Classrooms: Facing review

A future Tory administration would conduct an immediate root and branch review of the national curriculum, Michael Howard has said.

Addressing his party's Welsh conference the Conservative leader said he would "face up to the truth" about school standards and pupil discipline.

The party will charge former schools inspector Chris Woodhead with the task of overhauling the education system.

"So we’re going to take action to raise standards in schools... a Conservative government will, in its first month, start a top to bottom review of the national curriculum," he said.

"We’ll slim it down so teachers don’t have so much paperwork. We’ll review tests, GCSEs and A Levels to restore public confidence in our education system."

PC attack

The opposition leader, who last week took the election battle to the health service, also vowed to tackle political correctness in the classroom.

"We’ll root out political correctness, replacing it with the building blocks of knowledge that are essential to give every child their birthright: a decent education," he said.

Howard said Woodhead was an "indefatigable champion of higher standards and less political correctness".

And he went on to dismiss claims that education is a natural Labour area. "Education is, for me, more than a policy area, it’s a passion," said Howard.

"I know that every child is good at something. The challenge of education is to unlock the individual talents that each child has within them."