Empowering Every Child

We have put up with a school system that fails our children and our wider economy for far too long. Today, the Liberal Democrats announced plans to abolish Ofsted and shake up the way in which school and pupil performance is judged in England.

Our current system is completely outdated. We teach our students to remember facts and figures but not how to apply and adapt them. We focus so much on high-stakes testing that we overlook other crucial areas of a child's development, which has led to a mental health crisis in our schools and universities. It needs to change.

The Lib Dems will replace Ofsted with a new Inspectors of Schools who will report on a broad array of qualities including pupil welfare, the promotion of equality of opportunity and teacher workload, sickness and retention, as well as attainment measures.

It's also time to scrap KS1 and KS2 SATs to reduce the incredible pressure we put on our teachers and pupils. We want a revolutionary new system that focuses on moderated teacher assessment and light-touch testing.

We will equip the next generation for adult life - not just the 'three Rs' but creativity and the arts, financial literacy and first aid skills, and completely reworking the curriculum to recognise these values, empowering each individual child to be the best that they can and want to be.