Rishi Sunak has put the “cart before the horse” with his plan to extend maths teaching until the age of 18 and should instead focus on improving primary school provision, said Britain’s shadow education secretary.
Bridget Phillipson hinted that a Labour government may abandon the prime minister’s plan to roll out a landmark baccalaureate-style “Advanced British Standard” and set out her ambition to focus on early-year maths skills instead.
“If I was secretary of state now, reform in the 16 to 18 space along the lines of the Advanced British Standard would not be a priority,” she said in an interview with the Financial Times, adding that Sunak had “got it the wrong way round”.
Under the prime minister’s flagship plans, set out at the Conservative party conference in October, students would study at least five subjects including maths and English to the age of 18, to make the A-level system more closely mirror the breadth of provision in Europe and the US.
Speaking at the Science Museum, Phillipson said her priority was early-years maths skills after Labour party analysis showed that 153,000 children left primary school this year without reaching the expected standard in the subject.
“My priority would be setting up children to succeed much earlier on in their lives, and how we use that as the basis to deliver high and rising standards right throughout our school system,” she said, after admiring a replica of Charles Babbage’s early 19th century “difference engine”, one of the first-ever calculators.
Phillipson, who grew up in a council house in Sunderland and went to a state Catholic school, said it was unacceptable that so many children left primary education without a good standard of maths.
She pointed out that the prime minister’s plans were also unworkable due to a lack of maths teachers. Sunak himself has admitted that the ABS could take a decade to be rolled out for 18-year-olds because of the shortage.
“I don’t see how they deliver it in practical terms, because we simply don’t have the teachers to make it happen. So we’ll take a view as and when they bring forward any legislation,” Phillipson said.
Teacher vacancy rates have increased from two in 1,000 roles in 2021 to five in 1,000 last year, according to government data. The problem is particularly acute for maths and science subjects, where graduates often have a range of higher-paying jobs to choose from.
Phillipson said a Labour government would offer a £2,400 retention payment for teachers who finish two years of work post-training, and would undertake a review of the curriculum to “bring maths to life” with real-world examples such as household budgeting and cooking skills.
She added that Labour would also hire “maths champions” at nurseries as well as in schools once more teaching resources became available.
The UK is at present ranked 13th among OECD countries for maths attainment based on socio-economic status, below Australia, Italy, Japan and South Korea.
Last year ministers set a target of ensuring that 90 per cent of children leave primary school with the national curriculum standard in reading, writing and maths. But in the 2022-23 academic year, nearly one in four failed to meet the standard in maths, according to government data.
A spokesperson for the Department for Education said attainment in maths for primary pupils increased this year, with 73 per cent of pupils meeting the expected standard in Key Stage 2, up from 71 per cent in 2022, although this was still below the pre-pandemic level of 79 per cent.
They added that the results show “the pandemic had a significant impact on education”.
Phillipson confirmed that her party’s increased funding for early years maths teaching would be paid for by removing a VAT exemption for private schools, which the party believes would raise between £1.3bn and £1.5bn per year.
Asked about private schools’ concerns that this would force them to raise fees and could lead to an exodus of students, Phillipson said they “ought to consider how they can make cost savings”.
“We’re in the middle of a cost of living crisis, but private schools have put up their fees year on year way beyond inflation, and they’ve priced themselves out of the market,” she added.
Phillipson quoted research from the Institute for Fiscal Studies think-tank showing that few private pupils would be forced out of their schools by Labour’s plan, contrary to what she called the sector’s “scare-mongering”.
A recent Ipsos poll found that 57 per cent of the public support Labour’s proposals to end VAT exemptions for private schools.
After party leader Sir Keir Starmer earlier this year reversed a pledge to scrap university tuition fees, Phillipson, who studied modern history at Oxford university, said a Labour government would deliver a more progressive system, which could allow a return of maintenance grants for poorer students.
She indicated the party could look at models that include increasing interest rates for top graduate earners to enable the reintroduction of grants, which were scrapped in 2016.
She was also clear that Labour did not back the Tory government’s attempt to cut the number of people taking up what they termed “poor quality” degrees.
“We will not be telling people, as the prime minister is, that university isn’t for them,” she said.
“I don’t believe you can capture the value of education simply in financial terms,” she added. “It’s always other people’s children who lose out.”
