Labour have failed on Social Mobility, says Nick Clegg

29 January 2008

The first part of the speech can be found here.

[Part Two]


But how can we ensure that the combination of progressive politics and local empowerment delivers on our ambition for a fairer society?

Social mobility cannot be delivered in isolation.

It must factored into policy-making across the board.

Our life chances are affected by our health, by our housing, by the quality of our environment.

In every one of these, fairness and social justice will be at the heart of our thinking.

And over the coming months and years I intend to put liberal social justice at the heart of our thinking on all of these issues.

But there is one route to opportunity that stands out from all others.

What was true for my parents' generation remains true today.

Education should still be the key that unlocks human potential:

And it should still be "the way out" for ambitious young people who want to grasp the opportunities that exist in life.

But for too many, it just isn't.

Look at the evidence.

Today in England more than half a million children attend schools that fail to meet the government's target of three in ten pupils getting five good GCSEs, including English and Maths.

Nearly 60% of pupils attend schools which fail to get those results for half of their pupils.

I do not accept that these figures are the best that Britain can do.

Nor do I believe that it is acceptable that attainment should be so closely related to poverty.

Deprived boys, for example -

Eighty two percent of them meet the government's target.

But those figures don't tell the whole story.

Under the right direction, schools with the poorest pupils can still get good results.

Take Oaklands School in Tower Hamlets, here in London.

Six out of ten pupils there are entitled to free school meals.

But almost as many got five good GCSEs, including English and Maths.

Ofsted described it as outstanding, and truly it is.

Schools like Oaklands show that the link between poverty and achievement can be broken.

But the fact that so few schools have managed it proves how difficult a task it is.

Well, I am an optimist by temperament, and a pragmatist by nature.

And I believe that we can do better for our children.

By using the school system to open up life chances for all:

And by applying the principles of liberal social justice.

I have already established a Schools Working Group to find practical ways to ensure quality education and real opportunity throughout our schools.

But I want to outline my thinking in this area so far.

We need to start early - very early.

Every pre-school child is entitled to twelve and a half hours of childcare with an educational element.

But not every parent knows that.

The Daycare Trust has found that information about childcare is often ad hoc and passed on by word of mouth.

That means that it is all too often unreliable and inconsistent.

Middle class parents with information, networks and social capital are most likely to know what they are entitled to.

But parents who don't meet regularly with other mothers and fathers are missing out.

Often these are the parents who are struggling hardest to raise their family.

And it is their children who stand to benefit most from pre-school education.

So I want to look at ways of ensuring that all parents are made aware of their childcare entitlements -

So that they can choose what is best for them and their children.

There is a strong case for ensuring that all parents are made explicitly aware of what is available to them at the point at which the birth of their child is registered.

Because we must ensure equality of information right from the start.

That also means extending the Childcare Tax Credit to cover workless households too, on the condition that it is used for education.

Children whose parents are out of work are often the very kids who stand to gain most from additional years education.

We must make sure that they get it.

And that pre-school education must provide our young people with the tools they need to make the most of future years at school.

The shocking truth is that half of children from deprived areas start school without basic speaking and listening skills.

How can young people keep up with their classmates if they start out at school with one arm tied behind their back?

I was fortunate enough to come from a loving and secure home where I enjoyed attention and support.

But what if I hadn't?

What if I had one or two parents who had struggled to make ends meet, and teach their children basic skills?

Would I be standing here today?

I doubt it.

So we need to find ways for early years education - both infant school and pre-school - to focus on developing the listening and speaking abilities of all kids.

And I have asked our Schools Working Group to do exactly that.

But if education is to deliver liberal social justice we must ensure that a minority of schools don't skim off the brightest pupils at will -

Leaving other schools to suffer the consequences of poorer attainment and weaker reputations.

That's why we must end selection in Academies, Trust Schools and Foundation Schools.

I want things to be different.

I want pupils picking schools, not schools picking pupils.

And I want to see local comprehensives competing with academies, trusts schools and foundation schools to get poorer kids, rather than bright kids, on their roll.

There is a way to do that.

Our Pupil Premium will raise funding for the poorest pupils up to the level of private ones.

Schools will receive a cash bonus for every deprived student that they accept.

That will make poorer pupils more attractive to successful schools.

And it will make schools with high deprivation rates more affluent.

The Pupil Premium will put power in the hands of parents and pupils.

It will extend opportunity to those who need it most.

And it will deliver liberal social justice.

So will our plans for Free Schools.

I see nothing liberal in basing British schools on some identikit plan.

Uniformity of buildings.

Uniformity of management.

Uniformity of curriculum.

Liberals don't want conformity:

We treasure freedom, innovation and diversity.

So where reliable, ambitious, independently assessed organisations want to run schools, I say let them.

Parents, sponsors, charities, voluntary and non-profit private organisations can all bring fresh thinking, creative ideas and specialisation to our education system.

These are not private schools or academies.

There will be no academic selection.

Local government will have strategic oversight.

Headteachers will be free to innovate  - released from bureaucratic constraints.

Free schools will harness the energy and enthusiasm of private individuals to boost academic performance and provide opportunities for all children -

From every walk of life.

But let me be clear -

Liberal social justice is not only about opportunity.

It is also about driving up standards.

A British education was once the envy of the world.

And we should not be content until it is the envy of the world once again.

Labour has fostered a culture of mediocrity in our schools.

Standardised curricula.

Uniform methods.

And low expectations.

But we can change that.

We must set our children more challenging goals.

The government's target that there should be no school with less than 30% of pupils achieving five good GCSEs including English and Maths is too low.

We must aim higher.

I want to set the bar at 50%.

And that 50% should be seen as minimum standard, not a maximum target.

Ambitious, certainly.

But the whole point of setting high standards is the value derived from striving to meet them.

Real satisfaction comes from pushing ourselves to our limits, and promoting ambition over comfort.

I don't want to see our public services micro-managed with a myriad of central targets.

But there must be some over-arching standards to which our schools should aspire.

And that is why I want to see our 50% standard put in place.

It is time to place ambition and excellence back at the heart of the education system.

You know, Britain's social divisions are deeper than in any other country in western Europe.

And I fear that they will deepen further unless we take action now.

We are in danger of seeing vulnerable young people dropping off the edge of our society - alienated, berated, uneducated.

On estates throughout our country we can already see this happening.

Kids who have grown up in workless households.

Who have never seen any value in formal education.

And who believe that status is gained from carrying knives and guns, rather than earned through hard work.

More often than not these are vulnerable young people who are unaware of life's opportunities.

Or who simply believe that those opportunities are not for the likes of them.

Last week we heard that gun crime has risen by 4%.

This is part of a pattern of rising violent crime.

And the current stream of media stories about shootings and stabbings on the streets of our cities is the most horrifying manifestation of that.

These are desperate crimes.

And those who commit them should be prosecuted and punished.

But I wonder what qualifications were held by those who commit these crimes.

And what hopes they have for their futures

Very few I'd bet.

You know, half of male prisoners and two thirds of female prisoners have no qualifications whatsoever.

And only one in five prisoners has the standards expected of an 11-year-old in writing.

When we lose young people from the education system, life becomes more challenging.

And criminal behaviour can seem more rewarding.

That's why we must act to provide opportunity and hope for our most vulnerable kids.

I don't suggest that education alone will solve these problems.

But it is an essential part of the equation.

We must equip our young people with the skills necessary for learning.

We must ensure that education fosters ambition and innovation.

And we must guarantee that funding follows the pupils who need it most.

That's a progressive platform for schools.

It is built on the best of British values - freedom, fairness, individual endeavour.

And it is the future of liberal social justice."

Applicablity: due to devolution, parts of this item refer to the whole UK and parts refer to only some sections of the UK.