Politicians should think big. They should think about the next frontier. They should focus government on difficult issues. Keir Starmer has committed Labour to five ambitious missions, of which the fifth is squarely focused on educational transformation. The mission is stated simply and squarely: ‘Labour will shatter the glass ceiling in Britain’. It’s a rallying call against inequality of opportunity and unfair access to education which prevents potential from being realised.
Labour’s education mission is accompanied by a twenty-three-page briefing document which is underpinned by what Rachel Reeves, the Shadow Chancellor has called “securonomics“: putting in place the economic and social structures which make “security the foundation of opportunity”. “Education”, says the paper, “is at the heart of our mission to spread and expand opportunity”. There are three “long-term measurable goals” focusing on early years, school outcomes and “expand[ing] high quality education, employment and training routes”.
Early years is where Labour’s heart currently is, and with good reason. Sure Start, the Blair Government’s signature policy to provide wrap-around support for new parents and children in the early years, was one of the earliest victims of austerity. A developing national network for early support was destroyed, and with it key foundations for learning. There is strong global evidence that early years matters a lot. Inequalities are there at birth, reinforced by early experiences and becoming deeply embedded in children’s lives with devastating consequences. Long-term, sustained investment in high quality early learning makes a lot of sense. It’s not easy: the economics of early education, the quality of the workforce and the relationship between education and care in the early years all need sophisticated policy interventions, sustained over time if they are to succeed. But the commitment to early years makes exceptionally good sense.
