Labour Policy Watch: Education

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	Under the Tories, the break up of the comprehensive system began with the creation of new kinds of schools - city technology colleges (CTCs) and grant-maintained(GM) schools - and the publication of league tables of exam results with parents allowed to express a preference for their child to leave their catchment area school for one they considered better. Grammar schools remained in some areas. GM schools received extra funding and the private sector had always had financial help. Powers were taken from Local Education Authorities (LEAs), and central control was maintained through the National Curriculum, Ofsted inspections, hit squads for failing schools (?), etc. Class sizes rose and many school buildings needed extensive repairs. Student grant levels were frozen, and so had to be supplemented by increasingly large loans.
	Labour policy was:
	1	An end to grammar schools
	2	An end to GM schools
	3	Restoration of comprehensive state education
	4	An end to the Assisted Places Scheme for private education
	5	Less league tables comparing schools more fairly by giving value-added data
	6	LEAs to be valued once more as accountable local service providers
	7	Ofsted inspections to be less confrontational and to help schools improve (?)
	8	To reduce class sizes to below 30
	9	To have a major programme to repair school buildings
	10	A student grant system helping those most in need and widening access
	In fact under New Labour:
	1	All the grammar schools remained, in a system biased towards keeping them
	2	GM schools were in effect renamed as Foundation schools, kept their extra funding for many years and often still got it in other ways
	3	Comprehensive schools were damned as a failed "one-size-fits-all" model, even more separate categories of schools were created and they could diverge more in their curricula
	4	The scheme was abolished
	5	The number of league tables first rose then fell; value-added data were published from 2007 but the raw data got much greater prominence
	6	Local authorities lost even more powers, there was a presumption against them running any new schools and LEAs were abolished
	7	Inspections varied according to who ran Ofsted, and were confrontational when New Labour left office
	8	Class sizes were cut to below 30 for 5-7 year olds, but rose for older children
	9	The major repair programme was achieved
	10	Grants were first abolished then reintroduced for the poor, but variable tuition fees threatened to restrict their access to more expensive courses
	In addition:
		The private sector was allowed to run "failing" state schools and whole LEAs and provide more services for other schools
		By 2001 schools received government funding in 71 different ways, making it hard to check whether funding was fair
		Free nursery places and SureStart schemes gave more early years support
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