Dan has questioned the Education Secretary Michael Gove's priorities after he revealed plans to offer First-Class graduates, £20,000 bursaries, to become teachers.

Dan has heaped more criticism onto the Education Secretary, Michael Gove, following announcements on teaching reforms.

“The Education Secretary really is out of touch” Jarvis Explained. “One of the biggest fights we have in Barnsley is on how to restore aspiration to our young people. Since he has been the Secretary of State, Michael Gove has scrapped the Education Maintenance Allowance which was the lifeline kids in Barnsley needed in order to stay on in education. He has also outlined his proposals to introduce an English Baccalaureate which we know from conversations we have had with teachers and school governors, will severely limit the options for state school kids. If that wasn’t enough, his Cabinet Colleague then trebled tuition fees which will saddle kids with unaffordable debt for their working life.”

The latest proposal from the Education Secretary is to offer a bursary of as much as £20,000 to first-class graduates who go on to become teachers.

Dan said, “I am fully supportive of any measure to create a more dynamic teaching profession and I accept that innovative approaches have to be considered. What is unacceptable, however, is to gut the aspiration for the kids of Barnsley, and instead of spending the money where it needs to be spent, offload thousands of pounds to graduates who may or may not be very good teachers. I want every child in Barnsley to have the opportunity to go to university and achieve a first class honours. The primary emphasis has to be on the children and their success chances.”

“We were committed to the Building Schools for the Future project, EMA, B-tecs and NVQ’s taught at A-Level, University places for all those who were able and willing. Mr Gove’s first year has seen him scrap BSF, slash school sport funding, slash EMA funding, treble tuition fees and now he wants to pay astronomical bursaries to graduates with money that could be being used for EMA. It is about priorities. My priority is ensuring that kids can achieve their full potential. That is not the government’s.”