Commenting on the Prime Minister’s speech to Labour Party Conference, Daniel Kebede, General Secretary of the National Education Union, said:
“The Government should forget the pursuit of free holidays, concert tickets and shiny new suits and focus on the needs of families and children.
“Nobody doubts the scale of challenge confronting the Government but what was lacking today was any sense of the scale of ambition needed to meet these challenges.
“Austerity will be ended in deeds not words. The clock is already ticking on this government - people need to see genuine change. Rather than manage the aspirations of families, Keir Starmer should be sending a clear message that his government will oversee a systematic programme of investment in public services and a rebalancing of wealth and power in our massively unequal society.
“Schools are crumbling and severely underfunded and we can’t recruit and retain enough staff. This is failing an entire generation of children and young people, hindering economic growth and sowing the seeds of division and inequality in our society. More of the same is the last thing teachers, support staff, school leaders and parents voted for.
“Child poverty must also be ended. Abolishing the two-child limit and expanding free school meals to all primary schools are necessary immediate steps, bringing many thousands of children out of real poverty overnight.
“In the reform to the apprenticeship levy, businesses should not view the additional funding and labour as an opportunity to cut corners. The Youth Guarantee must do what it says on the tin and provide a real route to skilled work.
“We welcome the call for greater creativity. More children should have access to a creative curriculum and the arts, but this can only be achieved with substantial investment.”