Why Labour?

Unlocking the talent and potential of each and every young person must be at the heart of Labour’s vision for education. Since 1997, Labour has transformed education; young people are achieving some of the best ever results at 11, 14, 16 and 18.  We have doubled the investment in education from £39 billion in 1997 to £63 billion in 2007/08 – and this will rise further to £76 billion in 2010/11. Our long term aim is to close the gap between private and state education; raising the level of investment per pupil to today’s private school levels.

Key achievements:

• Labour has doubled the amount spent per pupil since 1997 from £2,900 to over £5,850 today. 
• Labour has delivered over 39,000 more teachers and 174,000 more teaching assistants than in 1997. This investment has enabled 100,000 more 11 year olds to master literacy and 93,000 more to master numeracy since 1997. Today, 81 per cent of 11 year olds reach the expected level in English and 78 per cent in Maths.
• Labour has seen 470,000 more young people gain five or more good GCSEs. The proportion of young people achieving five or more good GCSEs is up by over 15 per cent since 1997.
• Over 1,100 new schools have been rebuilt or newly built. Labour is committed to rebuilding or refurbishing every secondary school and half of all primary schools in the coming years.

Winning the fight for Britain's future:

• Labour will guarantee every young person up to the age of 18 an apprenticeship, training or a place to study free of charge by 2015. We will increase the number of apprenticeships for 16 to 18  year olds to 90,000 by 2013.
• Labour is committed to the National Challenge – that no school should have fewer than 30 per cent of its pupils achieving 5 good GCSEs including in English and Maths by 2011. Our ambition is backed up by a £200 million package over the next three years.
• We want every secondary school to be a Specialist school, a Trust school or an Academy, with a business or university partner for every one of them. By 2010/11, over 310 Academies will be open or in the pipeline.
• To ensure that every child leaves primary school confident in their literacy and numeracy skills, Labour will offer 30,000 pupils coaching in literacy and 30,000 coaching in numeracy every year over the coming years.
• In secondary schools, Labour will provide one to one tuition to 300,000 pupils in English and 300,000 pupils in Maths, who are falling behind their peers.