I know I can’t do much as just one person, but, I thought, surely, if I can get a few important people on side, I can get people at least talking about a Northern Challenge to drive up standards in education.
I’m disappointed that the UK, especially England, revolves around London. In the 1980s and 1990s, education in London was a byword for underperformance and underachievment: nobody, least of all our Mps, wanted their kids state educated in the capital. Quite rightly, Tony Blair, as prime minister, described this as an emergency and did something about it. Working with local authorities, schools, professionals and academics, the London Challenge was born… and London’s schools quickly moved from the worst to the best.
Once London Challenge had been proved to be a success, the idea was partially rolled out – to Birmingham and Manchester as part of the city challenge (though why…
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msamba 