British education is also at a crisis point thanks to wokeness

Given recent Labour history, Sir Keir Starmer’s silence on education policy is particularly deafening. After all, when he was prime minister-in-waiting, Tony Blair promised to make it his government’s defining mission. Famously, ‘Education, education, education’ were to be New Labour’s top three priorities. And many of the ideas that New Labour promoted in education are still dominant today. Indeed, in recent years, the prevalence of identity politics in education has only increased. Many schools today promote transgender ideology and critical race theory.

Before New Labour, the Thatcher government also viewed education as a political priority. Think back to the major reforms by the Tories in the late 1980s, which introduced GCSEs, the national curriculum and school league tables.

Whatever the pros and cons of these reforms, at least education was understood to be a major political issue. Today, politicians don’t seem to care one way or another. This is a serious problem, as it ends up leaving schooling in the hands of an unaccountable education establishment.