When the left are left in charge of education

Telegraph.co.uk [November 2006] - More than half of secondary schools in England are failing to provide children with a good standard of education, the new head of Ofsted said yesterday. One in eight secondaries was judged to be inadequate over the past year and four in 10 failed to do better than satisfactory, said Christine Gilbert in her first annual report. It means about 1.6 million pupils are being educated in mediocre or failing secondaries despite record spending of almost £400 billion on education since Labour came to power in 1997 and a trebling of the spending per pupil.

Daily Mail [December 2007] - Britain has nosedived down the world education league despite billions of pounds of extra spending on schools, an international study revealed yesterday. The findings are the third in a week to highlight falling education standards in a country with a schools budget that has risen to more than £50billion a year. Our schools now stand at 24th in a table of teenagers' achievement in maths, level with Poland and down from eighth in six years. Rankings in literacy have fallen from seventh to 17th as schools fail to keep pace with places such as Estonia, Liechtenstein and Hong Kong. In addition, one in five 15-year-olds in the UK tested in maths and literacy by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development failed to reach basic standards.

Daily Mail [June 2008] - Billions of pounds spent on state schools has failed to give parents greater choice over their children's education, a report claimed today. Instead of funding new school places, ministers have spent the money propping up under-performing primaries and secondaries. Despite Labour promises to harness 'parent power' to drive up standards, places at good schools are decided by rigid catchment areas and admissions lotteries, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

Daily Mail [April 2009] - Bright children from poor homes are failing to get into university because of under-performing state schools and not class bias. That is the finding of a major study, covering hundreds of thousands of children, by the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Pupils at struggling comprehensives are getting such low grades they are simply not equipped for degree-level studies, it revealed. It was one of three studies published yesterday which together painted a picture of a 'lost generation' betrayed by Labour.

Government figures showed the number of Neets - teenage dropouts who are not in employment, education or training - has soared to record levels. Meanwhile, a report by York university found that British children are among the worst-off in Europe in terms of health, wealth and happiness. The study by the IFS - conducted jointly with another research body, the Institute of Education - blows apart ministers' claims that 'elitist' universities are snubbing youngsters from less privileged backgrounds.

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