LightningMinion paid a visit to Witchford Village College in Witchford, where he held an event entitled “Labour’s plans for a compassionate education system”. The event was attended by GCSE and secondary school students from the college and other schools, A-Level students, teachers and other teaching staff, parents of students, and other general members of the public. He started the event by giving the following speech:

“I would like to start by congratulating all of you who got your A-Level results a few days ago, and I wish you all the best of luck, with your future plans, whether that is going to university, seeking an apprenticeship, seeking a job, or something else. I’d furthermore like to wish any GCSE students here the best of luck with your results.

The truth is, the A-Level and GCSE examination system is broken. I have spoken to many GCSE and A-Level students who believe that the system puts them under undue levels of stress, that it causes poor mental health, and that the system is fundamentally broken. I am sure that many of the students here will agree with this. Labour has a plan to fundamentally reform the examination system and to fix its flaws. We have committed to leading a full review of the examination system. This review will consider the views of students and teaching staff as to how the exams system can operate best, ensuring that it is a system which can accurately measure the real potential of students, without putting them under excessive stress and harming their mental health, and without contributing to the attainment gap. In addition, a Labour government will also merge all exam boards into one not-for-profit exam board so that the exam board is focusing on delivering high-quality education rather than focusing on competing with other exam boards.

The other priority of a Labour government in regards to primary and secondary education will be combatting the attainment gap. Every student, regardless of their background, should have the same opportunities to get top grades. However, the statistics show a different picture: students from lower-income on average get less top grades than students from higher-income backgrounds, as they are less able to afford schemes to help them boost their education. The Labour Party strongly believes that no student should ever get a worse education because they are poorer; and we will thus abolish fee-paying schools.

In fact, let me quote the Conservative /u/SurfingNooty1 because I think they outlined very well why fee-paying schools should be abolished: “The Fees make it so the child gets a better education and with Labour wanting to scrap this will make anyone who parents who are well off on the same playing field as people who don't have that money to send their kids to the best school… if you have the money you should be able to get a better education than someone else.”

This is exactly why we want to abolish fee-paying schools. We want all families to be on a level playing field when it comes to education. I do not believe that a student should get a better education because their family can afford it, as conversely this means that students whose families cannot afford a private education get a worse education. Education is a right which every student should have equal access to, and shouldn’t be a commodity.

In addition, a Labour government will also abolish academies. Academies take schools out of the control of local education authorities and out of the scope of the national curriculum, and introduce the influence of private interests into state schooling. It was said that academies would improve the performance of schools. This college is an academy, and has it really helped? My team has informed me that standards at this school are pretty low, and I’ve heard some dreadful stories of what goes on in this college.

Anyway, back to education policy. We will revert schools like this to the control of local authorities, ensuring that local authorities can properly hold educational standards to account.

One sector of the education system which has oft been neglected is post-16 education. This will stop with a Labour government. Our education secretary /u/Frost_Walker2017 introduced some transformational and much-needed reforms to adult education and apprenticeships within Scotland which have made large differences to apprentices and adults who wish to gain qualifications, and will introduce these reforms at Westminster if they are Education Secretary again. For example, we will increase funding for apprenticeships, and enshrine formal protections of apprentices into law.

In addition, we will also introduce a scheme whereby someone who is skilled in a particular subject but doesn’t have formal qualifications in it can easily acquire the qualification. In this scheme, you will only be required to sit the assessed portions of the course without needing to attend any lessons. This will mean that those who are skilled at a particular job have the formal qualifications to prove this, which will be very useful for workers in vocational roles when applying for new jobs.

I will now stop rambling on about education and will answer questions which the audience might have.”

A student from the college named Will asked “Will the Labour Party’s plans for defence cuts not damage Britain’s safety on the global stage”, to which LightningMinion responded: “Many right-wing politicians fall into the trap of advocating for higher and higher defence spending without considering what that spending would be spent on. Fundamentally, if you order 10 new aircraft carriers for the navy, but those aircraft carriers fail to actually see any active use, then ordering them hasn’t in any way bolstered Britain’s security. Instead, it only contributed to inefficiency and bloat, and to wasting the money of taxpayers. Instead, Labour’s defence policy is one based on pragmatism. We want to reorient our armed forces to be a premier expeditionary and a rapid response force which can protect Britain and her interests on the global stage. If achieving this means ordering more defence procurement, a Labour government won’t hesitate to do it, but we won’t waste money on unnecessary defence procurement.”

A member of the public named Theo asked “Given the events of last term, how will Labour deliver for rural communities?”, to which LightningMinion responded “Our manifesto includes many brilliant policies for rural communities. For example, we will expand access to healthcare by removing hidden fees, such as GP appointment fees and hospital parking charges. We will massively invest in improved public transport in rural areas, including by reopening regional railway lines, by investing in publicly-owned, reliable, and accessible bus services, and by ensuring that all rural areas have a frequent public transport link. We will support the transition of the farming industry to eco-friendly and sustainable farming practices. The Conservatives like to say they care about rural areas, but in reality, simply do not. The rural affairs section of their manifesto failed to list any rural affairs policies, and their manifesto overall doesn’t in any way offer any comprehensive investments in rural communities, unlike the Labour manifesto. Last term, they voted against schemes designed to improve public transport in rural areas because they think that just because it’s often costly for public transport to serve a rural community, that rural community shouldn’t get served. Their candidate in this seat hasn’t even visited any rural areas in the county: he campaigned solely in Cambridge’s city centre! I believe I’ve got time for one further question”.

A student from the college named Remi got to ask the final question, which was “What exact reforms to exams will the Labour Party deliver?” to which LightningMinion responded “I cannot give you a certain answer, and for a very good reason. Labour doesn’t want to enact top-down reform of exams which sounds good on paper at Whitehall, but which fails to actually improve exams for students. Instead, our reform of exams needs to be bottom-up, which we will achieve by extensively consulting students and teachers. By doing so, I believe that we will be able to enact significant and meaningful reform to build an examination system which accurately assesses the actual potential of every student without ruining their mental health, and which crucially is supported by students and teachers.

I can, however, reveal that there will be some ideas which a Labour government would consult students and teachers on. For example, we will look at reforming the role coursework plays in determining grades. Should coursework determine a larger proportion of grades, for example? Should we introduce coursework for some subjects which currently lack it, but which are suitable for coursework? One such subject are the sciences: should practical work continue to be a required part of the subject which doesn’t contribute to grades? Or instead, should practical work make up let’s say 10 or 20% of the overall grade. At A-Level, each science subject has a “practical endorsement” component in which every student gets a pass or fail on their A-Level certificate, but this endorsement doesn’t actually contribute to the overall grade. Should it? Or do students instead prefer more written exams instead of coursework?

As for written exams, should they stay as they are, or should we instead move to a system of digital adaptive exams? Under this system, instead of every candidate answering the same series of questions, the test will tailor itself to students. For example, if a student answers a question correctly, it might give them a harder question. If they don’t, then it might give them an easier question. This would allow the actual true potential of each student to be pinpointed with greater accuracy. In addition, we will also look into whether exams should continue to be closed book, or whether they should instead be open book. In real life situations, you usually have access to Google to answer questions: should this extend to exams to ensure that exams assess your skill in the subject rather than your skill to remember facts?

I cannot say what exact reforms the Labour Party would make to the exams system. What I can guarantee, however, is that the reforms will be based on the views of students and teachers like you, and will be designed to produce an exams system which works.

Thank you all for coming here today, and remember to vote Labour on… Wednesday! I definitely didn’t say Thursday at previous events. Let’s keep Britain on track, and let’s endorse Raymentum!