Hot Local Issues
Supporting Suffolk schools
It is a rewarding job visiting schools as a local MP. You see so much energy, hope and optimism. You see the future.
N0-one forgets a good teacher – and few people will have such a profound effect on a young life as an inspirational teacher.
Teaching is more than just a profession. It’s a calling to make the world a better place by working with the young of today to enrich their minds. It’s not always easy. For as Winston Churchill once said about his turbulent schooling: “I am always ready to learn, though I don’t always like being taught”!
Though Nelson Mandela put it best when he said:
“Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world” -
I believe in a fair and just society where every child is given the opportunity of a good education.
There must be a ladder of opportunity which every child can climb.
Our Suffolk schools must offer that opportunity to every child, regardless of their background or their place of birth.
But new statistics show that Suffolk simply isn’t getting its fair share of resources and investment. House of Commons figures reveal that over the last three years funding per pupil has been less in Suffolk than in Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Essex. The same figures also reveal that the percentage increase in funding between 1998/99 and 2005/06 was less in Suffolk than in Cambridgeshire and Norfolk.
I want to see this redressed. Not only do rural communities receive less per pupil than their urban equivalents but Suffolk receives less than similar East Anglian rural communities.
And times are changing in our county. Suffolk has not the largely agricultural based economy it did 50 years ago. We face greater international economic challenges.
In the age of globalization the future will be bright and full of hope for those with better skills. China’s wage costs are still just one-twentieth of those of the European Union. So we know competing on that level is getting more difficult.
Yes, there is a key role for government to encourage training and investment so that our workforce of the future has the right skills to contribute to our changing local economy.
That’s where schools with specialist status come in. It was once said: “The schools of the country are its future in miniature.” Well, I have seen the future at schools like County Upper, Thurston Community College, KEGS, and Stowupland High School. (And I was particularly honoured and delighted to speak as a Guest of Honour at the dinner to celebrate 50 years of Stowmarket High School).
All these schools cater for academic pursuits for those who want to go to university and more vocational training for those between the ages of 14 and 16 who want to choose a different learning path.
But we can do one more thing: help teachers more. A small but vocal minority of pupils when threatened with punishment say “I know my rights”. Teachers are disempowered.
The danger is that as a society we are starting to treat teachers like children and children like adults. This balance is wrong and we should say so.