Has education changed under Gordon Brown?

It may be hard to remember, but it is almost a year since Gordon Brown began his short honeymoon period as prime minister after replacing Tony Blair.

It was June last year when he dusted down his old school motto (I will try my utmost) and promised "a new government with new priorities".

So what difference has a year made in education? And are these "new priorities" apparent in education policy?

There has certainly been plenty of action: a 10-year Children's Plan with lots more ambitious targets for higher standards, the raising of the education leaving age, and tougher measures to deal with "failing schools".

Yet all of these policies could just as easily have come from Tony Blair's government.

Indeed, at first sight, there appears to have been a seamless continuity from Blair to Brown in education reform.

Power split

The programme of City Academies and Trust Schools rolls on. There is no dilution of testing and league tables. "Failing" schools are threatened with the big stick.

There has been a shift in emphasis, but it is whispered rather than shouted

Yet there have been changes that would not have occurred under a Blair government. The biggest was the creation of two education departments in England, where formerly there was just one.

But was this just a re-arrangement of the furniture, or did it indicate a real shift in the education landscape?

Former education secretary Estelle Morris thinks there has been a shift. She believes there is now far less emphasis on those Blairite buzzwords: choice and diversity.

Speaking at an education conference last week, she said that while these Blairite values remain, she detected a "shift of agenda" towards a greater emphasis on wider children and family issues.

In her view, there has been a subtle move away from the emphasis on competition and contestability of services, with a new focus on tackling educational disadvantage through the "Every Child Matters" policies.

Shift of emphasis

It is certainly possible to see greater faith in targeted interventions for pupils in greatest need - the catch-up programmes in reading and maths, for example - instead of a belief in competition and parent power as the way to drive up standards.

Although closely identified with the reforms of the Blair years, Baroness Morris supports this change. But, interestingly, she argues that the Brown government "should have made more of it".

This looks like a shrewd judgement. There have indeed been some changes but the attention has remained on more long-standing policies, some of which are now feeling a bit tired.

The biggest target is the regime of national school tests in England. The recent Commons Children, Schools and Families select committee report reflected widespread opinion amongst teachers, and many parents, when it cast serious doubt on the value of so much testing.

The problems surrounding the planned new "testing when ready" approach suggest they could make the regular testing of children even more burdensome and unpopular.

Other recent developments, such as the claim by the chief inspector of schools that standards have "stalled", have exacerbated the belief that current education policies are not working.

Diplomas

Gordon Brown's difficulty is that the voters do not see him as a fresh start.

If last June had signalled a new approach to education reform, voters might have granted him more than 12 months to improve schools. As it is, they think he has had 11 years.

If, as Baroness Morris hinted, he had been more explicit about the shift in education policy, he might have been given more time. But Brown is a cautious politician, who does not favour gambles.

He shunned the chance to make a big statement on education by, for example, replacing A-levels with Diplomas.

Instead, his schools secretary has let it be known he would like Diplomas to become the qualification of choice but insists it is for the market to decide.

So again, there has been a shift in emphasis, but it is whispered rather than shouted.

Testing times

Announcing the end of A-levels would have been a big gamble. Indeed, it may not have been the right gamble. But a subtle shift in policy does not give an impression of a fresh start or new energy.

As we know, there comes a time in the political cycle when voters tire of familiar governments. They just want a change, even if they're not sure what to.

And, although Gordon Brown's political troubles started elsewhere, all areas of government policy are now in the firing line.

It feels as if the opponents of Blairite reforms have sensed a weakening of resolve. So there is now re-invigorated opposition to school tests and a renewed drive against league tables.

As Baroness Morris hinted, it is precisely because he has not made more of any shift in policy direction that Brown is taking stick for reforms brought in by his predecessor.

If there really has been a shift in the government's education agenda - away from the competition and accountability model of the Blair years - then perhaps ministers might be advised to make this more apparent.

Brown may not have long to show that he is taking education reform in a new direction. Otherwise the polling evidence suggests voters will want to give someone else a go.