The government’s Schools White Paper has been criticised by an Oxford MP for having “no plan, no vision, no ambition.”
Annelise Dodds MP for Oxford East has warned the government’s Schools White Paper looks to fail Oxford’s children. She highlighted that eight in 10 schools are told to carry on as normal and data shows that young people’s attainment has gone backwards in Oxfordshire.
Among the new plans for schools in England are targets to raise GCSE grades; improve reading and writing in primary school children; plans to for an annual behaviour survey of parents, children and teachers and plans that will allow councils to establish their own academy trusts.
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The Labour MP wants to see a focus on children’s experience in classrooms and less on “bureaucratic tinkering with school structures.”
This comes as data shows that even before the pandemic young people’s attainment at school was going backwards.
In Oxfordshire, 66.43 per cent fewer 16-year-olds were gaining level 2 – GCSE equivalent – qualifications in 2020 compared to 2015.
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Ms Dodds said: “This White Paper is looking backwards, showing no plan, no vision, and no ambition for children in Oxford.
“Labour would deliver more of the trained staff our local schools desperately need - because the success of teachers enables the success of our children.”
Labour’s Shadow education secretary, Bridget Phillipson also criticised the White Paper as being a “missed opportunity”. She said the attainment gap between advantaged and disadvantages pupils was widening.
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