The Tory leadership hopeful wants to illustrate herself as ‘the education prime minister’, unveiling her proposal to set up new academies in place of failing ones and heighten maths and literacy performances if she were to become the next prime minister.

Truss’ plans to ‘get Britain’s education system back on track’, announced on July 30th, includes an expansion on successful academies and replacing underperforming schools with new free schools.

Pledging to create a more successful education system, Truss has elaborated on her strategy to do this, saying, ‘My six-point plan will ensure our education system gets back on track by giving every child the tools they need to succeed.

‘Through a laser-like focus on improving maths and literacy standards we will make a real difference to children’s lives and by giving families greater choice and flexibility when it comes to childcare we will also save them money.’

This development of state-funded schools across Britain would, according to Truss, improve children’s performance in maths and literacy. As reported on an article by The Guardian, Truss said that her aim is to ‘target for 90% of primary children to reach the expected standard in literacy and numeracy.’ Achieving this through increasing the quality of maths teaching.

She has also promised to give parents access to childcare during the school day and emulate Scotland’s staff-to-child ratio for younger children.

Reflecting on her own education and the time she spent at her state-school in Leeds, she has stated that she saw ‘first-hand how children were failed and let down by low expectations’, a line that has been repeated across her leadership campaign and criticised by political leaders in Leeds, as well as former pupils and staff of Roundhay School.

As part of her proposal to create a more successful education system for Britain, Truss has also outlined her plan to reform the Oxbridge admissions process, ‘So students who get top grades in their A-levels would be automatically invited to apply’, guaranteeing all students who achieve three A* grades an interview at either Oxford or Cambridge.

However, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, Professor Graham Virgo, has made several objections to this admissions alteration. He told Times Higher Education that he has concerns about ‘apparent political interference with the autonomy of universities.’

He expressed that ‘students with the ability and potential to excel at Cambridge and other excellent universities get into those universities.

‘Admissions decisions, including who we interview, must be for us’.

These alterations to the Oxbridge admissions process may require the academic year to be started in January, in order to make room for post-qualification admissions – a process involving students applying after they have received their results.

With these reforms announced, Truss’ rival Rishi Sunak has also come forth with his own proposals to change British education, pushing forward vocational courses and removing ‘low-earning’ university degrees. Though they are of one mind concerning the preservation and expansion of grammar schools, with Truss opposing the ban on new grammar schools.

Read more from Redbrick News here:

96% of students cutting back due to cost of living crisis

Disabled students claim commonwealth games have worsened accessibility problems

West midlands police remind public of safe spaces on nights out