Education has been failed by PM's broken promises

TEACHERS, heads and students are reeling from a series of broken promises after Labour's first 12 months in power.

- JONATHAN WALKER

Tony Blair said his top priorities were “education, education, education” in the run-up to the 1997 general election, and then led Labour to a landslide victory.

Sir Keir tried a similar trick, with a manifesto pledge to recruit 6,500 extra teachers. But latest figures showed the number has actually fallen by 400.

A charitable view might be that it just takes time to get a recruitment drive going. However, the Government has already tried to wriggle out of its pledge.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson says she is promising “to recruit an additional 6,500 expert teachers across secondary and special schools, and our colleges”. In other words, primary schools — where teacher numbers are falling — no longer count.

Diverted