Central government’s “takeover” of England’s schools has “not improved outcomes,” says Labour in blueprint document

Central government has taken over English schools through the “power grab” of a “top-down reorganisation” that has “not improved outcomes,” the Labour Party said this week as it announced a radical blueprint for the future of how power is held across the UK.

The suggestion, in a brief passage on how successive governments have managed public services, contains a hint that the opposition party might be open to arguments about how to make the operation of England’s schools more democratic and transparent.

There is, however, no detail on how this might work, with the document perhaps leaving a sense that all would be to play for in terms of those wondering how a different system might work under a Labour government.

The background

Labour’s “Commission on the UK’s Future,” led by the former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, attracted much coverage this week for its idea of devolving powers, including through plans to scrap the House of Lords.

However, the commission’s philosophy, and its backing by the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, also seems to chime with some themes of reporting on this website.