We need an education system where everyone gets the same fair chance. That puts the hopes and dreams of young people centre stage and where schools are accountable to parents, teachers and local authorities.

Accountability, not academies

Our local schools can now be run for profit, with parents, communities, teachers, pupils and local authorities no longer guaranteed a proper say in how they’re run or able to hold them accountable.

If more Brighton and Hove schools become academies less funding will be available for other, non-academy schools. Provision for special educational needs, free school meals, sports fields, and music and library services will inevitably suffer.

Letting teachers teach... 

Teachers are being weighed down by excessive bureaucracy, while changes to their pay and pensions are leaving them worse off.  

There's no evidence that performance related pay raises standards and plenty to show it has a negative impact on staff morale. It’s not helpful for teachers to be focussed on competing with one another – we want them to be able to concentrate on being teachers.

I want to let teachers teach. 

...and children learn

One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to children getting the best possible education.

The national curriculum should be scrapped in favour of a much looser framework that allows learners and teachers to develop curriculum content to suit children’s needs and interests.

One that isn't obsessed with unnecessary testing and exams.

I want to let children learn.

I'm standing up for an education system that puts the best interests of pupils, staff and the community first:

“Ten years of austerity have driven schools to crisis point.  This historic underfunding must be addressed, funding guaranteed in the future so that schools can plan ahead and provide the education every child has a right to."

• I voted against the Academies Bill in Parliament and tabled amendments to give parents, teachers and the local authority a full say in the running of our local schools and in planning for school places
• I worked with local parents, staff and trade union members so that Hove Park and Varndean could remain community schools rather than become unaccountable academies
• I secured a Parliamentary debate to challenge Ministers to stop meddling in the classroom – teachers should be free to teach and children free to learn
• I'm standing with teachers campaigning for decent pay, pensions and workplace rights
• I successfully pushed for every child to recieve Personal, Social, Health & Economic (PSHE) education, Sex & Relationship Education and education on ending violence against women and girls