Ensuring a Diversity of Education with a Common Standard is a Vital Part of any Truly Whole Nation Conservative Offer

Co-founder of Whole Nation Conservatives Igraine Gray is a Conservative activist and former council candidate, writer, published author and rehabilitated rough sleeper. Prior to the 2024 General Election she was Policy Assistant to Sir Simon Clarke.

Education may be one of the strongest fault lines in modern British politics. One of the five roots of society (the others being family, community, liberty, and security), education engenders strong feelings in most, right across the political spectrum. It usually lays bare a person’s most ardent political beliefs and oftentimes gives an all too real glimpse of how someone sees the world. 

For conservatives, education is undeniably a social good, the ultimate tool of the meritocrat. It not only gives people skills and knowledge to set them up for the workplace and economic pursuits, but also nurtures communication, creativity, and societal cohesion. Therefore, a substantial and aspirational offer on education must be part of any Conservative manifesto.

But what is that offer?

Educational diversity. Diversity of provision and diversity of paths. 

Traditional comprehensives, free schools, independent schools, grammar schools, special schools, and faith schools all have something to offer the children of today and future generations. Children are not one size fits all - and giving parents good choices is paramount. The success of any one of these types of schools does not impinge upon the success of the others - a point seemingly lost on the current Labour administration. By vilifying one type of education, the careless and unfortunate political signal being transmitted is that education is not something to invest in or aspire to, but is simply a function of the state. We must be an unashamed advocate for diversity of provision. Choice and competition drive standards, something we had harnessed very well in government, climbing up the rankings in reading, maths, and science.

England Pisa Rankings
Subject	Ranking 2009	Ranking 2018	Ranking 2022
Reading	25	14	13
Maths	27	17	11
Science	16	13	13

(Data - www.gov.uk/government/publications/pisa-2022-national-report-for-england, 2023)

The diversity of post-16 education and skills routes is also exceedingly important. University education just isn’t suitable for some. It is not how they learn, not appropriate for their career goals, doesn’t match the local job market opportunities, and will not nurture the required skills. In particular, the work we did in government around expanding and improving the apprenticeship offer to our young people showed the value of beefing up non-academic routes to continue education.

Furthermore, diversity of education is the central plank of levelling up. Being able to ‘stay local, go far’ requires a level of adaptability in the local education sector that you will not get from a rigid, nanny-knows-best, centralised system. It simply cannot act quickly enough, nor be tailored enough, using diktat by Whitehall. Nowhere have we demonstrated this more than with apprenticeships. Across England and Wales in 2021, apprenticeships were the highest qualification for 5.3% of people. (Education, England and Wales - Office for National Statistics, Census 2021).

Of the bottom percentiles of the least qualified regions in England and Wales in 2021, the number of people holding an apprenticeship qualification as their highest level qualification exceeded the national average in 59.09% of those regions, and met or exceeded the average in 96.97% of regions (Data from Figure 3, Education, England and Wales - Office for National Statistics, Census 2021). These regions, mainly marked by a need for specific industrial or agricultural skills, will need young people with on-the-job, in-depth knowledge that just won’t be gleaned from a lecturer’s hall. Incidentally, in the top percentiles of most qualified regions outside of London, apprenticeships continue to meet or outperform the national average in 50% of them (Data from Figure 3, Education, England and Wales - Office for National Statistics, Census 2021). We cannot offer all communities, regardless of location, a chance to thrive without harnessing apprenticeships and other vocational qualifications alongside university.

Simply, a belief in, and practically building in, diversity of provision and pathway into our country’s education sector is a vital part of any Conservative offer that embraces the whole nation, an offer which our track record shows we can deliver.