EDUCATION FOR THE GOOD SOCIETY - Support

to account when it talks about social mobility andprovides instead greater educational inequality,and offering the practical tools to steer a differentpath.We do have a credible and progressiveeducation policy alternative to the Conservatives,but our argument here has been that we willfail to make headway unless we give moreattention to the way the message is projectedand received by the people we need to persuade– young people and their parents. We need tothink more clearly about the way we frame ourarguments and recognise that we need a strategyfor winning support and building a movement.Policy proposals alone, however brilliant, will notdo the trick.To strengthen our position and tackle thestrengths of the Tories, we have to develop a newstory about schooling in language that parentsand students can understand – a new commonsense. At its heart should be the notion thateducation is about the creation of a good society,about learning the knowledge and skills neededto live together, to earn our living, to developfulfilling relationships and to realise our capabilities.To bring that about we should propose a neweducation cultural revolution:• every child can succeed – every child canbecome a reader and an explorer, aware oftheir talents, confident in their abilities froman early age; every child is capable of universityentrance, a good work-based qualificationor an apprenticeship• tackle ghetto schools – every mainstreamstate school should have a comprehensivelocal intake and no more faith schools shouldbe funded.After proper debate, let us decide on our strategy,use the emerging Compass brand – open, honest,inclusive and committed to a vision of the GoodSociety – to collaborate with students, parents,educational professionals, employers, localauthorities, think tanks and campaign groups tobuild a campaign to win the majority.Education for the good society | 57