Bridget Phillipson has said she is ready to take on the unions in a battle over compulsory reading tests for 13-year-olds and more extracurricular activities for all children to prevent them becoming \u201cstuck in a doom loop of detachment\u201d from school.<\/p>\n
The education secretary said that teaching unions, who have argued the tests were \u201cunnecessary and distracting\u201d, should \u201creally think carefully\u201d about whether they could justify standing in the way of tackling the \u201cshocking outcomes\u201d that exist for many working-class children.<\/p>\n
In an interview with the Guardian, in which she said her deputy leadership campaign was \u201cjust the beginning\u201d of her efforts to help secure Labour<\/a> a second term, Phillipson warned that one in four children overall, and one in three disadvantaged children, don\u2019t meet required literacy standards.<\/p>\n In response to the curriculum and assessment review published next week, there will be a new mandatory reading test<\/a> for year 8 pupils in an attempt to tackle underachievement by working-class children. Schools will also be expected to informally assess writing and maths.<\/p>\n There will also be a requirement on every school in England to offer core enrichment activities to all pupils in five different areas including sports, arts and culture, and also outdoor activities, civic engagement and life skills such as cooking and managing finances.<\/p>\n Only two-thirds of secondary school pupils took part in any extracurricular activities through school last year, despite increasing their chances of progressing to work and further education. Ofsted will consider if schools are meeting expectations in their routine inspections.<\/p>\n Phillipson said: \u201cI\u2019m on the side of children and parents and my first priority has to be the best possible outcomes for children in our country, and especially for working-class kids. They only get one chance at a good education and we cannot allow this drift to continue.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d urge those who are considering opposing the introduction of such a measure [reading tests] to really think carefully about whether they can justify the shocking outcomes that we see for too many working-class kids in our country.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll deliver much stronger academic outcomes for young people. But alongside that, I do worry about young people lacking a sense of purpose and feeling stuck in this doom loop of detachment and not being able to read.\u201d<\/p>\n The education secretary said she was also worried about children \u201clacking a sense of purpose\u201d or feeling that they didn\u2019t belong at school, suggesting the new requirements on heads to guarantee all pupils a wider range of extra activities would help.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have seen a worrying trend, particularly where it comes to young men accessing all kinds of poisonous material that\u2019s dripped in their ears online, and the risks that come of detachment, increasing radicalisation, including through far-right extremism. I want them to feel excited about being a part of something.\u201d<\/p>\n Phillipson said she would continue pushing Keir Starmer to scrap the two-child benefit cap entirely in the budget, saying the evidence was clear<\/a> that it must be removed to reduce child poverty.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to make the biggest possible impact that we can on child poverty numbers. We have to be fighting reelection on the basis that we\u2019ve made significant progress on bringing down those numbers. The need to do that is urgent,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe key test is whether by the end of the parliament there are fewer children in poverty than at the start.\u201d<\/p>\n After a delay publishing a long-awaited overhaul of special educational needs provision, Phillipson said she understood the financial pressures that councils were under, but that reforming for children\u2019s sake had to be our \u201cstarting point\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cParents tell me the system isn\u2019t working quite rightly, but then worry about the shape of what\u2019s to come. That\u2019s why it is important we take the time to get this right and to take them with us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Get the day\u2019s headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Lucy Powell (left) embraces Bridget Phillipson after Powell was announced as the new deputy leader of the Labour party. Photograph: Lucy North\/PA<\/p>\n She also sought to reassure MPs, to avoid a repeat of the internal row that blew up welfare reforms. \u201cIt\u2019s about children and their life chances. It\u2019s not about how we seek to save money, and that\u2019s why we\u2019re investing more this year and more in every year.\u201d<\/p>\n