Labour into the Eighties by David S. Bell

Author:David S. Bell [Bell, David S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780429834370
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2018-12-07T00:00:00+00:00

A Socialist Principle

If ‘equality of educational opportunity’ is so difficult to achieve and so easy to destroy, its value as the central theme of Labour strategy must be rejected on purely pragmatic grounds. To make progress Labour must also declare the principle unacceptable on ideological grounds, for it assumes a hierarchical social structure. It implies that education is selection for social mobility, rejecting the 11 plus as inefficient rather than intrinsically wrong. It implies the existence of inferior and superior classes — otherwise the opportunity to move from one class to another would not be significant. That such a class situation exists within our society is not in question. Any socialist education policy must maximise the provision for working-class children. But we should not legitimise the idea of superiority by making entry into the professional and managerial class the mark of success and by judging schools by their ability to provide entry qualifications to that class.

The ideological tension within the party between socialist egalitarianism and the social democratic quest for equal opportunity has existed for a very long time. In the aftermath of Thatcher, the party must shift towards a genuinely egalitarian view. This would assert the educability of the normal child with consequences for the structure, content and outcomes of the system. It would not avoid the issue of standards but would grasp it, asserting that our system has always accepted far too low standards for the majority of its children. It would not neglect the quality of schooling, welcoming the greater humanity and democracy which has entered schools through changed perceptions of the relationship of teacher and pupil. It would also welcome the increased politicisation of the curriculum and start a debate on what the content of a socialist, egalitarian curriculum should be (there is little evidence of agreement or even discussion of this on the left at present). It would grasp the issues of equality, the need for ethnic and sexual as well as class equality within school provision, the need for greater equality of outcomes. It would emphasise the financial factors affecting length of stay in education and give priority to those financial arrangements which would lead to greater equality in the length of time children spent in education.

Labour’s Programme of 1976, the most recent comprehensive statement of Labour policy, opens with the familir aim ‘to bring about a fundamental and irreversible shift in the balance of power and wealth in favour of working people and their families’. It identifies clear themes for the future: the creation of an open democracy, building a sense of community, enhancing the quality of life, adopting a socialist economic and industrial strategy. Education is not peripheral to the achievement of these goals. It is intrinsic to them. The programme is an egalitarian one — it demands an egalitarian basis for education policy.

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