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92 Griffiths Laws Flynn Education Liberal Democrats in coalition: education ‘The school of hard knocks’: the role of Liberal Democrats in the coalition’s education policy Simon Griffiths n December 2010, Michael Gove, the Con- David Laws (Liberal of education policy. In this article, I focus on servative Secretary of State for Educa- Democrat Schools the coalition’s policies on schools and higher Ition, wrote that it has become fashionable Minister 2012–15) education in England. (Education is a devolved ‘to refer to the coalition as a Maoist enterprise. and Michael Gove responsibility in the UK, with Scotland, Wales Not so much because the government is inhab- (Conservative and Northern Ireland operating different sys- iting the wilder shores of the Left, but because Secretary of State for tems.) There is much else that could have been of the relentless pace of modernisation being Education, 2010–14) written about education policy between 2010 pursued across government’.1 Gove may have and 2015 – the disagreements over curriculum been the pilot of school reform in England, but reform, the scrapping of the Education Main- Liberal Democrat education ministers in his tenance Allowance, or reforms to GCSEs and department were often willing first officers. A-Levels – however, in this very brief article it is Over the next five years, the coalition govern- the pro-market radicalism of the reforms to the ment undertook one of the most radical periods system of schools and higher education that is of structural reform to the education system in likely to be one of the most significant legacies of recent history, driving through a marketising the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition. agenda from the centre across significant areas This article explores the Liberal Democrats’ role 16 Journal of Liberal History 92 Autumn 2016 Liberal Democrats in coalition: education in these policies and the impact that involvement Over the next five attract students as consumers, regardless of had on the party. whether it is carrying out work in the public years, the coali- good. For Liberal Democrats on the left of the party, this policy caused significant ideological Higher education: markets and party splits tion government discomfort. The coalition government carried out sweep- undertook one of In courting the Liberal Democrats as poten- ing reforms to marketise higher education in tial partners in the coalition, the Conservatives England. The Browne Review – more formally the most radical recognised that the future funding of higher Securing a Sustainable Future for Higher Education: an education was a divisive issue. The Liberal independent review of Higher Education Funding and periods of struc- Democrats went into the 2010 general election Student Finance – published its findings in October on a manifesto pledge to ‘scrap unfair univer- 2010. Amongst other things, the review argued tural reform to sity tuition fees’. Every Liberal Democrat MP that there should be no limit on university fees, elected in 2010 – much to their subsequent col- and that government should underwrite fees up the education lective embarrassment – signed a pledge organ- to £6,000, with universities subject to a levy on ised by the National Union of Students stating all fees charged above that level. In addition, a system in recent that they would ‘vote against any increase in fees new body, the Higher Education Council, would history, driving in the next parliament and pressure the govern- be responsible for investing in priority courses, ment to introduce a fairer alternative’. Opposi- enforcing quality levels and improving access. through a mar- tion to increased tuition fees was a potent vote It should have the power to bail out struggling winner for the party, especially among student institutions and would be able to explore options ketising agenda voters. As such, the coalition agreement noted such as mergers and takeovers if institutions faced that ‘If the response of the government to Lord financial failure. There was also scope for new from the centre Browne’s report is one that Liberal Democrats providers to enter the system. Browne proposed cannot accept, then arrangements will be made that students should not have to pay any tuition across significant to enable Liberal Democrat MPs to abstain in fees up front, but would begin to pay their loans any vote’. This broke the earlier pledge, which back (with interest) once their earnings reached areas of educa- promised the party would vote against any £21,000. tion policy. increase in fees, rather than simply abstaining. Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Secre- However, this went largely unnoticed amidst the tary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, bigger story of coalition formation. At the very responded that he accepted the ‘broad thrust’ of least, Liberal Democrats were not bound to sup- the Browne Review. Cable had previously been port any increase in tuition fees. seen as favouring a graduate tax. However, by the The Liberal Democrat leadership accepted the time the proposals reached parliament in Novem- Revised Browne Review, but were prepared to ber 2010, certain concessions had been made, for abstain in the parliamentary vote on the measure, which the Liberal Democrats claimed credit. In in line with the coalition agreement. However, particular, the government put forward an abso- when it became clear that a significant number of lute cap on fees of £9,000 per year. In an effort Liberal Democrat MPs would vote against any to mitigate criticisms that the review would dis- increase in fees, in line with their public prom- courage poorer people from applying, the gov- ise, the leadership called on the party to support ernment also proposed that universities charging the legislation to ensure that it passed. The party fees of over £6,000 per year would have to con- split. When it came to the vote in December tribute to a National Scholarships programme and 2010, twenty-eight Liberal Democrats supported introduced a stricter regime of sanctions encour- the government’s proposals – despite their pre- aging high-charging universities to increase par- election pledge – with twenty-one breaking the ticipation. Despite government assurances that government line to vote against. It was the most this would lead to price variation in the market, serious split the coalition had faced and destroyed the overwhelming majority of universities charge many voters’ trust in the Liberal Democrats. In fees at the top rate. 2012, the party leader, Nick Clegg, apologised for The adoption of a ‘Revised Browne Review’ breaking the tuition fee pledge. It made no differ- introduced a new model of marketised higher ence to his party’s fortunes: the damage had been education. While earlier reforms under New done and the legislation remained in place. The Labour ended ‘free’ university education, coa- party’s poll figures, which had fallen on entering lition policy had radical implications for the government, fell further – often to single digits. way in which higher education is provided in The Liberal Democrats flatlined in the polls until England. Gone was the idea that higher edu- their collapse at the 2015 general election. The cation was a public good, determined by aca- episode damaged Clegg’s and the party’s reputa- demics, and paid for from public funds. In tion for the remainder of the coalition (and per- its place was the view that consumer choice, haps beyond). determined by student numbers, would decide The split reflected an ideological division in which institutions, subjects and modules would the Liberal Democrats between the more pro- survive in a market context. A university, like market ‘Orange Book’ Liberals – who had long any other business, can now fail if it does not viewed the policy of opposing tuition fees as a Journal of Liberal History 92 Autumn 2016 17 Liberal Democrats in coalition: education low priority, and unaffordable given the eco- community groups, with another 112 pending, all nomic context – and the more social democratic with the same freedoms as academies.3 ‘Academi- wing of the party. The election of Nick Clegg as sation’ under the coalition is on a different scale to party leader and the decision to go into coalition anything that went before. with the Conservatives over a tired Labour Party The reforms were controversial. Critics of the marked the triumph of these Orange Book Liber- academy and free school models have, amongst als. Strategically, however, even the party’s most other things, attacked the freedoms these new vehement defenders admitted that accepting a schools have – described by one teachers’ leader form of the Browne Review, despite being given as the ability to teach ‘creationism instead of an explicit opt out in the coalition agreement, was literacy’.4 For some analysts, the academy pro- a disaster for the party.2 gramme, with its extensive use of private com- panies to run schools, meant ‘the beginning of the end of state education’.5 Yet for Liberal Dem- Schools policy: academies and the pupil ocrats in government, the freedom that schools premium would have from state control outweighed these Schools policy has been dominated by the hol- concerns. David Laws, from the economically lowing out of local authority power, which liberal right of the party, in particular, backed was passed upwards to the Secretary of State his Secretary of State, Michael Gove, and was a and downwards to academies operating in a committed partner in prising schools from per- quasi-market system. While the Conservative, ceived state interference. Michael Gove, led these reforms with revolu- A second significant policy development was tionary zeal, Liberal Democrat ministers in his the introduction of a ‘pupil premium’. The policy department – Sarah Teather and then David is most associated with the Liberal Democrats, Laws – were in no way reactionary opponents. but was put forward by both coalition partners The Academies Act (2010) was one of the first in their 2010 manifestos – although the Liberal pieces of legislation to be passed by the coalition.
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