Moment in history to combat educational inequalities in the North once and for all, Northern charity says
Fiona Spellman, the chief executive of the Northern education charity SHINE, told The Yorkshire Post: “Education has to be absolutely central to the Government’s leveling up agenda because we know that regional inequalities in our country start very young before children begin school.
“We need to have a recognition that some of these regional disparities are long term in nature so they need long term solutions and long term solutions and long term thinking.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad“In a sense we have to think about the children and young people in the North of England now and ensure they get the best opportunities if we are really going to deliver on the Government’s agenda to level up opportunities across the country. We see education right from birth right through as being really central to that whole agenda.”
On Saturday, The Yorkshire Post reported on calls on the Government by northern education leaders to expand a pioneering educational scheme which has raised standards in three areas of Yorkshire across the whole of the North.
Read the full special Yorkshire Post education report here.Yorkshire leaders said the recovery from covid-19 should be used to place long-term investment into education and empowering more local communities across the North of England and Yorkshire, to fight against generational educational inequalities.
Speaking exclusively to the Yorkshire Post on Saturday, Anne Longfield, the Children’s Commissioner for England, said that without targeted investment, “we will see is another generation of children who fall behind, fall out of school, don’t reach their potential or indeed move out of the area to be able to take up opportunities elsewhere”.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdThe leader of Leeds City Council, Judith Blake said: “Right across the North we are extremely concerned and we are particularly concerned that the Department for Education in a very centralised government system in England is probably the most centralised department of all.
“The argument from those areas that already have some form of devolutions and the areas that are moving towards it is that the Government needs to be far more open to our real experience and evidence that working on this agenda locally achieves far more of a sustainable outcome focused approach.”
Leaders in Yorkshire are lobbying for the Government to expand the pioneering ‘opportunity areas’ educational scheme which has raised standards in three areas of Yorkshire across the whole of the North.
Ms Spellman added: “It is about additional resource and the Government’s commitment to levelling up does have real quality financial backing but also that investment is targeted and spent in a way that can actually deliver change for children and for their families for whom levelling up remains more of an aspiration than a reality at the current time.”
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdA spokesperson for the Department of Education said a 10-year rebuilding programme for schools all over England, with “substantial investment” in the North and the Midlands, had been announced.
In addition, he said: “Every school will benefit from the second year of our school funding settlement, worth £14.4 billion over three years - the biggest increase in school funding in a decade.”
Read the full education report here._____________________________
Support The Yorkshire Post and become a subscriber today.
Your subscription will help us to continue to bring quality news to the people of Yorkshire. In return, you'll see fewer ads on site, get free access to our app and receive exclusive members-only offers.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdSo, please - if you can - pay for our work. Just £5 per month is the starting point. If you think that which we are trying to achieve is worth more, you can pay us what you think we are worth. By doing so, you will be investing in something that is becoming increasingly rare. Independent journalism that cares less about right and left and more about right and wrong. Journalism you can trust.
Thank you
James Mitchinson
Comment Guidelines
National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.