Published August 14th, 2008
More Tory twaddle
After distancing themselves from the barmy think tank report from their favourite policy wonks the Tories have come up with yet more twaddle to knock Merseyside, and more specifically Knowsley. They claim that Knowsley is the second worst authority in the country for the number of students who sit A levels but their figures are being hotly disputed by the Council. I am one of the first to say we need to do a lot more to improve the education standards and opportunities for the young people of our Borough and have often challenged the ruling Labour group on their performance, but I base my opposition on evidence and facts that can stand up to scrutiny. It would appear the Tories are far too eager to knock Merseyside yet again in their quest for cheap publicity rather than taking a more measured and constructive approach. Is it any wonder why there are no Tory councillors in Knowsley if all they can do is knock the place. Whoever is behind this latest cynical attack maybe should consider going back to school themselves! The statement from the Council – A spokesman for Knowsley council disputed the figures as inaccurate and said the situation had improved in the past year.They said: “Last year, almost a third of Year 11 leavers in Knowsley went on to advanced study in the borough – 27% to A- levels and 5.5% to higher vocational studies.“It is not the case that just 11% progressed on to A-Level studies, and we have no idea where this information was sourced from.“The current figure for 16-year-olds progressing into learning is 89.5%, which compares favourably with the
They added: “In relation to the percentage of NEETs, this is higher than the national average, but the actual numbers of young people who are unemployed in Knowsley has declined.
“We recognise the challenge we have in translating our excellent transition rate at 16 into more of our 17 and 18 year-olds continuing.”
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