UK opposition leader Keir Starmer vowed to break the “class ceiling” stopping people from poorer backgrounds progressing in education and at work, promising speaking lessons in state schools to boost life chances.
(Bloomberg) — UK opposition leader Keir Starmer vowed to break the “class ceiling” stopping people from poorer backgrounds progressing in education and at work, promising speaking lessons in state schools to boost life chances.
Communication skills are essential to “remove barriers to opportunity and break the pernicious link between where you start in life and where you finish,” the Labour Party leader told BBC Radio 4 on Thursday. “Far too many children and young people are limited by the earnings of their parents rather than their own potential and talent.”
The focus on speaking skills as a key plank of the education system taps into a political vein in the UK that Starmer hopes will set Labour apart from Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives ahead of a general election expected next year. It seeks to redress the balance between those educated in state-funded schools who Labour argue are held back by lack of opportunity, and private-schooled pupils who graduate with a confidence that helps them into the best positions.
It’s also very different language to that used by Sunak, who chose to emphasize math in his own speech on education earlier this year.
Starmer said confident speaking is vital for both learning and life, and the idea that “every kid should be a coder” will be blown out of the water by the rise of artificial intelligence. In a speech in Kent, southeast England, he said digital skills should be built into the broader curriculum.
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Labour holds a double-digit lead over the Conservative Party in polls, putting Starmer on track to bring the opposition party back to power for the first time since 2010. He’s set out a series of what he calls long-term goals to transform Britain’s fortunes over the course of one or two terms in government.
But he faces have to scale back Labour’s ambitions due to what he calls the dire state of the UK economy. That risks disappointing those in his party calling for specific policies, including free school meals for all children aged 11 and under, which he again declined to commit to on Thursday.
Money is a “big factor” in Labour’s planning, he told the BBC. “We will inherit a broken economy after 13 years of failure, broken public services, and we have to have clear rules about what we can afford.”
The risk of uncomfortable compromises was underscored during his speech when two young people pulled out a banner and accused him of watering down his climate ambitions. Labour had promised to spend £28 billion a year on green jobs and industry, but last month said it would have to “ramp up” to that figure over time due to Britain’s ailing economy.
Read More: Starmer Sacrifices Key Proposal to Protect His Path to Victory
The Labour leader has long underlined his own working-class background and the fact he was the first in his family to go to university. He hopes to draw a stark comparison with Sunak, a multimillionaire who has faced accusations that he fails to understand the lives of those struggling to make ends meet.
In his speech, Starmer pointed to “a pervasive idea, a barrier in our collective minds, that narrows our ambitions for working-class children and says, sometimes with subtlety, sometimes to your face — this isn’t for you.”
This is “about a fundamental lack of respect,” he said. “A snobbery that too often extends into adulthood, raising its ugly head when it comes to inequalities at work -– in pay, promotions, opportunities to progress.”
Under his plans to boost opportunity, Starmer pledged to:
- Ensure 500,000 more children hit early learning targets by 2030
- Modernize the curriculum to better prepare people for work and life
- End the recruitment and retention “crisis”in schools
- Boost access to vocational training and adult retraining
- Planning reform to boost housebuilding
Speaking clearly will be an important part of the national curriculum in schools, Starmer said, just as it is in private schools. He said the ability to articulate your thoughts fluently was the key to doing well in a job interview, communicating with businesses and getting on in life.
Read More: Starmer Makes Pitch for Power With Labour Soaring in UK Polls
Primary schools would get new funding for “world class” early language interventions, paid for by removing tax breaks for private schools.
But Starmer came under pressure to explain how he plans to end ongoing industrial action in schools, which has seen thousands of pupils forced to stay home over several days this year as teaching unions demand better pay. “I want to resolve the strikes, as do the teachers,” Starmer said. “That means the government has to get round the negotiating table.”
He refused to commit to specific pay levels for teachers, saying it depends on the economy. All Labour’s policies are “fully-costed,” he told the BBC.
Starmer said equipping young people with the skills for the future is essential in an era of growing artificial intelligence and new technologies. There should be a “greater emphasis on creativity, on resilience, on emotional intelligence and the ability to adapt — on all the attributes, to put it starkly, that make us human, that distinguish us from learning machines,” he said in his speech.
His other “missions” are making streets safe, reforming the National Health Service, making the UK a clean energy “superpower,” and securing the highest sustained growth among Group of Seven nations.
(Updates with Starmer comments and context throughout.)
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