Category: Education

The speech made by Bridget Phillipson, the Secretary of State for Education, on 7 October 2025.

Hello everyone. Thanks so much for being here, thanks so much for coming.  

And thank you to everyone who has worked so hard to put today together. 

It’s great to be here in the south west, with leaders from schools and trusts, to talk about the children of this region.  

Their learning, their futures, and their life chances. 

And I hope you’ll find today is an opportunity to come together, to take stock and to think carefully about what more we can do for the young people in your classrooms. 

I know so many of you already deliver so much, helping them to achieve and thrive. 

So I want to say a huge thank you. 

You and your staff transform lives. I visit schools and I see it in the children, I hear it from the parents, I feel it on results day. 

The difference that all of you here in this room all make. 

That’s why you – leaders, teachers – are at the centre of the change this government wants to achieve. 

The road to national renewal runs through our schools. 

Now, thanks to your hard work, schools have come a long way in this country.  

And you deliver a fantastic education for most children. 

But we all know that journey of improvement must continue. That’s why you’re all here today, it’s why you work so hard, and for that, I am incredibly grateful. 

You understand the importance of what you do, and the need to keep raising standards for all.  

And closing the gaps as well. 

Because there are still groups of children for whom school just isn’t working. And these aren’t random, we know that the gaps are systemic.  

Children with special educational needs and disabilities. 

Children from disadvantaged communities.  

And white working-class children too. 

Just one in five achieves a strong pass in their English and Maths GCSEs. 

Statistics like this are important. But anyone who has spent any time in our schools will know this already. 

And will want to work with us to put it right. 

Through our schools white paper, together we will build a schools system that works for each and every child.  

One that sets each and every child up to achieve. 

One that breaks the link between background and success, once and for all. 

Together we must spread excellence from one school to another.  

Because the world-leading practice I want to see in every school is already shining in many of our schools already. 

So progress can and must come from within the system. 

Improvement of schools, by schools, for our children. 

That’s why much of today is being led by you.  

Sharing what works for children in your schools. 

So that it can work for children in all of our schools. 

I have high expectations for every child, as I’m sure you do too, therefore I have high expectations for every school.  

But to get this right we need to look at the moments where children fall behind. Like the transition from primary to secondary school. 

And so we need a transformative shift in how key stage three is valued and managed. As always, the answers are already there in some schools.  

Take Wilsthorpe School in Derbyshire. Because while the midlands might be at the other end of the M5, some solutions, I think, are universal. 

Like the use of good data. And Wilsthorpe’s approach is rooted in it. 

They look at the patterns of poor attendance in primary – and use that to inform their transition plans for new year 7s. 

But the head, Derek Hobbs, like a lot of heads, knows that strong transitions are built on strong partnerships with parents.  

Plans are shared with parents early – and they combine face-to-face chats with ways for families to reach out online. 

Parents even get a direct line of contact with form teachers in year 7, to smooth what can be quite a difficult move from year 6. 

The school has made parents evenings feel like community events. 

Members of the scouts and air cadets come along. Representatives of local health services are often there too. 

Again, their approach is built on solid data, this time to predict at an early stage which parents may well be hard to reach.  

Because it tends to be these families that need the most support if their child is to do well. 

And you know what – the hard work is paying off. 

Suspensions are low. Exclusions are low.  

And attendance is high – especially in year 7. 

Attainment 8, strong and improving. 

And Progress 8, strong and improving – including for disadvantaged children. 

That, as we know, is the prize on offer.  

To deliver better life chances for children. 

And we will support you to reach those high expectations. 

That’s what our new RISE teams are all about.  

Drawing on the excellence that exists in some schools, and spreading it to all schools.  

Leaders across the country are already tapping into that spirit of collaboration. 

Like Lee Kane, the head of Astor School in Dover. 

I want to talk about Astor because it’s one of schools on the frontlines of my vision for education. 

On average across the country, in a class of 30, 7 children are on free school meals.  

At Astor it’s 18. 

The school serves the 4th most deprived community in Kent. These are the children who have the most to gain from a great education.  

And these are the children that our RISE programme is helping Lee to reach. 

Astor is receiving targeted support and has partnered with the high-performing Mulberry Schools Trust.  

Drawing on advice from their RISE Advisor, Maria Dawes, and from leaders at Mulberry, Lee can introduce new initiatives and improve existing ones. 

Like on attendance. Coming out of covid, just as in so many schools, Astor was struggling with high absence rates.  

One young person hadn’t attended school for more than 2 years.  

I won’t use her real name, but let’s call her Sarah for today. 

Sarah just couldn’t imagine herself coming back to school. But Lee knew the damage not being in school was doing to her life chances, and the life chances of other children not turning up. 

So Lee set up a new attendance unit, right there in the school.  

Staff visited Sarah at home, encouraged her to come into the school in the summer, when it was calm and quiet.  

They worked with Sarah to design the unit – so that she would feel at home.  

When the new term started, they eased Sarah back into the swing of attendance. 

Slowly, step by step, until she was attending every day. Attendance is the foundation of attainment – and so it proved for this young woman. 

Despite all she’d missed, she passed both her English and maths GCSEs.  

I think about where Sarah would be now if Astor hadn’t acted. She would probably still be at home every day, without her English and Maths GCSEs, but crucially, her hopes for the future slowly slipping away. 

But the school put her on a different path. And now she knows that education can work for her, that success can belong to her.  

And I can’t wait to hear about what she goes on to achieve next. 

That’s the power of what’s on offer here. The chance to support and scale what works. 

To draw on the excellence that already exists. And put it to work in service of the children in all of your schools. 

Astor is beginning its improvement journey. And there is so much more still to do to see all pupils in the school achieve and thrive. 

But through the RISE team we are providing the support and challenge to drive forward that improvement.  

So Lee’s message is to grab the opportunity with both hands. To be brave, to think big. Knowing that we’re here to support you. 

That’s how we will raise standards in all our schools. But you’ll all know that the roots of achievement and attainment run deep. 

So our actions must match that, especially if we want to reach our most disadvantaged children, 

And to break the sad spiral of poor attainment. Because there are communities now who believe that school just isn’t for people like them.  

Parents who feel school had nothing to offer them when they were growing up. 

And now pass on that deep suspicion to their children. 

New findings from the Independent Inquiry into White Working Class Educational Outcomes paints a very sorry picture of disengagement. 

And shortly, you’ll hear from the inquiry’s secretariat, Public First. 

But I should say now that the findings are stark. 

White working-class children are less likely to enjoy school. 

Less likely to feel successful at school. 

Less likely to feel that they belong at school. 

And the links between belonging and achievement are profound – and they run both ways. 

But let us be absolutely clear: they are not alternative choices. It’s not a question of one or the other. 

The only real choice, quite frankly, is both, or neither. 

Because children who don’t like school, who don’t believe they belong in the classroom, who suspect the system is against them. 

They are not children who are set up to achieve top marks. 

And if you’re failing your exams, it’s hard to enjoy school, it’s hard to feel like you belong. And so that cycle continues. 

But we must break that cycle and set up these children up for success. 

That is why our Schools White Paper will drive a generational reset in the contract between white working class families and our schools, giving every child the opportunities they deserve in life. 

For that we must give them an education that is academically challenging. 

Strong on standards.  

Rich in opportunity. 

Rooted in strong relationships.  

Filled with purpose and belonging. 

That’s the recipe for children who enjoy school, who feel they belong in school, and who succeed at school. 

But like any recipe, it can’t be just one of those things, working alone. 

It must be all of those things, working together. 

And you are the chefs – the expert leaders who can bring it all together. 

Using all the tools at your disposal to raise standards – cutting edge data, our new RISE support, our new writing framework. 

But the journey starts long before children reach your classrooms. 

Through support for families in our new Best Start Family Hubs. 

Through our 30 hours a week of government funded childcare for working parents.  

And then our Best Start breakfast clubs in primary schools. 

Building achievement and belonging right from the early years, so they arrive in your secondary schools raring to go. 

And in your classrooms, they will be taught a curriculum that is rich and broad – that delivers the strong foundations of learning, but also opens up the wonders of art, music, and sport.  

Enrichment too. Because we know that children with access to enrichment at school, tend to be the children who do well in their exams. 

And in the end, the way that children truly connect with their education is through great teachers.  

Now, when I think back to my school days, when I think of the happy memories. It was all about the teachers I had along the way. 

The ones who helped me succeed are the ones who made me feel like I belonged. 

That’s why I am determined to help you recruit and retain more great teachers in your schools.  

And to encourage more people to get into the profession, what’s why we have set out today the new initial teacher training incentive. 

I want more great teachers in our schools, working their magic. 

And it really is magic – what they do, what you do. 

Don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise. 

And I certainly won’t let anyone tell me otherwise. 

You have the wonderful power to transform lives. 

To give to children the knowledge and skills they need to succeed, not just in work, but in life too. 

Thank you.

The speech made by Bridget Phillipson, the Secretary of State for Education, in Sunderland on 3 October 2025.

This is an organisation that has stood the test of time. Because 1815 is not only the year the Battle of Waterloo was won.

Perhaps more importantly even than that, it was the year that the Chamber was established.

So I want to thank the Chamber for centuries of work giving the businesses of this region a voice.

And I have to say, it’s always so nice to be here, back home in the North East. I grew up not far from here, just several miles down the Wear to Washington.

That’s the community I’m from. Where I was born, where I went to school, where I made my first friends.

I have spoken about how during that time there were ups and downs where I grew up. There was deprivation and there was crime in our community.

But there was kindness too. And resolve to make the most of things.

And I saw those sharp contrasts when I came back home to the North East after university.

I worked in the women’s refuge here when I was in my early 20s.

And in those years I saw some of the worst things you could ever see, the impact of the worst violence and abuse.

But I also saw the best of our community too.

I saw resilience, strength.

I witnessed so many women rebuild their lives with dignity and determination.

And it was a real honour to be able to help them do it.

So when I think about home, I think about community.

I reflect on what that word means for all of us.

Not just as a proud native of the North East, but as a proud member of this government.

Because what we want to see as this government is to grow strong communities across the North East and across this country.

Communities filled with optimism and opportunity.

But how do we do that? What does a community need?

You won’t be surprised to hear me as Education Secretary say that every good community needs a brilliant school.

A brilliant college. An engaged university not too far away.

But it also has to provide proper support for families too. Our government funded childcare entitlement. Our school-based nurseries.

Our Best Start Family Hubs.

But a strong community full of opportunity needs more than that.

It needs great employers, it needs all of you here, in this room.

Because all of you in this room are drivers of growth and opportunity.

In manufacturing. Logistics. Hospitality. Tourism. Tech. Energy.

Education. Finance. Construction. Defence. Social enterprise. Healthcare, you name it.

Here in this room we have the diversity of enterprise that makes our region great.

And you are crucial to two of this government’s missions – growth for the British economy, and opportunity for the British people.

So I want to say a big thank you for the role you all play in your local communities.

And I want to thank you for working so closely with the North East Combined Authority in that endeavour.

Our mayor Kim McGuiness is doing a fantastic job creating opportunities for young people.

And I know so much of this region’s good work runs through the local skills improvement plans.

Because to play your vital role as good businesses in the communities that you serve you need a skills system fit for purpose, a system that works for all of  you.

One that is both comprehensive and cohesive.

One that focuses on actual skills needs – both locally and nationally.

Because I know that there is nothing more frustrating for you than being ready to expand, ready to contribute to the success of your communities, but not being able to find the right people with the right skills.

And trust me, that’s frustrating for us as government too.

And for young people – who have big dreams, who want to work hard, to get on, but who can’t find the right pathway –  for them, that’s not just a frustration.

It’s crushing.

That’s the thing, skills are the route to prosperity for employees and for employers.

A skills system that works for young people is a skills system that works for business.

And that’s the vision for our upcoming post-16 education and skills white paper.

To build a system that drives growth through the industrial strategy.

That’s not the work of one department, but the work of the whole government.

To open up opportunity in all of our communities.

And there are opportunities to be seized.

Evidence from Skills England shows why that’s so important.

By 2030 we’ll need 900,000 new jobs in priority sectors.

Like digital, clean energy, advanced manufacturing.

900,000 opportunities for your businesses to expand.

900,000 opportunities for our people to get on.

But to grab those opportunities we need change. We need a rebalancing of what it is we value.

Our universities, including here in the region, are truly world-leading, a brilliant source of national pride. But for too long, our further education colleges have had to exist in their shadow.

So it’s time we recognised the value of our colleges too.

And, just as we are driving up standards in our schools, it’s time to drive up standards in our colleges as well.

We’ll work with our brilliant FE staff, to harness their passion, to unlock their expertise, and to set in motion a skills revolution in our colleges.

Universities are the right route for many of our young people.

And we’ve got to make sure that all who want to go to university have the means to follow that dream.

That’s why in my speech this week at Labour Party Conference I announced that we will introduce new targeted maintenance grants for students who need them most.

Available for students pursuing higher level study at college or university on courses aligned with the government’s missions and the industrial strategy, because we value the technicians as well as the engineers, because what matters is not the building you study in, but the skills that you hone, because university is a fantastic option for many of our young people, but it’s not all of our young people, and they need strong roots too.

That’s why in his conference speech the Prime Minister announced we’ll move away from the target, around 50% of young people to go to university.

Instead, Keir set a new ambition, fit for this country’s future, fit for the modern world, for two-thirds of young people to reach higher-level study.

Whether that’s at university. Whether that’s in a college.

Or whether that’s through an apprenticeship.

I’m serious about skills. The Prime Minister is serious about skills. And this government is serious about skills.

And that requires a prestigious, world-class further education system.

Raising standards. Bolstering teaching quality. Empowering our high-performing FE leaders.

And so we’re backing our FE colleges with more funding.

Investing nearly £800 million extra next year.

Supporting an extra 20,000 16-19-year-olds with the skills that they need to get on.

And we’re going further.

We’re transforming FE colleges into specialist Technical Excellence Colleges.

And they’ll focus on key sectors to support our industrial strategy.

Back in August I went to Derby College to announce the selection of 10 Construction Technical Excellence Colleges, covering the whole of England.

And we’re investing £100 million to get this right and deliver high-quality construction skills for our young people.

And I’m delighted that the Construction Technical Excellence College for the North East is right here at the City of Sunderland College.

And we worked hand in hand with the North East Combined Authority to get this right.

In fact, the college’s brand-new Housing Innovation and Construction Skills Academy is just right over the way from here. You might be able to see it if you shuffle down.

It’ll be a centre of excellence, partnering with FE colleges, universities and employers like you across the region.

And now we’re launching another 14 Technical Excellence Colleges in three more sectors for 2026 right across the country – on top of the five we announced as part of the Defence Industrial Strategy.

That’s one route for young people to get the skills that your businesses need and that we all need.

Another is apprenticeships.

I know that they haven’t always offered the flexibility you need, they haven’t always reflected the realities of the modern world.

When the right skills can be gained in under a year, for example. Or when learners aren’t starting from zero.

That’s why last month we reduced the minimum duration to 8 months, to make apprenticeships work better for learners and better for you.

Also tearing away the red tape on English and maths, to open up opportunities for adult learners.

And for young people in targeted sectors we’ve introduced foundation apprenticeships – to give them a route into good careers in critical sectors.

But I know that sometimes supporting someone starting out in their career who needs extra support can be expensive for employers.

So we’ve backed the new foundation apprenticeships with support for employers of up to £2,000 for every foundation apprentice that you take on.

And It’s a similar story for T Level placements.

They’re an essential part of these really high quality top-quality qualifications.

But that doesn’t mean they’re cost free for you.

So we’ve brought in a new Employer Support Fund.

£6.3 million this year to support you with the costs of hosting a T Level industry placement.

Alongside this action on apprenticeships and T Levels sit our skills packages across government.

£625 million investment in construction skills.

£182 million for defence.

£172 million for engineering.

And £187 million for digital.

Skills aren’t just a lever to pull, they’re the cornerstone of our plans to get growth moving in every community.

But they’re no good in isolation. For that growth to be felt by local families, they have to be centred in local businesses, and we need to take a step back.

Because new skills are no use to the new dad who can’t go back to work because childcare is too expensive.

A new qualification is no use to the mam who can’t get up her hours in the office because school drop off is too late.

That’s why we’re rolling out 30 hours  of government-funded childcare for working parents, until their child reaches school.

And it’s why we’re racing ahead with free breakfast clubs for every primary school in the country.

To give parents the choice and freedom to work the hours that suit them.

But it’s more than that. We’re growing a network of up to a thousand Best Start Family Hubs.

The best of Sure Start, reimagined for the future – bringing together all of the help and advice that our  families need.

This is at the root of how we will  eradicate the stain of child poverty in our region – and across the country.

Parents with the right support, with the right skills to find the work that’s best for them.

Ending child poverty is the moral mission of this government.

Giving parents the power and the choices they need to build a better life for themselves and their families is my promise.

And some might wonder what’s the relevance for business in all of that.

But they’re wrong.

As leaders you know the value of strong and supportive communities.

The value of healthy and happy members of your team.

That’s why we’ve been working with business on our Make Work Pay initiative.

To drive up working conditions.

To share best practice.

To boost innovation.

Because the best businesses are proud to be trusted sources of good, secure jobs in their local communities.

And that’s my ask of you as I wrap up.  

To partner with us to revitalise our communities.

To take on that young apprentice with plenty of talent but who’s still got plenty left to learn.

Welcome that T-Level placement student who otherwise wouldn’t get the practical experience they need.

Engage in T Level Week later this month and share your success stories.

Invest in your workforce, not just for today but for tomorrow too.

And work with us in government. Work with Skills England. local colleges, your local university. Work with the team delivering the Local Skills Improvement Plan for your area.

You do all this already, because you know there is such strength in our community here in the region, but only when we work together.

So, please, keep doing it. And I’ll keep on working in partnership with you.

Because you are at the centre of what this government wants to achieve.

Our skills white paper is coming – and in partnership with you it will deliver the step change in skills that our country needs.

But that’s not the end game.

Because ultimately skills are a means to an end.

A means to many ends, in fact.

Driving growth.

Ending child poverty.

Breaking the link between background and success.

Security and prosperity, for businesses and workers alike.

Strong and healthy communities.

Opportunity for all.

Skills are the passport that take us from we are now to where we want to be.

As businesses, as communities, and as a country.

And that’s a journey I want us all to take together.

Thank you very much.

The speech made by Bridget Phillipson, the Secretary of State for Education, at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland on 4 July 2025.

Hello everyone, thank you so much for being with us today.

And thank you to everyone who has worked so hard to put today together.

How wonderful it is that we can meet here at home in the North East!

I grew up not seven miles from here. Brendan Foster could have run it in half an hour on a good day.

And it’s lovely to be hosted here at the Stadium of Light.

A great location to discuss where we can help every child shine.

Early years education is vital to that.

To helping every child shine at school, to making sure they all have an equal shot at success.

To building a strong and fair society.

That journey begins early.

But right now, I think we all know it’s not working as it should.

You’ll know that at the end of reception we measure the share of children reaching a good level of development.

Can they communicate properly? Are they doing well socially, emotionally, physically? Are they getting to grips with numbers and words?

It reflects how well families are getting their children ready for school. And the effectiveness of early education.

This government’s Plan for Change sets a target of a record 75% of children reaching a good level of development.

On average, 2 in 3 children meet that already.

But new stats show that for children in need – children in social care, or facing other challenges – it’s 38%.

And for children on free school meals, it’s barely above half.

So, we have to ask ourselves, how can there be a fair race to success in our society when whole groups of children start so far behind?

And these gaps between backgrounds – they’re not shrinking, they’re growing.

They dig their nails in deep, and then they grow with the child.

40% of the disadvantage gap at age 16 is already there by age 5.

It breaks my heart that, for these children, here in our country, a quarter of the way through the 21st century –

background still means destiny.

It’s a national scandal.

Our story of a fairer society, the one we like to tell ourselves,

where every child has an equal shot at success,

where what counts is determination, not background,

talent, not privilege,

how hard you work, not how much your parents earn.

By failing these children at the start of their lives, we’re ripping up that story.

We’re saying that success isn’t for people like them.

As Secretary of State, it’s my mission to change that.

To give every child the best start in life.

To lay the foundations for a stronger and fairer society, right from the very start.

That’s where the biggest difference can be made,

that’s where my biggest priority lies,

and that’s where we’ll begin to break the link between background and success.

But you’ll be the first to tell me that to do that, we can’t wait until children reach school.

Because the years before, the earliest years of their lives, they are some of the most important.

For our children, and for our society.

From the day a baby is brought home from hospital.

Her start in life matters so much.

Because from her first day in this world, an invisible score is being kept, on the factors that will either hold her back or propel her forward.

Is her home stable, warm, loving?

Is there enough food in the fridge, enough money in the meter?

Does her family get the right support?

Are they able to devote enough time to play with her in the mornings,

to read to her in the evenings,

to share in the love and curiosity that will be the bedrock of her development?

And is she getting those crucial early opportunities to start learning?

Is there a great nursery at the end of the road?

With wonderful teachers that will share the right resources to help her shine?

The answers to all these questions, and many more, will shape more than her first few years.

They’ll mould her chances of success at school, her opportunities in life too.

And it’s bigger than that. If we zoom out, these are the issues that will define that stronger and fairer society we want to build.

Early years can be the driving force for the change this country needs.

New data out today from the Study of Early Education and Development is yet more proof of that.

Yet more proof that excellent early years education leads to academic success later on.

And yet more proof that the link is strongest for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The lower the family income, the higher the impact of early years.

And the bigger the opportunity to reach those children and change their path in life.

But I’m sorry to say that, at the moment, we’re missing too many of those opportunities.

Our early years workforce are heroes. They guide the youngest members of our society with passion, expertise and commitment.

But we need to back them by modernising our system, boosting family support and working together with parents and the sector.

Because far too many children are arriving for their first day in your schools simply not ready to learn.

A quarter not fully toilet trained.

A third can’t follow instructions.

Half can’t sit still.

A source of collective alarm for all of us as a society.

It holds those children back, of course.

But it holds the whole class back as well.

Teachers lose up to two and a half hours catching these children up.

Not per month.

Not even per week.

Two and a half hours per day.

Lost.

Precious opportunities, gone and not coming back.

Schools can be such a force for good. But they can’t do it alone. We need to make sure children are ready to go on day one.

So we’ve got to transform school readiness in our country.

In the year this government has been in power we’ve fixed the foundations and begun delivering the change children and parents need.

We’ve delivered the biggest ever uplift in early years funding for disadvantaged children.

It’s a system that backs parents too.

Because we are rolling out the entitlement to 30 hours of government-funded childcare, starting in September.

Putting up to £7,500 a year back in working parents’ pockets.

Before long, 80% of childcare will be government-backed.

And we’re forging ahead with our school-based nurseries. To deliver the places parents need, where they need them.

And to introduce children to school early on,

forming partnerships between early years settings and schools, exchanging knowledge and expertise to support children’s transitions into school.

I want to thank all the providers who are working with us to deliver the change families need.

And that includes the private, voluntary and independent providers, which I know will do an amazing job.

Like at Hindley Green Community Primary in Wigan, where the private provider is working to expand the school nursery.

And our free breakfast clubs are already rolling out in 750 early adopter primary schools too.

On top of that, last month I announced the biggest expansion of free school meal eligibility in England in a generation.

Children eating together, learning together, growing together. It’s good for behaviour, it’s good for attendance, it’s good for attainment.

But we know there’s much more to do.

Still so much we need to do.

We’ll soon publish our Best Start in Life Strategy.

Putting children’s outcomes right at the heart of government.

And delivering on our target to get 75% of children achieving a good level of development by age 5 will be front and centre.

But, like so much of our ambition, we can’t get there alone.

And alongside parents, schools and the whole early years sector, local government has a key role to play too.

I know many councils share our commitment to boosting the number of 5-year-olds reaching a good level of development.

And through this new strategy, we will embed targets for local government, in law.

This is too important. We’ve got to turn this around. And we can’t leave it to chance.

To drive the change we need, we’re starting early.

And that will include our reform of the SEND system.

Early intervention will be a core pillar of that reform. Identifying needs early, and working to support every child to achieve and thrive in the classroom.

But the transition from those early years into school is just as vital.

I see the wonderful work you are all doing to help children take their first steps into school.

Reception teachers go above and beyond, day after day, despite all the challenges, to set children off on the right foot.

But, if we’re honest – government just hasn’t taken reception year seriously enough in the past.

Rather than building a bridge between nursery and school, reception has fallen through the gap.

So just when children should be racing ahead, despite your best efforts, they end up treading water.

For too long, the first year has been the forgotten year.

So we’ve got to put that right.

That’s why reception year quality is one of the four national priorities for our new Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence (RISE) teams.

It’ll form a key part of our universal offer to raise standards in all schools. We’ll identify and share great practice – just as we’re doing today through this conference.

And we’re developing a brand-new digital tool to support school and MAT leaders.

Modelled data on where the evidence suggests your school should be in terms of its overall Good Level of Development score.

It’ll show where schools are ahead, and where they need to catch up.

Reception is a time for children to begin finding their voice.

Language development really needs to click into gear.

And that’s why we’re continuing to fund the Nuffield Early Language Intervention – for the 11,000 schools already registered, and any primary school that wants it.

NELI helps spot and sort problems early, supporting more than 50,000 children a year.

It speeds up progress for all children.

But, again, the impact is strongest for disadvantaged children. They make 7 months of extra progress on language development.

For the others, it’s 4 months.

It’s fully funded for schools, and great value for money for government – a reminder that good interventions don’t have to break the bank.

The programme has worked wonders at Gillas Lane Primary Academy – just down the road from here in my constituency.

Gillas Lane serves a disadvantaged community. The share of children on free school meals is double the local average.

Many children arrive at the school behind with their language development, but NELI helps catch them up.

The data shows that children on the programme come on leaps and bounds in their speaking, listening and communications.

It’s making such a difference in their lives – that’s why we’re determined to back early language development across the country.

But we must match that with early writing skills too.

Because learning to write can unlock learning across the board.

It helps children begin to explore their thoughts on the page; it helps them begin to make their mark on the world.

But last year 174,000 children missed the early learning goal in writing.

Nearly three quarters of 5-year-olds with special educational needs are behind on writing.

Nearly half of 5-year-olds on free school meals are behind.

It’s a huge barrier to learning.

So next week my department will publish a new writing framework.

Practical support for teachers to build strong writing skills for children.

Where our language programmes will help children find their voice, our writing framework will help them write it down.

But we’ve got to start early on maths too.

Maths is the language of the universe, at the centre of our understanding of the world around us.

But for too many children it’s the language of fear and frustration.

And we can’t let a fear of numbers follow our children into adulthood.

So, we’re working with our partners to more than double the Maths Champions programme, reaching up to 1,800 more early years settings.

To give every child the best start in life,

to make sure every child can succeed in school,

we’ve all got to recognise our responsibilities.

As government we have ours. As school leaders you have yours.

And parents have responsibilities too.

To make sure their children arrive at school ready to learn.

Whether that’s their first day in reception, or the last day in year 11.

Our Best Start in Life Strategy will support parents to do just that – and to do much more for their children as they move into school and beyond.

Periods of transition are important – for children at school, and for our cities and country too.

The summer of 1997 was a summer of change. The UK had a new Labour government, and Sunderland had a new football stadium – the one we are in today.

Sunderland played their first game here on the 30th of July – against the Dutch team Ajax.

I’m reliably told it was a drab nil-nil.

Although my Sunderland-mad advisor Ben, who’s here today, insists I also point out that Sunderland won their first league match here two weeks later, beating Man City 3-1.

But at midnight the night before the Ajax game, Bob Murray, the chairman of Sunderland, released a statement announcing the name of the new stadium.

It was to be called the Stadium of Light.

Bob explained that for more than 150 years, right next door to where we are today, miners at Wearmouth Colliery carried with them a Davy Lamp to light the way through their dark working days.

The stadium was named for them.

In Bob’s words, it was to let ‘this light shine forever’ – a torch that ‘illuminates the way forward’.

That’s how I feel about education – lighting the way ahead. And it’s how the miners felt too.

That’s why the miners’ halls in my constituency down the road and across our region where they had libraries and newspapers.

Why so many of the banners they hoisted each year at the Big Meeting proclaimed the truth that knowledge is power.

They knew how crucial a good education today was to a bright future tomorrow.

So now is the time to revolutionise early years,

to light those lamps of learning, right from the start,

and to give each and every child the start in life they deserve.

Thank you.

The speech made by Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, in London on 19 May 2025.

Hello everyone, and thank you all for being here.

It’s wonderful to see everyone together in the same place – the biggest gathering of education ministers anywhere in the world!

And what a fitting location. Just next door is the Methodist Central Hall, where almost 80 years ago the United Nations General Assembly met for the first time.

And we also sit in the shadow of Westminster Abbey, a place which marks the memories of so many inspirational figures, men and women who still light up our classrooms centuries on.

Isaac Newton, Stephen Hawking, and Charles Darwin are all buried there.

Jane Austen and the three Brontë sisters each have a plaque – next to the statue of William Shakespeare.

And close by lies the grave of Charles Dickens, whose stories I grew up reading, whose characters I loved.

Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Pip and his great expectations.

The abandoned children of Victorian London, held back, time and again, by the tough luck of a bad start.

I was always drawn to Dickens because he was never afraid to confront social injustice.

The daily, grinding poverty that kept opportunity out of the reach of millions.

There’s been plenty of progress since those darker days.

And thankfully, London looks very different today.

But much of the inequality, the injustice remains.

Opportunity still lies beyond the grasp of too many people – here in this country and around the world too.

We have so far to go on our journey to cut the link between background and success.

That’s our job as education leaders, to give not just some children but all children the opportunity to succeed, regardless of background, to make that old dream new again for each generation.

There are well over a hundred countries and territories represented here today. Well over a hundred different education systems. Well over a hundred different sets of challenges.

But we can come together around one common cause. Opportunity.

That’s what education is all about. Opportunity for all children – to learn, to discover, to go on and live a good life.

So that every child knows, deep down in their bones, that success belongs to them.

That’s my mission for the children of this country, it’s the mission of our government. Because background shouldn’t mean destiny.

But the barriers we face are huge – here in the UK and across the globe.

250 million children still out of school around the world.

70% of children in low- and middle-income countries unable to read at the end of their basic education.

A pandemic that saw schools all over the world close their gates, classrooms empty, playgrounds silent, a global generation of children falling behind.

Challenges of this scale demand the fresh solutions of the future, not the stale systems of the past.

We must squeeze every last drop of value out of every last pound of funding.

And technology will lead the way.

The opportunities of EdTech are huge. It’s a wave of innovation that can lift the learning of billions.

But to be clear about what technology can do, first we need to be clear what it cannot do.

It can’t replace great teachers.

They are the heart, they are the soul of every school.

That was true 500 years ago. It’ll be true in 500 more.

Education is a deeply human gift, given by one generation to the next.

Opportunity passed from one generation to the next.

But EdTech can take that gift and make it stronger, spread it further, share it with more children.

It can be the radical force that brings the very best education into every city, every town, every village, every school, every classroom in the world.

It can help us to reach learners who might otherwise be left out – because they have a disability, their parents are poor, they don’t speak a certain language, or simply because they’re a girl.

EdTech can help us tear down those barriers.

Here in this country, we’re using it to free up teachers time to spend more time teaching.

For children that means more attention, higher standards, better life chances.

For teachers – less paperwork, lower stress, fewer drains on their valuable time.

My department is continuing to support Oak National Academy, an online hub of resources for teachers, whose AI lesson assistant is helping teachers to plan personalised lessons in minutes.

Making the most of teacher time is one of the challenges we all face.

Another is attendance – getting children back in the classroom, especially since covid.

Our response is rooted in our world-class data, where schools can use an interactive dashboard to drive early intervention.

And it’s working. We’ve lost 3 million fewer days to absence this year than last.

And now we’re using AI to go further and faster.

Just last week we launched a brand new AI-powered tool, which we think is amongst the first of its kind in the world.

Every mainstream school in the country can access reports right now to benchmark their attendance against 20 similar schools.

They highlight what schools are doing well, and where they need targeted intervention and support.

That’s the kind of cutting-edge insight schools need to get attendance moving.

But, despite its huge power, we know that AI isn’t a magic wand.

EdTech can light up the next century of education – and I believe it will – but there are no guarantees.

So getting AI on the right track now is the most important challenge for global education in a generation.

And we have far to go to deliver the scale of progress that I know is possible.

Our evidence-base is too narrow, too shallow, too concentrated in certain parts of the world, too focused on certain parts of the system.

More research is needed; better research is needed.

On impact.

On value.

On sustainability.

And on safety.

We need to come together to grow a global, collective consensus – a suite of effective tools, built on top-class evidence.

That’s how, together, we can make sure EdTech and AI deliver the very best learning for children.

And on this the UK will lead the way.

This government’s EdTech hub – led by our Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office – brings together research and policy organisations working to bridge the EdTech evidence gap.

The Hub is here to support and empower government leaders, giving you the evidence that you need to roll out and scale up EdTech effectively and responsibly.

The Hub is leading, and the UK is funding, the AI Observatory and Action Lab – supporting leaders in low- and middle-income countries to use AI in education.

And we are continuing the change here at home with our new Content Store Project.

We’re pooling a vast range of high-quality content – from curriculum guidance to teaching resources, from lessons plans to anonymised pupil work.

And we’re making it available to AI companies to train their tools – so that they can generate top quality content for use in our classrooms.

And we’re putting AI to work in a way that’s most useful for teachers, and most beneficial for students.

But now we want to go further, to share our expertise, to work with our partners around the world to grow that collective consensus.

So I am delighted to announce today that we are funding the development of global guidelines for generative AI in education.

Working closely with partners at the OECD, we are shaping the global consensus on how generative AI can be deployed safely and effectively to boost education around the world.

But everyone here today will know that guidelines are only ever as good as their implementation.

Because what really matters is firm action in our classrooms, not abstract promises on a page.

That’s why today I can announce that the UK will host an international summit on generative AI in education in 2026.

Education leaders from around the world will come together to implement these guidelines – for the benefit of our children, young people and learners the world over.

And we’ll continue to build the evidence base at home too.

So I’m pleased to announce today that my department is investing more than a million pounds to test the Edtech we’re using in schools and colleges.

Working with the Open Innovation Team, we’ll be engaging the sector to understand what works.

We’ll look at how tools, including AI, can improve things like staff workload, pupil outcomes and inclusivity.

Evidence must be at the heart of all we do, on EdTech and right across education.

Here in the UK, we’re lucky to have the Education Endowment Foundation.

The Foundation is at the forefront of research on how children learn.

And my officials work hand in hand with their experts to make sure all our policies and programmes are driven by the very best evidence.

We need to be at the top of our game.

We’ve spoken about the challenges specific to education, but there are wider global challenges, that spill into our schools and colleges.

Growing economic uncertainty, shifting labour markets, the flood of disinformation around social media.

These are shared challenges that demand shared solutions.

Solutions powered by technology, backed by evidence.

But collaboration is key. We can’t do this alone.

Learning from each other, sharing evidence, sharing data.

The UK is here to convene, to accelerate and to celebrate all that is best in global education.

And in the coming months we’ll publish our refreshed International Education Strategy.

At its heart will be collaboration.

Building partnerships that are meaningful, partnerships that matter, partnerships that, above all else, make a difference in the lives of the people we serve.

That’s what sets apart those men and women whom we remember in Westminster Abbey. They made a difference in people’s lives.

The scientists and engineers, the poets and playwrights, the doctors and nurses.

Most of their deeds were done and dusted centuries ago. But their legacy lives on.

EdTech is now bringing the wonders of the Abbey to a whole new generation of children.

From the Anglo-Saxons to the Tudors, from the majesty of coronations to the drudgery of everyday medieval life.

Abbey experts run virtual classrooms and virtual tours for schools unable to visit in person – so that every child can learn about this building which has been at the heart of our national life for a thousand years.

So that no child has to miss out.

That’s what EdTech is all about, what education is all about, opportunity for all of our children.

Because let’s not forget, this is for them.

For every child, for every young person, for every adult around the world who deserves the opportunity to learn.

That’s why we have to get this right.

That’s why so many of you have come here today from so far away.

And that’s why I am so thankful that you have.

Because together I know that we can make a difference.

So it gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the Education World Forum 2025.

And I look forward to working together with you as we build stronger, bolder, better education together.

Thank you.

The speech made by Bridget Phillipson, the Secretary of State for Education, in London on 3 April 2025.

Good morning, everyone. It’s really great to be here!

Thank you, Tristram, for hosting us today. And Hughie, what a privilege it is to speak alongside you. Thank you so much for everything you said.

Your bravery and determination, raising hundreds of thousands of pounds for Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, all while going through that treatment yourself – you are such an inspiration.

I’m so glad to hear about your full recovery too, and everything you’re doing to make children’s voices heard, and it’s great to see you here today continuing to lead and inspire with your journalism.

I was interviewed back in September by your colleague Scarlett at Sky FYI – and she definitely put me through my paces! One of the toughest interviews I’ve ever had.

And it was great to see her again at World Book Day last month.

It’s lovely to look round this room and see so many familiar faces this morning. Rylie and Sofia – it was great to meet you at the Women in Westminster event last year.

And Sofia – I’ve heard more and more about everything you’ve achieved, about leaving your home in Ukraine and coming to England.

About joining school in year 11 and passing your GCSEs – despite English being your third language.

What an amazing achievement!

There are just so many inspiring young people here today.

And I’d like to thank Dame Rachel for bringing together all the Youth Ambassadors. And all your amazing work making young voices heard.

It’s their job, the job of the youth ambassadors, to make sure politicians like me listen to children and young people – and act to make their lives better.

And that’s exactly right.

Because as Secretary of State – children and young people are my priority.

I want to see them, I want to see you, back at the forefront of national life, back at the centre of our national conversation.

I want all children to have the opportunity to succeed.

So we are on a mission as a government – to break down the barriers to opportunity for every child.

And I mean it when I say that it has to be every child.

Because all children deserve the chance to get on and succeed.

It’s tempting to think that the path to opportunity begins on the first day of school.

Nervous little girls and boys, lined up outside the school gates clinging on for dear life to their mums and dads.

When stories of success are told, that’s often where we start.

But that’s jumping ahead.

Like expecting a tree to grow strong and tall without first putting down deep roots that are deep and lasting.

Because opportunity starts early, it starts much earlier than that.

I’d just like us to think of two babies, born in the same hospital on the same day.

Think of all that happens before they reach those school gates a number of years later.

One baby goes back to an anxious home.

Her parents work hard – two, maybe even three jobs to make ends meet.

There’s mould on the wall in their bedroom because the landlord won’t fix it – and now that’s where that baby has to sleep too.

There’s never enough time in the day, never quite enough food in the fridge, no help from extended family.

The council baby group her brothers went to now gone; nursery or childminders have been completely out of reach – too few spaces, too far to go, too expensive.

So she stays at home, simply watching as her family struggle around her.

Missing out on so much: playing with other children, sharing and taking turns, learning about her emotions, about those of others, about taking the first steps into learning.

Now think of the other baby from the hospital. Her parents drive her back to a warm and stable home.

Right from that first night, her needs are all that matter.

Parents who read to her, talk to her.

And whose first thought in the baby food aisle, isn’t can we afford it, isn’t where’s the money – it’s about buying her first coat.

When her parents go back to work, she spends her mornings in a great nursery at the end of the road – the best early years teachers introduce her to letters and numbers, she begins to explore the world around her.

There are afternoons in the park with grandma, bedtime stories with grandad.

A whole network of support, with just one goal: giving her the very best start in life.

Step by step, year by year, she grows and develops, and she leaps forward.

So, on that first day of school, those two children, born in the same hospital, on the same day, they arrive wearing the same uniform, they might even stand together in the playground, and when the teacher asks that they walk into the classroom in pairs, they hold hands, bouncing inside towards the rest of their lives, with no idea how different their paths are likely to be.

Because that’s where opportunity can be lost or found, those early forks in the road, where those gaps start to open up.

And with each year that goes by, those gaps grow and grow. And closing them becomes harder and harder as the years pass.

That’s why, when I speak to school leaders and university vice chancellors, they urge me to invest in the early years.

And as we begin to see the generation of children born during the Covid pandemic arriving at school, many already far behind where they would normally be, the importance of early years is more clear-cut than ever.

I’m in politics because I believe that every child deserves every opportunity to succeed.

I’m here to make a difference in their lives.

And because early years is where the biggest difference can be made, and it’s where my biggest priority lies.

Giving every child the best start in life is my number one goal.

That’s where I want to be judged, that’s where my legacy will lie.

It’s not simply my priority.

Children are central to the Prime Minister’s Plan for Change. It sets the target of a record share of children arriving at primary school ready to learn.

Because we know that our success as a country begins in the earliest years of children’s lives.

The Prime Minister gets it, I get it, and the Chancellor gets it too. That’s why, despite the toughest fiscal inheritance in a generation, she chose to invest over £8bn in early years – £2bn more than last year.

But we’re just getting started.

This is the beginning of a wave of reform to lift up the life chances of all children, to give parents power and choice and freedom – and to put money back in their pockets too.

And that means great childcare and early years education.

There is a rich diversity of early education and childcare of all shapes and sizes right across the country that is already working hard to give children the best start in life.

And I can’t thank them enough.

But now is the time to go further.

So yesterday I announced funding for 300 primary schools to expand their nurseries and set up new ones.

Up to £150,000 each to convert unused classrooms into new nurseries for our children.

6,000 new childcare places – most of them ready to go by September.

It’s 300 steps on the road to 3,000 new and expanded school-based nurseries.

An important part of how we’re delivering the childcare entitlements parents were promised.

Giving them the power to choose the jobs and the hours that they want.

Support for parents is so important too, saving them money as well.

But, deep down, early education and childcare is all about children’s futures.

And what an impact high-quality early education can have on their futures. Analysis shows that children who go to a higher-quality pre-school earn about £17,000 more over the course of their lives.

Across 6,000 high-quality new places, it could mean a boost of over £100m in lifetime earnings.

Now given the prize on offer, we’re still going further, to make the most of that precious time, when horizons still stretch out ahead.

Because if those early chances are missed, they won’t come again. The lives of our children march on, so those early brushes with education are just so precious.

That’s why we’re twinning the childcare rollout with the biggest ever uplift in the early years pupil premium for disadvantaged children.

Because this is how we can narrow the attainment gap, and give every child, no matter their background, every opportunity to succeed.

Children are there to learn. And the adults in the room are at heart early educators.

So we’re fully funding initial teacher training for early years teachers and supporting them to become early years experts too.

And we’re doubling our Maths Champions programme – to reach 800 early years classrooms.

A really big step change.

Helping children to feel comfortable with numbers from their youngest years, building numeracy skills early, so that by the time they reach school, maths is already a familiar friend.

But I said before that we’re just getting started – and I meant it.

So later this year, I’ll launch a new strategy to revitalise early years education.

Rooted in creating positive early childhood experiences for all of our children.

Our new nurseries in primary schools will create a positive journey of learning for all children.

Children, beginning in nursery at 2 or 3 years old – then moving along the corridor at 4 or 5 to start primary school.

The same faces, the same friends, the same buildings.

Parents can build relationships with teachers, teachers can spot issues early, and when children reach school, they already feel at home in the classroom.

And so we’re backing parents too – supporting them with joined up family services as they guide their children through those early years.

That’s where the journey starts, with those positive, supportive early experiences.

And that must continue through school.

Because this is a government that puts children first.

I want all children to love learning.

But I should say right now exactly what I mean when I say that.

It’s building knowledge, growing skills, reaching into a variety of topics.

High and rising standards, exams that can capture our progress.

I want to grow a love of learning with deep roots, that is lasting, that shapes lives.

The type that sustains join, that builds confidence, that fosters resilience, that doesn’t come from doing what feels easy.

Putting children first isn’t soft. It’s not a sugar-rush, ice-cream-for-dinner approach to schooling.

It requires exposing children to a wide range of ideas.

So that they can find what inspires them.

It requires supporting children to persist with subjects that might feel hard, when they don’t immediately like what is in front of them, to keep going when it’s hard, not to give up at the first sign of struggle.

So that they can discover for themselves the quiet satisfaction, the happy resilience that comes from the pursuit of learning.

That’s how we wake children up to their own power. It’s how we plant within them a sense of purpose as they leave school and move into the wider world.

And it’s how we raise a generation of children who can think critically and act thoughtfully. A generation ready not just for work but ready for the rest of their lives too.

Confident, creative, kind.

At home in our country and in the world.

And that matters more now than ever before.

At a time when uncertainty is rising, and trust is falling, a time when disinformation can slip quietly into the pockets of our children, and young boys can fall under the spell of toxic role models online, men who preach misogyny, who cook up resentment, who feed on hatred.

And sadly so much of that flows through smartphones.

They have no place in the classroom, they’re disruptive, distracting, they’re bad for behaviour.

So we’re backing schools to rid our classrooms, corridors and playgrounds of phones.

It’s clear the behaviour of boys, their influences, and the young men they become, is a defining issue of our time.

That’s why this week the Prime Minister convened a roundtable on rethinking adolescent safety – to listen to the experiences of children today and to prevent young boys being dragged into misogyny and hatred.

We need to raise a generation of boys with the strength to reject that hatred – curiosity, compassion, kindness, resilience, hope, and respect.

But hard skills as well as soft skills.

Because to reject disinformation, children need critical thinking skills, maths too, a proper understanding of science, history, geography, economics.

To think analytically, children need that foundation in English – to explore different points of view, to weigh up the arguments, to consider the facts, and to come down on the side of reason.

And above all, to become active, engaged, curious about the world – children need knowledge and skills.

And through our review of the relationships, sex and health education curriculum we will ensure young people learn about healthy relationships, boundaries and consent right from the start.

With toxic online influences on the rise, our boys need strong, positive male role models to look up to. At home, of course, but also at school too.

Schools can’t solve these problems alone, and responsibility does start at home with parents.

But only one in four of the teachers in our schools are men.

Just one in seven in nursery and primary school.

One in 33 in early years.

And since 2010 the number of teachers in our schools has increased by 28,000 – but just 533 of those are men.

That is extraordinary – over the last 15 years, for every 50 women who’ve taken up teaching – they’ve been joined at the front of our classrooms by just one man.

Now I want more male teachers – teaching, guiding, leading the boys in our classrooms.

But in truth I want more teachers across the board as well.

Because if today we’re here to talk about positive early childhood experiences, about the role of education in creating and sustaining joy and confidence, about the routes for giving children a sense of purpose, about setting children up for success, then it is all about our teachers.

Great teachers, inspiring teachers, teachers who believe in the power of their pupils.

That’s why we’re working to recruit 6,500 more expert teachers across our schools and colleges.

More teachers in shortage subjects, keeping the great teachers that we already have, restoring teaching as the profession of choice for our very best graduates.

Now a couple of weeks ago I visited Cardinal Heenan School in Liverpool.

And the first thing I did was sit down for a chat with an amazing group of students, the same age as many of you here today.

And they were so excited to tell me all the things they wanted to do when they left school.

I could see them light up; I could feel their joy.

That’s the joy of learning.

Now up on the walls of that school were pictures of all the ex-pupils who had gone on to do amazing things.

One of them was Steven Gerrard.

But there was another ex-pupil who wasn’t up on the wall. And I met him outside at the end of the day as he was helping all the students on their way home.

He was Mr Backhouse, now the school’s assistant headteacher.

He said he’d been given every opportunity to succeed at that school. So he became a teacher to pass that on to the next generation of kids in his community.

He understood the power of his job – it’s about unleashing the power in all of our children.

That’s why my job is the best job in government – because I get to work with and empower you, the young people here today and across the country.

From those earliest years, those babies leaving hospital, the nurseries, the childcare, through school, and then on into college, university and beyond.

It’s my job, it’s the job of childminders, teachers, support staff, lecturers and leaders, together with your parents and carers, to shape your journey, to guide you on, to spur you, to give you every opportunity to succeed. That is what you deserve.

But it’s your job to rise to the challenge, to give it your all and to grab those opportunities with both hands.

Looking around this room, looking at all of your faces, I have no doubt you’re up to the task.

I think our future is in very safe hands.

Thank you.

The speech made by Bridget Phillipson, the Secretary of State for Education, at the Centre for Social Justice on 3 February 2025. This is the copy of the speech issued by the Government which has political content removed.

Good morning, everyone.

Thanks so much for being here. And thanks to the Centre for Social Justice for hosting us. And thanks to Andy.

It’s great to be back here, this time as Education Secretary, six months into delivering our Plan for Change.

I know CSJ shares this government’s commitment to ensuring that, whoever you are, wherever you come from, ours should be a country where hard work means you don’t just get by but you get on.

Some of you were here last year, when I started my speech with a story. And today I want to start with a story too:

A story about how and why the change I am bringing to the education system matters to me.

It’s my story.

I grew up in the late ’80s and early ’90s, a shy little girl, from a tough street in the northeast of England, [political content removed]

I never met my dad. It was just me and my mum – and my grandparents who lived nearby.

We didn’t have much. One winter, a neighbour, who himself, he didn’t have very much, found out my mum was struggling with the cost of starting school.

He put money through the letterbox in an envelope marked “for Bridget’s coat”.

Now, not everyone turned to kindness. Crime was a big problem. Our house was burgled time and again.

And when my mum reported it to the police, our windows were put out, a man turned up with a baseball bat.

It didn’t seem like that big a deal at the time. These were just things that happened, and frankly not just to us.

I think often of the children I knew then, held back by who they were, by where they were born.

So many on my street were denied the opportunity to get on and to succeed.

Not because they were lazy, they weren’t.

They were no less talented than I was, no less ambitious, no less deserving of success.

But I was given the opportunities that they were denied. I went to great schools, I was taught by wonderful teachers, I had a family that prized learning.

I was in the very first full cohort to sit SATs tests at Key Stage 1, 2 and 3. I benefited from the national curriculum brought in by a [political content removed] government.

My school took up that challenge to push kids like me to achieve.

I worked hard, of course I did.

But I had the good luck to go to a great school, to have a family who cared deeply about education, a grandfather who read to me week in, week out.

And like so many stories, this one has a moral lesson at its core.

I am proof that the system can work, that a great education can be a transformational force, that background doesn’t have to be destiny.

That belief formed then, is the core of my politics now.

That the promise our children deserve, that hard work is what counts, no matter your background.

I believe in that promise, in making that dream real.

But I saw so many of my friends from my area let down, let down by a system that lacked a restless ambition for their futures, content, too often, to deliver a mediocre education, middling, in schools that drifted, an education that was seen as ‘just fine’ for ‘these kids’.

For kids like me.

Michael Gove used to call this ‘the soft bigotry of low expectations’ and with good reason: he was right.

But I don’t need to be told about that. I grew up with it all around me, in my community, holding back my friends.

I don’t forget. Not now. Not ever.

It’s these memories of those injustices, the doors closed, the dreams stifled, the futures denied, that’s what drives me forward in this job.

I get up every morning to right those wrongs.

To break down the barriers to opportunity for each and every child.

Background wasn’t my destiny.

And I won’t rest until that is true for all children.

That is my vision for education.

Opportunity, for those children, for all children. That is our mission, driven by the Prime Minister’s Plan for Change.

An excellent teacher for every child, a high-quality curriculum for every school, a core offer of excellence for every parent.

Raising a floor of high standards, below which schools must not slip, above which schools can and must innovate, with no ceiling.

Now, those memories are from a long time ago. And in the decades since, standards in England’s schools have risen, and millions of children have benefited.

Our system now has many strengths, to build into that core. The greater use of evidence in classrooms across the country.

No more flying blind, guided only by tradition.

Now, what matters is what works [political content removed] reformed exams – more rigour, more challenge.

Our national curriculum, a national strength, one from which we will build.

Raising the floor, removing the ceiling.

Take one example, one that matters immensely.

Every child learns about the Holocaust, thanks to the national curriculum. That’s the floor we need.

But teachers can then innovate in how they teach it.

Stories from newspaper archives of troops finding concentration camps or hearing the testimonies of Holocaust survivors who have been immortalised using recordings and virtual reality technology.

And now the Curriculum and Assessment Review will take us onward, delivering a core curriculum for all children that is deep and rigorous, knowledge-rich down to its bones.

And that matters so much, knowledge is foundational, the building blocks of learning.

It’s no use developing skills if children lack the knowledge to back it up and that curriculum must be taught by the very best teachers.

As a profession as well as a calling, teaching has come on leaps and bounds, far ahead of when I was at school.

The use of phonics is just one example where this has delivered for millions of children. Over 100,000 more children every year are securing the phonic foundations of reading since 2012.

And we will continue down this proud path, for future generations.

But now, right now, we need more teachers.

That’s why we are committed to recruiting an additional six and a half thousand new expert teachers over the course of this parliament, ensuring we have more teachers where they are most needed across our colleges and our secondary schools, both mainstream and specialist.

Because more teachers in our classrooms means more attention for our children. And that attention makes it easier to learn, and drives better attainment.

More teaching, better learning.

But more alone is not enough.

I want to drive up the quality of teaching too.

Building on the advances in teaching as a profession, and in teacher training.

That’s why we are requiring all teachers to work towards qualified teacher status – and doubling down on evidence-based training.

We’ll back our teachers with the very best AI, part of an exciting new wave of technology to modernise our education system.

These changes are critical for all of our children. But nowhere are they more important than for our children with SEND.

It’s hard to say about a system that today is failing so many, that there has been progress. The recognition of additional needs, the debate around how we support children with SEND is a sign of progress.

But there is much, much more to do.

We must set high expectations for all, spread pockets of excellence right throughout the system.

Focus on need and not diagnosis. With children able to access the right support more often in mainstream so that they can learn and thrive.

Empower schools to intervene earlier, equipping them not just to support, but to excel for children with a range of different needs. Advances in the use of evidence, in the curriculum, in teaching.

We’ll take that forward, delivering a new for generations of children.

But perhaps the key driver of rising standards across our schools has been strong multi academy trusts.

Take an example. Tanfield is a school that sits on the edge of Stanley, just ten miles west of where I grew up.

Over the decades, tens of thousands of kids with backgrounds just like mine have walked through those school gates.

And for a long time, the school meandered along, performing poorly, requiring improvement that never quite appeared, delivering outcomes never quite what they could be.

A reality that year after year, kids were being denied the opportunity to achieve.

Until Tanfield joined Eden Learning Trust in May 2020. And with a strong head teacher at the helm. That’s when the spark of progress finally arrived.

The school is now rated as good on some measures, outstanding on others.

Exam performance rising, above the national average.

That story fills me with hope, because I know the difference a great school makes to so many children with backgrounds like mine, to severing the tie between background and destiny.

Academy schools were a part of a great age of reform, from the mid-90s to 2015, a wave of changes that lifted standards for schools and life chances for children.

Driven forward by a succession of great education reformers – from David Blunkett to Michael Gove, and a generation of dedicated and determined teachers.

I recognise the focus on tackling low standards in inadequate schools, which previous governments of all parties shared.

I celebrate the enormous effort by parents and school staff, to haul our entire system into a much better place.

Strong academy trusts, top teachers, a core curriculum – these are our foundations.

But sometimes I get the sense that people want to stop there.

As if we can celebrate progress, but stop pushing for better.

As if the drive for change, the impatience with failure – that these are the proud tales of yesterday, not the agenda for tomorrow.

Because I tell you, this government is very clear.

The journey isn’t over, the mission is never complete.

It’s almost fifty years since James Callaghan gave a major speech about the purpose of our education system in our country.

Elements of his challenge, to the established wisdom of his day, are sadly all too familiar.

He spoke of a system that too often left young people neither ready for work, nor ready for life, the need for more young women to study science, the immense importance of numeracy for the next generation.

And he spoke of his sympathy with the principle of a national curriculum, a principle that would fall to the next government to deliver.

But today it is not simply the wisdom of that speech I have in mind.

Callaghan knew the greatest truth about the determination that governments [political content removed] should have to drive change, for it was he who told us:

“You never reach the promised land. You can march towards it.”

So I tell you again, for me, for this government, we know that this march never ends.

And yet today, the barriers to opportunity have grown only higher, and the stakes for our children are just as high.

Stuck schools.

Too many schools coasting.

Delivering an education that, is just not the standard all children deserve.

There are more than 600 schools in this country that are stuck, receiving consecutive poor Ofsted judgements.

More than 300,000 children go to these schools. And what happens to these children?

They leave primary school with results 14 percentage points worse.

They leave secondary school with results one grade per subject worse.

Their life chances, limited by the bad luck of going to a poor school.

That is our inheritance.  And that is not good enough.

Stuck schools are the new front in the fight against low expectations.

I will not accept a system that is content for some to sink, even while others soar.

These schools must improve, and with the right help, I know they can.

Our proposals provide a response that is tailored, bespoke, effective – drawing on the insights of new Ofsted report cards.

Improvement driven by new RISE teams, groups of leading experts who have been there and done it, with a track record of driving up standards.

Turning around not just schools, but children’s lives.

The best of the best when it comes to school improvement.

They will work with schools to get to grips quickly with the problems Ofsted spots, backed with an initial £20m of funding.

Up to £100,000 per school, dwarfing the basic £6,000 per school that was made available for these very schools by the last government, before being cancelled altogether with structural intervention as a necessary backstop if change does not come quickly enough.

We now have our first 20 expert advisers in place – and teams are beginning their work with schools up and down the country.

Trust leaders right at the centre.

To work with us as partners in the push for better.

Excellence – for every child.

High and rising standards – for every child.

Success – for every child.

No more stuck schools drifting along.

Tackling drift by reforming accountability and intervention.

Now is the time for reform, for renewal, for modernisation.

To take the whole school system forward.

The way we hold schools accountable underpins it all.

How we identify poor performance and drive change,

To lift the life chances of children.

We have a strong starting place. The improvements in inspection and accountability starting in the 90s have been instrumental for raising standards in our schools.

With Ofsted’s role right at its heart.

And to those who call for the abolition of a strong, independent, effective inspectorate, I have said before and I will say again: never.

Never will we go back to those dark days of weak accountability.

Because it was children from disadvantaged backgrounds who suffered the most.

And because despite those improvements, there is still so far to go.

So today I am taking us into a new era on school standards.

Single headline grades were the right innovation at the right time. They brought proper scrutiny to all schools.

But the time for change has come.

They had become high stakes for schools but low information for parents.

And for the challenges we now face, too blunt, too rough, too vague.

How can it be right that so many critical decisions parents – choices that shape whole lives rest on a single word?

It simply isn’t enough. Not for schools, not for families, and not for children.

Our searchlight on poor performance must now become brighter

to see the problems of today and tomorrow quickly and clearly.

So a more rigorous system, raising the bar on expectations, on what good really looks like when it comes to the futures of our children.

Because when we hear that 90% of schools are rated good or outstanding by Ofsted, it’s a reflection of millions of hours of hard work from teachers and leaders.

But it’s a statistic, I’m afraid, that just no longer paints the full picture.

Good as a judgement has become too vague to serve its purpose,

When there are schools rated as “good” in both the top and bottom 1% for attainment.

So just like we guard against grade inflation, to make sure that results really reflect the achievement of students, we must protect standards here too, because when almost 8 in 10 schools are graded as good, it’s time we bank that progress and take good to another level.

The imprecision has left too many struggling schools without the support they need to improve.

If the diagnosis isn’t clear, how can we be confident that the treatment will be right?

And the change this government brings is one the public know is needed.

Only 13% of those asked by Ofsted think that the notion that 90% of our schools are Good or Outstanding is truly reflective of the overall quality of schools.

We need a more diagnostic approach – an approach that is restless and rigorous.

Our proposals will swap single headline grades for the rich, granular insight of school report cards.

Raising the bar on what we expect from schools. Shining a light on the areas that matter, each given their own grade.

Identifying excellence and rooting out performance that falls short of expectations, so that parents have clearer, better information about their local schools.

And that extra information will underpin changes in how we tackle poor performance.

The worst performing schools, whether local authority maintained or academies – will be moved to a strong trust.

That means new leadership brought in to boost the life chances of pupils.

Children only get one chance: we won’t wait around while schools fail around them.

And if school report cards identify even one area for improvement for a school, Ofsted will monitor progress, looking out for warning signals, government primed to step in for children, if required.

The schools and trusts too, able to take swifter action from the more granular school report.

Because being hands off, for school after school, for year after year, simply cannot be an option when the life chances of our children are at stake.

And because we know that there is so much brilliance within our schools, so much to learn from and share.

A new proposed top grade of ‘Exemplary’, for best-in-class practice in a specific area, when Ofsted judge that a school is doing something that is simply too good to be kept inside the school gates.

Because this is a government that is never content, never complacent, never satisfied, when it comes to standards in schools.

We want to spread that excellence

To promote innovation,

And it’s important we recognise that the best people to do that, the people who so often, will be doing that, are already standing in front of us.

The best trusts, the best schools, the best leaders.

Our RISE teams in time providing a universal service, will draw on them, their practice, their knowledge, their experience, helping good schools to become great and the great schools to become even better – spreading their excellence as they go.

This is a new era in accountability for schools, a new era of relentless improvement. To drive up standards and open up opportunity for all.

But a new spirit too – including with schools.

A relationship to improve, not punish, to challenge, not to scold, based on shared aims, not shared hostility.

An approach that recognises, that when all’s said and done, we all want the same thing.

Better outcomes for children.

When I first started in this job, I said I wanted to put education at the forefront of national life.

So I am delighted to see the debate raging over our reforms – particularly since we introduced our Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

I have to say, I welcome it.

It is a sign that under this government, once again, education is coming back to the centre of national debate.

I welcome spirited engagement, I welcome robust challenge, I welcome different views – and I will listen to them.

That is how we shape the very best education system that our children deserve.

And that’s why the changes we are making to accountability will draw on the wisdom of the entire sector.

So I am pleased to announce a public consultation on our proposals for school accountability reform.

Alongside that, Ofsted are consulting on their proposals for report cards and inspection structures.

I want – we want – to hear the views of teachers and parents, schools and trusts – all those who care about our children’s futures.

All parents worry about their children and that’s because they want so much for them.

There were times when I was small when my mum worried about me.

People would tell her that I had speech issues, because I talked so little.

Well, I’m talking now.

And to the young people, the families, who feel like they don’t have a voice, don’t have a future.

I say this,

Under this government, [Political content removed] no longer will where you’re from decide what you go on to do.

Opportunity, for every child, in every school, in every part of the country.

Everything I do as Secretary of State, I do for all children.

The ones who grow up on streets like mine, who don’t – not yet – have a great school to go to, who are weighed down by their background.

I am asking more of schools, of trusts, of parents, of Ofsted, of myself, and of this government.

And I make no apologies for that,

We need change, to turn the drift and delay of today, into the restless progress of tomorrow.

Because I believe that background shouldn’t be destiny.

I believe in the power of education to take us to a brighter future.

And I believe each and every child in our country deserves nothing less.

Thank you.

The speech made by Bridget Phillipson, the Secretary of State of Education, at the Carlton House Terrace in London on 10 September 2024.

Thank you so much. I’m so pleased to be here with you today at the launch of such an important report.

And the temptation with reports like these, the ones that deal in international comparisons, is to try and score cheap political points by doing each other down.

But I think that’s a mistake. They are a chance for collaboration, not competition. Partnership, not rivalry.

Educational standards, opportunity itself, is a shared global endeavour. I want countries to come together to educate our children to form, not just the citizens, but the society of tomorrow.

And so I’d like to thank the OECD for this excellent report. And I’d also like to thank the Sutton Trust for hosting us today.

And I know that Sir Peter Lampl – you are stepping down as chair soon.

And I know that you’ve spent the last quarter of a century campaigning tirelessly to level the playing field where it comes to access to education and career opportunities, so that no young person is held back by their background.

So thank you for all that you have done, Peter. I was going to wish you a happy retirement from your role, but it sounds like you’ve got lots of plans lined up and lots that you intend to achieve in the months and years to come.

I’m an optimist. So I want to be positive, but I do have to be honest about the inheritance of a new government.

And as data published today shows, around a third of children leaving primary school do not meet the expected standard in reading, writing and maths following assessment.

There are pockets across our country where only every other child is leaving primary school meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Lurking beneath all of these separate challenges is a common denominator of distress: child poverty – the stain on our society that has seeped into the fabric of far too many families.

One in 10 pupils in this country miss at least a meal a month because their parents can’t afford to buy food.

Back in August I visited a sixth form college in Manchester for level 3 results day.

And during that visit I sat down with teachers to listen to their reflections on what it is to be a teacher today.

One told me that he had been a teacher for over a decade. But in that time his job had changed beyond all recognition.

With more and more kids bringing out of school issues into the classroom, his role had expanded.

The children’s need for pastoral support took up so much more of his time.

More and more children were prevented from learning in his lessons because they were hungry, or because of other problems at home.

Despite that teacher’s best efforts, going far beyond his job description, the life chances of those children were shrinking.

As politicians we like to talk about our own story.

But proud as we may be of that, too often the story of why some of us make it to stand on platforms like this today, while others never get that chance, is not one of hard work and talent.

It’s one of luck, and all too often of bad luck.

That’s the story for those children in that teacher’s classroom in Manchester, and thousands of other classrooms across the country.

The ones arriving too hungry to learn.

The ones arriving too tired to concentrate.

The ones arriving not having done their homework because they don’t have a quiet space at home.

Whereas others arrive ready and raring to go – and in the evenings they go back to homes where they are encouraged to continue learning, where their education is prized.

Nowhere is the stickiness of these disparities clearer than in the persistence of poverty, infecting generation after generation.

It takes five full generations for families in poverty just to reach average pay in the UK.

And in today’s Britain, it’s the luck of your background, rather than how hard you work, that all too often delivers success.

And the British people know it: three in four of adults agree that a person’s background influences their outcomes in life.

The foundations of opportunity in Britain may be rotten.

But aspiration – that desire to achieve and to succeed – is in rude health.

It isn’t just the reserve of the wealthy, even if the opportunity to fulfil those aspirations remains rationed to a lucky minority.

Working people want to know that success belongs to them, to look into the eyes of their children and grandchildren and tell them that if they work hard, they’ll be able to get on and have a good life.

So this government is on an urgent mission to make that a reality once more…

… an urgent mission to fix the foundations of opportunity

… to restore the heritage of hope passed from generation to generation.

It can be done.

But to do it we must eradicate child poverty from our society.

That’s why I came into politics, that’s why I’m proud to be leading the new government’s child poverty taskforce as co-chair, together with the Work and Pensions Secretary.

Work has already begun, we held our first meeting of the taskforce last month, and we’ll publish our strategy in the spring.

I’m glad to see that the theme of today’s report is equity in education.

Tackling child poverty is one piece of the puzzle – and it’s a top priority for this parliament. But fixing the foundations of opportunity demands equity in education too.

For this new government, it means high and rising standards across the length and breadth of education:

Not for some of our children, but for all of our children

Not in some of our schools, but in all of our schools

Not just in London and the south east, but right across our nation

Every village, every town, every city on the map. Every child, every young person, every adult in this country.

And to do that we need great teachers – the ones who inspire, who guide, who shape the futures of all of their students.

They are vital to our opportunity mission, so we’re restoring teaching as the profession of choice for the very best graduates and recruiting 6,500 new expert teachers.

That’s why we’re giving teachers and school leaders a 5.5% pay award, starting this academic year.

Great teachers in every classroom – that’s one way we’re fixing the foundations of opportunity.

But our opportunity is about parents as well as children – it’s about families.

We need to get early education and childcare right – so that all children get the very best start in life and all parents get the power to pursue their careers.

But, as your report shows, the gap in enrolment in childcare between rich families and poor families in the UK is one of the biggest in the OECD.

So how can we spread opportunity more widely?

Part of the answer does lie in the childcare rollout.

And I’m delighted that last week hundreds of thousands of working parents started receiving 15 funded hours for their young children for the first time.

And I was pleased to confirm that the 2025 childcare commitment to increase this to 30 funded hours will go ahead.

We have worked tirelessly this summer alongside childcare providers to deliver the promises government made, because trust in government is vital.

That of course means being open about the scale of the challenge to roll out this commitment in full.

It won’t be simple. It won’t be easy.

But I will work with our parents and workforce to see it through.

All of early years education is vital for our mission, not just childcare.

Those first steps into education are so important for a child’s life chances.

And the sad truth is that a significant part of the attainment gap is already baked in by the age of 5.

But what happens next in a child’s life, what they are taught in the classroom, is vital too.

So we are bringing together expert education leaders and staff in an expert-led review to help us deliver a cutting-edge curriculum fit for the future.

True equity in education requires breadth and depth, and ours has been thin and shallow for too long.

A foundation in reading, writing and maths, yes.

Of course.

But let’s go further. I want every child in our country to benefit from the wonders of music, sport, art and drama.

A curriculum that reflects the issues and diversities of our society, ensuring that every child is represented.

Never compromising on standards in the basics.

Quite the opposite.

That’ll be the strength with which we drive high and rising standards for all of our children.

Those standards must be for each and every child.

When they slip, it’s not middle-class parents who miss out – they can pay for tutors to pick up the slack.

It’s the children without support at home who fall further behind.

To deliver those standards in all our schools we need an accountability system that is fit for purpose.

A system built on support, and focused on driving improvement at the earliest point.

High standards, not high stakes.

Broad and rich, not narrow and reductive.

And last week I took the first steps to reform accountability. I announced the end of single headline Ofsted grades for state-funded schools, with immediate effect.

Instead, a clearer, broader, more transparent report card approach, in place by September ‘25.

Equity in education, from early years up to university and beyond, is the seed for opportunity in our society.

We can’t focus just on one part of the system, one area of the country, one group of people.

We can’t let excellence in education be the reserve of a lucky few.

It has to be for all, for everyone, forever.

Now I said before that I’m an optimistic person. And even given the challenge ahead, I am optimistic.

I believe that this country’s best days lie ahead of us; that our country with its proud history can have a brighter future yet.

September signals the end of summer, but a new beginning for education.

The work to fix the foundations, to build a new nation of opportunity, has now begun.

Thank you.