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The new Education Secretary opposed “draconian” spelling tests for primary school pupils, arguing teachers should focus on “creativity” instead.
Lucy Powell, one of Andy Burnham’s closest allies, criticised the “ridiculous” assessments when she was a Labour backbencher, claiming they were being used to “micro-manage” children.
She also suggested that secondary school pupils in England should not have to do the same “handful of GCSEs” – currently English language, maths and science – or risk failing because of “a couple of things” they spell incorrectly.
The comments, from an interview in 2019, emerged shortly after Ms Powell was mocked by the Tories for her own spelling and grammar in a social media post celebrating her new role on Monday.
The Conservatives posted an annotated version of the message on Wednesday with corrections in red ink, highlighting a typo in the first line.
They also said Ms Powell needed to “improve” her grammar in the second sentence and gave the overall post a score of three out of 10, adding: “See me after class!”
Ms Powell, who is also Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, spoke out against mandatory primary school spelling tests in an interview with Tes, the education magazine, seven years ago.
System creating ‘identikit kids’
While she said it was clear the education system had improved since she was a child, she said the shift towards a “data-driven” approach in recent years risked stifling teachers and creating “identikit kids”.
She specifically criticised the spelling, punctuation and grammar (Spag) tests rolled out by the Tories in 2013, which are still compulsory for all Year Six pupils at English state schools.
“With testing and the data-driven approach, the pendulum starts to swing too far the other way,” she told Tes.
“Whereas in the past there was concern that you might have been able [to] do whatever you want, teach whatever you want, that has been addressed.
“But now it’s gone too far with ridiculous Spag tests in primary schools or pupils failing exams if they spell a couple of things wrong.”
Ms Powell, who comes from a family of teachers, also suggested secondary school pupils should not be forced to do the same “handful of GCSEs”.
“You have got to the position where policy keeps pushing and pushing,” she said.
“But are we expecting to have identikit kids when we are saying, ‘All schools should teach these subjects in this way. Everyone needs to take them and everyone needs to do this handful of GCSEs’.
“And whereas 25 years ago schools might have been more focused on creativity and personal expression, now it has gone the other way. We have made huge strides but we are in danger of going way too far with it and we need to get that pendulum to swing back.”
‘Joy taken out of education’
Ms Powell warned that the current approach was draining the “joy” out of education by making it “all a bit identikit”.
“It’s becoming overprescribed and micro-managed. And that is the same for teachers as well. Some of the joy has gone out,” she said.
“Then you add in the funding pressures. Not just funding of schools but ancillary things as well.”
She added: “If you’re a teacher who is then being judged on the number of kids who pass a Spag test or a really hard new GCSE, but you know that those kids aren’t actually being fed properly or not being clothed then it’s not a great atmosphere and it can feel a bit draconian.”
At the time of the interview, Ms Powell was a member of the Commons education committee.
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She was also helping Mr Burnham, then the mayor of Greater Manchester, with an early years drive aimed at preparing children for school.
She previously served as shadow education secretary under Jeremy Corbyn, but quit in protest at his leadership in 2016.
