New education secretary Nicky Morgan is “continuity Gove”, says Hunt

Today, Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt will give a speech in which he will say,  although Michael Gove might be gone, the Tories are continuing to pursue his failed education policy.

Hunt will, in particular, highlight the government’s failure to address overfilled classrooms – despite having pledged in their manifesto that if they were in government, schools would be smaller, as would class sizes.

He will reveal figures that show 40,000 primary school children are in classes where there are more than 36 pupils. Of these, over one third are in classes where the number of pupils exceed 40; 5,817 are in classes of more than 50 pupils; 2,556 are taught in classes with more than 60 pupils; and 446  are in classes of over 70.

Hunt is also set to highlight that the number of infants in classes where there are more than 30 pupils has gone up from 31, 265 in 2010 to 93,665 at the start of this year  – a 200% increase. He will argue that if this if the trend continued until 2020, the number of infants that would be in classes of more than 30 pupils would reach nearly half a million infants.

He will explain that the increasing number of classes that have more than 30 pupils is a direct result of Government policy:

“By diverting resources away from areas in desperate need of more primary school places in favour of pursuing his pet project of expensive free schools in areas where there is no shortage of places, David Cameron has created classes of more than 40, 50, 60 and even 70 pupils.”

Alongside criticising Cameron’s failure to reduce class sizes, Hunt will suggest that the Cabinet reshuffle – which saw Michael Gove lose his place as Education Secretary – hasn’t done much for the Government’s education policy:

“David Cameron may have locked Michael Gove away in the attic because he has been told by Lynton Crosby that he is scaring the voters. But be in no doubt that the dangerous experiments with our children’s education continue in the basement. Nicky Morgan has declared she wants to be continuity Gove – she is on autopilot.”

After this open condemnation of Tory education policy, he will go on to explain the clear difference between Tory and Labour visions for British education:

The choice at the next election is between higher standards and a better future for our children and young people, or more of the same from the Tories, who have damaged standards with the wrong priorities on education, allowing unqualified teachers in classrooms on a permanent basis, and completely failing to deliver for all young people.

“Labour will transform standards with reforms that will deliver a world class teacher in every classroom, the right priorities for planning school places and local oversight of schools, and with high quality technical and vocational education at the heart of our plans to transform education and maximise the talents of all young people, so that all are able to play their part in renewing Britain.”