Welcome
June 2nd, 2008 by James Kempton
As chair of the Liberal Democrats Schools Policy Working Group, I am delighted to present to you our consultation paper. This paper lays out the areas which the group has highlighted as some of the greatest challenges facing a 21st century UK education system, and will act as a stimulant for debate both within the Party and externally on these issues.
The working group was set up by the Liberal Democrat Federal Policy Committee to review Party policy on schooling between 5 and 19 years. Much has changed since we last had a fundamental review of policy in this area, but sadly many of the challenges of underachievement in our country remain unsolved. We are very keen to have your views on the ways in which we can create a world class UK education system for the 21st century.
The remit of the group is wide and ranges across issues such as funding for schools and pupils, dealing with social exclusion and underperformance, selection, the curriculum, school structures, the recruitment and retention of school staff, the physical learning environment and more broadly the purpose of education.
Having published this consultation paper to stimulate written evidence, the group will also be inviting a wide range of organisations and individuals to give oral evidence during May, June and July. We will be undertaking a formal consultative session and other education fringe events at the September 2008 conference. Taking into account all the evidence and consultation responses received, the group aims to produce a policy paper and motion to be debated at the Party’s conference in Spring 2009.
We would be extremely grateful to receive your thoughts and responses to the questions we have posed in this document as part of our evidence-gathering process. Please do not feel obliged to respond to all the questions in this document – we have laid them out in themed sections and anticipate that individuals and organisations will have different focuses and areas of expertise. Please feel free to address only those areas which are the most appropriate for you.
In addition, if you feel that an article or pamphlet you have recently published would be of assistance to us, then we will also gratefully receive contributions of that nature.
Our period of formal external consultation closed on Friday 30 May 2008 but we continue to welcome contributions from Liberal Democrat members and members of the public alike.
We will be holding a consultative session on Saturday 13 September at our Autumn 2008 conference, where Liberal Democrat members can input ideas into the 5-19 education policy review and meet the working group. More information will be available on this nearer to the conference.
I look forward to reading your contributions over the coming weeks.
Cllr James Kempton
Chair of the Liberal Democrat Schools Working Group
Consultation Paper:
School Workforce Issues:
Introduction:
The School Curriculum, Qualifications Regime, and Testing: