts. The fact that schools and colleges urgently need better funding is now widely accepted.

Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives all recognise this issue in their respective manifestos, but their plans differ, with Labour and the Lib Dems pledging more funding than the Conservatives.

The Conservatives say they will increase the overall schools budget by £4bn by 2022. However, it has to increase by about £2.8bn already because of a large rise in the number of pupils over the next five years. So, the “extra” money is more like £1.2bn and this just isn’t enough to offset rising costs of £3bn a year by 2020. Worryingly, it may not even be deliverable because there are question marks over the plan for funding this increase.

And there is also little comfort in the Conservative manifesto for the much-neglected post-16 sector, where budgets have been severely hit by government underfunding. While the Conservatives plan to invest more in technical education, there is no mention of any improvement to the general level of funding in sixth forms and colleges.

It is vital that government education policies are based on evidence. The Association of School and College Leaders manifesto calls on all political parties to ensure this. For too many years, school and college leaders have felt that ideas from government have been developed without a firm or robust evidence base. This has led to a never-ending volley of reforms.

The Conservative’s plan to increase the number of selective schools is the latest example, and potentially the most damaging. There are lots of reasons increasing selection is a bad idea, but one of the most compelling is that there is no evidence to support the premise that it will improve education for the majority of young people.

In fact, what the evidence does suggest is that more selection will have a damaging impact on the life chances of the majority of young people who do not attend a selective school. It will fracture education patterns in communities, and is likely to do harm.

We get this instead of any clear overarching vision for education. And that, perhaps, is what is so depressing in a week when inevitably we are thinking of the importance of our children and young people – the absence, in any party’s manifesto, of an ambitious and optimistic long-term vision for education.

Meanwhile, schools and colleges will do the very best they can for their students, whatever the circumstances, whatever their backgrounds, just as they always have done. Schools will continue to be safe spaces equipping young people with knowledge and skills, and teach civilised values and behaviour.

But the next government can help them a great deal in this vital social mission by making sure there is sufficient funding, and that the education policies that we are asked to implement are founded on robust, reliable evidence of what works. These are the key ingredients in achieving what we all want: a world-class education for every young person.

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