Tory leader calls on schools to instil love of learning

David Cameron today launched a new Tory education strategy with a stronger focus on basic skills.

He said too many children were leaving school ill-equipped in reading, writing and arithmetic.

"To explore and to climb our kids need basic skills," he told a Conservative policy forum.

"How can they discover the wonder of science if they can't do basic maths?"

Children were also being deprived of their 'birthright' to an education in British history and in the classic works of English literature, he said.

Eton-educated Mr Cameron said he wanted schools to instil a love of learning and a sense of aspiration but that could not be at the expense of core skills.

He went on: "Education is about more than tick-box tests and the pursuit of elementary facts. But the first responsibility of schools is to make sure that children can read and write and count to an adequate standard.

"That they know the fundamentals of science, the key events of our history, the great works of literature. This is the birthright of every child in Britain."

Mr Cameron and education spokesman David Willetts visited St Martins-in-the-Fields High School for Girls before publishing an interim report from the party's policy review.

It proposed overhauling teaching methods to promote the basics, and changing the curriculum to focus on 'core subjects' of English, Maths, Science, History and Modern Languages.

He claimed: "The ladder of opportunity has been kicked away from far too many children for far too long.

"I will be the voice of every parent in Britain, demanding change and improvement and commitment until every state school is good enough for everyone's children.