Professor Graeme Atherton, Vice-Principal of Ruskin College, Oxford, writes exclusively for Labour Home about why a push for better social mobility requires focusing on education beyond schools
This year marks the 50th anniversary of then Prime Minister Jim Callaghan coming to Ruskin College to give what become known as his ‘Great Education Debate’ speech - a first, in that it marked the intervention of a Prime Minister into what had been described as the ‘secret garden’ of the educational world. The speech laid the ground for much future educational policy including the national curriculum, Ofsted and a focus on ‘non-academic’ routes which led to a series of policies (mostly unsuccessful) from the youth training schemes of the 1970s to the T-Levels of the 2020s.
Fast forward 50 years and today again we face many of the same issues: a Labour government is battling the rise of the far right and a global energy crisis, while debate continues over the future of our education system. In the past 6 months, two white papers have been published on post-16 and schools. Both include sensible ideas but as with most things about this government, together they are yet to offer a compelling vision of the kind of society Labour wants to see.
Ruskin College occupies a special place in the history of Labour movement. Clement Atlee was a tutor at Ruskin, Tony Blair spoke at Ruskin before his 1997 landslide and thousands of working-class union students have been educated here. And so, against this backdrop, last month we launched a series of lectures by prominent educational researchers and politicians to mark the 50th anniversary of Callaghan’s seminal speech and ask – what are the Great Education debates of 2026?
We launched the series with an event on social mobility to try and understand why social mobility, an idea so prominent under the last Labour government and up until the late 2010s, has fallen away so rapidly in recent years. The ability of education to provide upward social mobility for more than the minority was always limited but the principle that education was about progress, especially for those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds was crucial one and an inherently Labour idea.
This government needs to find a similarly powerful a way of explaining the purpose of education if it wants to galvanise the idea of for those whom education has always appeared less relevant to their lives. It needs to convince even those who are currently performing the worst within the education system that studying can build a pathway to employment and a better life in places left behind by economic change.
Offering a pathway to a better life in 2026 means focusing on more than just schools. Callaghan’s speech began with reference to adult learning, paying respect to the work of Ruskin over the 20th century, but his major focus was on schools. Fifty years on, the government is still concentrating most of its energy on schools when it needs to be encompassing the whole education system, and crucially the links enable learners to enter and re-enter it at different points in their lives. Undoubtedly, what happens in the school classroom fundamentally shapes an individual’s future, but there must be a connection between this, and what is offered further on in the education system throughout people’s lives.
Questions remain about connectivity. For example, how does increasing the number of skilled workers in the 8 specific high growth sectors described in the government’s industrial strategy, a priority in the Post 16 white paper, relate to offering pupils a broader curriculum, which is a priority in the schools white paper? These two goals are not necessarily at odds but neither do they naturally align. Funding is another issue. Further education (FE) experienced significant budgetary reductions under the Conservatives and lecturers in the sector are particularly poorly paid relative to their counterparts in schools and higher education. Some funding associated with specific projects has found its way to FE but much more is needed if it is to meet the aspirations for the sector outlined in the Post 16 White Paper. Higher education is another problem Labour is storing up for itself unless the future of the sector is tackled. The recent furore regarding student loans is a taster of what will happen if one or more universities go bankrupt, which is a real possibility unless radical action is taken on funding, the HE model itself or both.
Funding is important, but a vision, and a sharper focus on what teaching not just schools look like going forward, is essential. The continuing stream of disruptive events, both home and abroad can make you forget it is actually less than 2 years since Labour came to power. The education system also values stability as much as change when it is has been besieged by different initiatives over recent years. But unlike the 1970s when Callaghan described education as being in a ‘secret garden’ it now sits at the centre of what any government is judged on. When Callaghan made his speech few on the left thought a great education debate was needed – now everyone should.
The Ruskin Great Education Debate Seminar Series 2026 is free to attend and open to all. Events include:
- 3 June (Wed): Skills and the future of the workforce, with Praful Nargund, Director of the Good Growth Foundation
- 9 June (Tue) The future of teaching, with Baroness Mary Bousted, Chair of the Teaching Commission
- 1 July (Wed) In conversation with Chair of Skills England, Phil Smith
- 9 July (Thu) Making lifelong learning central to opportunity & growth, with Helen Hayes MP, Chair of House of Commons Education Select Committee
You can find more details and register here: https://great-education-debate-2026.eventbrite.co.uk/