Raising school standards

In the last sea change election in 1997, who can forget Labour's top three priorities for public sector reform: "education, education, education"?

The Labour manifesto promised standards would rise in every school; that teachers would be given the support they needed to maintain discipline; and that every child would be given the tools to succeed.

The reality of the last 13 years is that the UK has fallen down the world league tables in English, maths and science. Since the first OECD comparative study on education in 2001, the UK has fallen from 8th to 24th place in maths; from 7th to 17th in reading; and from 4th to 14th in science. At a national level our school standards are now lower than Liechtenstein, Estonia and Slovenia.

Shropshire schools perform well, despite suffering Labour's urban bias with school funding per child now the 6th lowest in the country. Shropshire Council is working hard with school governors, teachers and parents to work through the consequences of unfair funding and declining school rolls.

Education will be the top priority for public sector reform for the next Conservative government.

My priority for Shropshire is to secure a fairer funding allocation. I recently chaired a cross-party investigation into the complex formula for education funding currently in place. I intend to publish recommendations later this month, calling for greater recognition of the added costs both of providing schools and transport to school in rural areas.

Conservative policies aim to improve educational outcomes for all by raising standards, restoring discipline and freeing teachers to teach.