Education

Sir Peter Kemp, former Whitehall mandarin, submits our wish list on education to a reality check

guardian.co.uk, Friday 30 June 2000 15.20 BST

Reducing maximum class sizes requires fresh teachers and more buildings. The same goes for free nursery places. But good teachers take time to recruit and train and good buildings take time to put up. A precisely-timed credible programme is needed, probably involving the private sector.

Certainly the manifesto should promise to carry on supporting Ofsted, league tables and performance-related pay. But all these, in their various ways, need review. Ofsted needs to be made more accountable, league tables need to be more about added value, and the performance-pay scheme should be buttressed by credible criteria and appropriate support for teachers engaged in supernumerary activity.

The manifesto should grasp the nettle of higher education, but not at the risk of harming excellence. It should study the availability of top-class places, the access to them for people from the state sector, especially poorer ones; the system of grant maintenance; and the role of the private sector.

Finally, there are three big issues the manifesto must study. First, the use of the private sector - yes if it is right and appropriate. Second, central control versus LEAs - go for the LEAs as long as they can deliver. And third the updating of the curriculum to meet IT and the demands of the 21st century.