What's wrong with a little discipline in schools? |
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Flexible Childcare and School Discipline |
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| Juggling work and family life can be a struggle. Under Labour, Britain has the most expensive childcare in Europe, and many working families receive no help. | |
| Conservatives trust families to make the right decisions about childcare. We will reform the system to increase choice, flexibility and support for working families. | |
| We will provide more flexible maternity pay – giving mothers a choice of whether to receive it over nine months, or a higher amount paid over six months. | |
| We will also give extra support for workplace nurseries and provide a new network of clubs for older children. | |
| Providing good education costs money – and our plans provide for an extra £15 billion a year for schools by 2009-10. Even more important than extra money, we must get the fundamentals right. |
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| Classrooms need to be disciplined environments where children can learn. Teachers must be free to follow their vocation and inspire young minds. Standards must be maintained so that pupils, colleges and employers have examinations they can trust. Our education system should encourage excellence and ambition. | |
Teachers can only teach and children can only learn in a school with good discipline |
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| Today, these basics have been completely neglected. Over one million children play truant each year. Head teachers have been denied the final say on expulsions, and good schools will be further punished by being forced to admit a quota of disruptive pupils. | |
| Last year a third of children left primary school unable to write properly and more than 40,000 teenagers left school without a single GCSE. Examinations have been devalued so that it is possible to secure a ‘C’ Grade at GCSE maths with just 16 per cent. | |
| A Conservative Government will put the right values at the heart of our education system. We will ensure proper discipline in schools by giving heads and governors full control over admissions and expulsions. We will not allow a minority to ruin the education of the majority. Instead of disrupting the education of others, difficult pupils will be given the chance to get their lives back on track in special Turnaround Schools. |
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| The respect due to teachers will be enhanced by protecting them against malicious allegations of abuse and, most importantly, reducing the massive burden of paperwork. | |
| Schools will be liberated to set their own priorities and budgets. The current proliferation of funding streams will be replaced by a simple system, with funds allocated on the basis of pupil numbers. Money will follow the pupil. Head teachers will then have the freedom to spend money in accordance with their school’s own needs, without interference from Whitehall. | |
| Many children leave school at 16 because they are bored and because vocational education does not have the status that it deserves. We will end the snobbery that has damaged vocational education. New grants will be made available to help pupils who wish to combine GCSEs with vocational study at a wide range of colleges, businesses and other enterprises. We will introduce 300,000 vocational grants of £1,000 each for 14-16 year olds. | |
| Education should be about more than academic learning. Under Labour, sport has been squeezed out of the curriculum and child obesity has risen alarmingly. | |
| Our schools should be places where children also learn other skills for life, such as healthy living, being part of a team and respecting others. We will give every child the right to two hours of after-school sport with our Club2School programme, at no cost to parents. We support improvements to school dinners, and will go further by banning junk food in schools. | |
| Children need to be taught how to deal with risks in life. We will encourage learning outside the classroom and provide protection for teachers worried about school trips. | |
| Parents know their children best and are increasingly frustrated at not being able to exercise more choice and control over their children’s education. We will give parents the right to choose the school best suited to their child’s needs, and our school expansion fund will provide an additional 600,000 places in our first term. This will ensure that in our first five years 100,000 more parents get their first choice of school. | |
| Schools will have responsibility for admissions, good schools will be allowed to grow and support will be given to new schools set up to respond to parental demand. Parents will also be able to send their children free of charge to any independent school that offers a place at no more than the cost of a state-funded school. | |
| We will pay particular attention to children with special needs. Under Labour, the dogmatic pursuit of inclusion has led to the closure of special schools and children have suffered as a result. A Conservative Government will introduce a moratorium on the closure of special schools and give parents proper information and choice so they can secure the best opportunities for their children. | |
| Labour have ignored the further education sector. We will simplify funding, replace the bureaucratic Learning and Skills Councils, ensure that money follows the student and allow colleges to apply for “Super college” status with greater freedom to manage budgets, specialise and innovate. | |
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We will restore real choice in higher education by scrapping fees and abolishing Labour’s admissions regulator. University funding will depend on attracting new students and so excellence will be encouraged. We will also help universities move towards greater financial independence by building up their individual endowments. |
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School Discipline
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