The Yorkshire Post says: Educating the North '“ learn these lessons

TODAY'S LANDMARK report, Educating the North, is not only a vindication of the reforms that Justine Greening was introducing before she was sacked in the Cabinet reshuffle, but it also goes to the core of Rotherham-born politician's social mobility agenda.
Justine Greening returned to Oakwood School, her former school in Rotherham last October when she was still Education Secretary.Justine Greening returned to Oakwood School, her former school in Rotherham last October when she was still Education Secretary.
Justine Greening returned to Oakwood School, her former school in Rotherham last October when she was still Education Secretary.

Produced by the Northern Powerhouse Partnership headed by George Osborne, the former Chancellor, it highlights the benefits of the Opportunity Areas set up by Ms Greening when Education Secretary to enhance school leadership.

Yet this issue is not unique to Doncaster, Bradford and Scarborough where pilot projects are up and running. It affects the whole of the North and too many pupils from this region are still denied the world-class education that should be their right. However, it is striking that the NPP’s key findings chime with Ms Greening’s comments to the The Yorkshire Post this week.

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The NPP calls for major Government investment for worse-off families to narrow the North-South attainment gap. Ms Greening is the architect of a forward-thinking social mobility agenda that wants to bring about “equality of opportunity of all”.

The NPP wants Northern employers to provide work experience for 900,000 young people every year. Ms Greening was beginning to integrate business leaders into the education policy-making process.

The NPP wants the North to be the world’s leading centre for degree apprenticeships. Ms Greening wants more youngsters from her home town to leave school with the skills that enable them to prosper at trailblazing developments like Rotherham’s Advanced Manufacturing Park.

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Given that the former Education Secretary appears to have been dismissed because she wasn’t sufficiently committed to grammar schools or cutting tuition fees in the opinion of Theresa May’s discredited but still influential former advisor Nick Timothy, the timing of this report, and its suggestions, indicates that it is the Government’s priorities which are at fault on this crucial issue.

If the Prime Minister is serious about listening, and learning, she should implement its findings in full and demonstrate that the prospects of the North’s young people, this county’s future, do truly matter.

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