Liz Truss has declared herself “education prime minister” with a plan that includes replacing failing academies with a “new wave of free schools” and improving maths and literacy standards.
The Tory leadership candidate, whose endorsement from party heavyweights has added to the sense that she is ahead of rival Rishi Sunak in the race for Number 10, unveiled a six-point strategy on Saturday “to get Britain’s education system back on track”.
This includes expanding existing high-performing academies, while replacing failing ones with free schools – newly established academies.
Academies are state-funded schools that are independent of local authorities.
In an oft-repeated line from her leadership campaign, Truss said she saw “first-hand how children were failed and let down by low expectations” during her time at Leeds Comprehensive State School.
The remarks had previously drawn criticism from political leaders in the town and former pupils and staff at her former school, Roundhay.
Truss, a former education and childcare minister, also pledged to raise the quality of maths teaching and achieve “the target of 90% of primary school children reaching the expected standard in literacy and numeracy”.
It will seek to give working parents access to child care during the school day and expand the range of providers that accept state child care entitlements.
The foreign secretary also said he would follow through on government plans to change the staff-to-child ratio for young children, bringing England in line with ratios in Scotland, proposals which Labor called “deplorable”.
Truss, who studied at Oxford, has pledged to reform admissions procedures at Oxbridge and other top universities “so that students who get the highest marks in their A-levels will automatically be invited to apply”.
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Truss said: “My six-point plan will ensure that our education system gets back on track by giving every child the tools they need to succeed.
“Through a laser-like focus on improving maths and literacy standards, we will make a real difference to children’s lives, and by giving families more choice and flexibility when it comes to childcare, we will also save them money.” “
Truss has previously said he would end the ban on new grammar schools, selective schools that critics say may expand smarter students but increase inequality overall as other children’s achievements suffer.
Sunak also said he supported their “return”, but understood it meant expanding existing high schools.
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