However, not long ago, a study by the Brookings Institution's Russ Whitehurst demonstrated that curriculum has an even greater effect on student outcomes than most
popular policy levers, including charter schools, teacher quality, preschool programs, and even standards themselves.
EdMiliband's whole leadership style was premised on the tactical exploitation of this and that issue, on scraping back to power in a multi-party world without ever trying to resolve the larger issues or achieve genuinely
popular policies that might compromise a future Labour government's grip on the
levers of power.