Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Freddie Whittaker @fcdwhittaker.bsky.social · 1d

She makes the point that we ban other things that are harmful for children, like alcohol. Why don’t we do it for social media?

1 1

Freddie Whittaker @fcdwhittaker.bsky.social · 1d

‘We’ve made a mistake as a society,’ says Trott as she talks about the harms of social media. Says she wants full smartphone ban in schools and a social media ban for children outside school

1 1

Freddie Whittaker @fcdwhittaker.bsky.social · 1d

Trott says she’s already got govt to lift the cap on teacher pay. She’s determined to ban smartphones in schools

1

Freddie Whittaker @fcdwhittaker.bsky.social · 1d

Trott says ‘Britain needs Conservatives’ because they’re providing ‘proper policies’

Discussing the polls ‘is not helping a single person at home’

1

Freddie Whittaker @fcdwhittaker.bsky.social · 1d

Gove asks Trott if Reform has an education spokesperson or any policies. Says he’s asked his journalists to find out and ‘they haven’t yet been able to’

1

Freddie Whittaker @fcdwhittaker.bsky.social · 1d

Is Trott worried that policy making now in govt and other parties like Reform is ‘based more on vibe and meme than detail and evidence’? Gove asks. ‘Yes,’ says Trott, and says she’s worried Phillipson will copy ‘what’s happening in Wales’

1

Freddie Whittaker @fcdwhittaker.bsky.social · 1d

Why has Bridget Phillipson departed from ‘consensus’ over schools in the Labour and coalition years? Trott says she thinks ministers didn’t look at what was in the schools bill, e.g. cap on teacher pay in academies

1

Freddie Whittaker @fcdwhittaker.bsky.social · 1d

Gove asks about the uniform cap. Trott says it’s ’absolutely classic…this is something that works as a headline but is actually very damaging’

Claims Labour is ‘basically banning PE kit in primary school’

1

Freddie Whittaker @fcdwhittaker.bsky.social · 1d

Trott says breakfast clubs are important, bur we need more teachers in the classroom

Has VAT on private schools raised money for new teachers, Gove asks

She claims there are actually 400 fewer teachers ‘as a result of this education tax’

1

Freddie Whittaker @fcdwhittaker.bsky.social · 1d

Trott says Labour government has a ‘complete lack of understanding of how to improve schools…in fact they’re making everything worse’

2

Freddie Whittaker @fcdwhittaker.bsky.social · 1d

Laura Trott now in conversation with former education secretary Michael Gove. He says she has second best job in history in politics (education secretary is best, he says). First question is about behaviour

1 1 1

Freddie Whittaker @fcdwhittaker.bsky.social · 1d

This is incredibly short-sighted. When the Conservative government slashed bursaries following the brief Covid-related boom in recruitment, subjects with the largest reduction in bursaries attracted the fewest trainees the following year

schoolsweek.co.uk/ministers-bu...

1 1

Freddie Whittaker @fcdwhittaker.bsky.social · 1d

She says schools bill will hand councils 'sweeping new powers' not only to 'block good schools from growing', but to 'stop an outstanding school from keeping the same number of pupils'

Freddie Whittaker @fcdwhittaker.bsky.social · 1d

'Labour's stated ambition in their so called reforms is to create more consistency in the education system, not excellence in practice. That means levelling down across the board'

1

Freddie Whittaker @fcdwhittaker.bsky.social · 1d

She moves on to the VAT on private schools policy, claims 'independent schools are closing at a record rate, pressure is being piled on the state sector in a way that teachers across the system warned about'

1

Freddie Whittaker @fcdwhittaker.bsky.social · 1d

'I'm speaking directly to Bridget Phillipson now. For goodness sake, just get on and do it'

1

Freddie Whittaker @fcdwhittaker.bsky.social · 1d

Trott moves on to smartphones. She says Labour is ignoring her call for action, despite bans on smartphones in other countries

'The single biggest thing Labour could do right now to improve behaviour is to get smartphones out of the classroom'

1

Freddie Whittaker @fcdwhittaker.bsky.social · 1d

She calls for automatic fines when pupils do not turn up to their alternative provision

1

Freddie Whittaker @fcdwhittaker.bsky.social · 1d

'We should make alternative provision independent of local authorities. We should make sure that every provider is registered, so that every setting is inspected by Ofsted so there is proper accountability and rigour'

1

Freddie Whittaker @fcdwhittaker.bsky.social · 1d

She says 'important piece of the jigsaw' is specialist alternative provision

But more places are needed

'Our blueprint will create more high quality places in alternative provision, reducing disruption for the many who suffer from it, and delivering specialist support for the few who need it'

1

Freddie Whittaker @fcdwhittaker.bsky.social · 1d

'We can't shy away from setting clear boundaries for excluding pupils when they've been extremely violent or are carrying a knife

'So under the Conservatives, our policy is simple. One knife and you are out. If you assault a teacher, then you are out'

1

Freddie Whittaker @fcdwhittaker.bsky.social · 1d

Trott says the Conservatives 'have a blueprint to improve discipline, building on the work of the last Conservative government'

'It starts with being honest about the need for permanent exclusions

1

Freddie Whittaker @fcdwhittaker.bsky.social · 1d

She talks about behaviour.

'I can tell you, being at school where teachers are sometimes locked in cupboards, things are thrown in the classroom and fights break out in the hallway does not make it easy to learn all for teachers to teach'

1

Freddie Whittaker @fcdwhittaker.bsky.social · 1d

'Labour are turning their backs on everything that we know improve schools. This is a quiet betrayal of all children, but it's the poorest who will be most affected'

1

Freddie Whittaker @fcdwhittaker.bsky.social · 1d

She says Labour-run Wales is a 'live case study of why Labour's changes won't work'

1