Educational politics: then and after
For many years students have appeared to be less concerned with the outcome of national elections than the rest of the country’s population, perhaps because the topics raised and discussed tend to address issues that do not concern higher education, or simply because course work, dissertations, and exams tend to come first.
Nevertheless, bearing in mind that the Government has been considering increasing annual tuition fees, we take a look at the last five Prime Ministers to see who managed to help out the higher education system the most...or the least.
1976 - 1979
James Callaghan of the Labour party was Prime Minister but seemed only to lead Britain into an economic crisis resulting in public workers striking and a shortage of food and medicine. Education policies? Not so much.
1979 - 1990
Margaret Thatcher of the Conservative party was the first female Prime Minister and probably had the most impact on education.
In relation to primary and secondary schooling, Thatcher introduced the National Curriculum in 1988, allowing pupils to be assessed at a national level while permitting individual schools to provide the same level of education throughout the country.
Free higher education was ruled out and Thatcher encouraged universities to seek private support, thus introducing the student loan system that the majority of students have come to rely on.
1990 - 1997
John Major of the Conservative party took over from Thatcher, but he was not as concerned with education as she was, thus leaving little time to discuss the matter.
His time in power has though been marked by a rather peculiar event, as he had to resign as Prime Minister after a number of difficulties with the public and the Parliament.
Still, he was able to win the party leadership contest and was reinstated, but despite this, he did not mark history as a key player in educational politics.
1997 -2007
Tony Blair of the Labour party won a landslide victory and became the youngest Prime Minister at the time of his election.
He endured many difficult tasks, such as 9/11 and the 7/7 bombings and the ongoing war in Iraq.
Nevertheless, during his terms he managed to introduce the now infamous tuition fees, which have been a major part of educational politics since, and maybe an even bigger part of student life.
He was also known for his priorities as a freshly-elected Prime Minister: “Education, education, education”.
2007
Gordon Brown of the Labour party has been tackling the economic crisis making Government spending cuts of up to £2.5 billion.
Since his election in 2007, the number of university places rose from 403,000 to 513,000 as more people applied for courses in order to escape the recession.
What the parties hold for us
Labour
Sticking to their policy of nurturing children from a young age, there is little to be said about student fees. They want everyone to stay in education up until the age of 18, and are placing emphasis on foundation degrees and apprenticeships, offering them as alternatives to a full degree.
Liberal Democrats
They attracted first-time voters in the previous General Election by announcing they will abolish tuition fees. They are still sticking to their guns and if elected they will propose a six-year phasing-out plan of the fees which would certainly change the lives of many students.
Conservative
They hope to introduce more student places at university, and they want to introduce a repayment bonus for those who repay their student loan early. They will also place emphasis on apprenticeships and give small companies cash incentives to help them hire apprentices.
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