Category: Education

  • Michael Gove – 2011 Speech to the London Early Years Foundation

    Michael Gove – 2011 Speech to the London Early Years Foundation

    The speech made by Michael Gove, the then Secretary of State for Education, on 21 November 2011.

    Thank you for your incredibly warm welcome.

    As I think you’ll be aware, it’s half term. My wife and our two children are in France, and I had the opportunity to join them for a few days at the beginning of the week. Originally I could have taken the whole week off, but I said no, I’m going to be here for June [O’Sullivan] on Friday. So I knew that it was going to be slightly less than a week. And then there was a vote in the House of Commons on Monday – I can’t remember what it was about and I suspect most of the public don’t either – and we all had to be there. So that meant I couldn’t leave until Tuesday morning. In the end, the only time that I had with my children was from Tuesday afternoon until yesterday. Just a couple of days, but they were hugely enjoyable.

    One of the things my children are planning to do today is visit a fantastic place in the South West of France where there are some marvellous examples of prehistoric cave art. You’ll probably be familiar with those caves in the Dordogne, full of amazing drawings generated by our ancestors thousands of years ago. Recently, academics have been looking more closely at that cave art, and they’ve discovered something really striking: they’ve discovered that many of those pictures were drawn by children. They’ve looked at the scale, the size, the way the indentations have been made on the side of the cave, and they’ve realised that only children could have done those drawings. But they’ve also noticed that some of these drawings are so high up that children must have been held by their parents, or by other adults, in order to make them. And they’ve observed an intricacy that suggest children’s hands being guided by adults’. More than that, there is actually one section in the cave that is a children’s zone, as it were; where most of the drawings, so the prehistoric experts tell us, were done by children.

    Now from that fascinating discovery, I take a number of lessons about how humans operated tens of thousands of years ago. The first is that the existence of a zone where young people are allowed to play and to explore – and where adults are there to watch over them and to help – suggests that children’s centres weren’t just invented ten years ago; they were invented tens of thousands of years ago. So all of you here are representatives of probably mankind’s oldest and most valued profession. The other thing that I learned from those cave drawings is that we’ve always had an understanding of the special role that childhood should play; and we’ve always had an appreciation of the importance of adults being there to foster child development.

    This appreciation was instinctive, and it was present tens of thousands of years ago. But it’s a lesson we’ve had to relearn in the course of the last century. In the last hundred or so years, we rediscovered the importance of childhood and the early years in particular, after a period where we tended to treat children as mini-adults, or as chattels, or as processions. Just over 150 years ago, child labour was a reality that politicians had to fight hard to contain. Children were seen as mini-adults who could be put into work – worse, mini-adults without rights, mere economic units of production. Families felt they needed to produce more children simply to keep afloat, and our economic system thought that children existed simply to generate profit.

    But in the course of the last hundred years, we’ve recognised once more the unique importance of treating children differently, conferring on children specific rights, and making sure that our education system recognises that, if children are to prosper and succeed, they need special care and attention in each stage of their development. The importance of conferring on young children special rights, and the importance of giving young children special support, is something that the Coalition Government believes we must not only grasp but deepen. Because the growing recognition of the special autonomy of young children – as well as the growing recognition of what they need – has been driven not just by a heightening sense of social awareness, but also by a deepening knowledge about the reality of what child development involves.

    We know that there are specific changes that occur in a child’s brain in the earliest years of its life that have a disproportionate impact on that child’s fate; on that child’s capacity to be able to make the right choices and avoid the wrong temptations. We know that the circumstances of nurture and attachment in the very earliest years of a child’s life will often determine the emotional generosity that that child shows later. We know that the range of stimuli that a child has early in life will determine whether or not that child is capable of responding well to other human beings; capable of absorbing knowledge; and capable of becoming a skilful and fully-rounded citizen in years to come. And that’s why, at the heart of what we’re seeking to do, is a renewed emphasis on the importance of the qualifications of those who work with young people. And that’s why we want to be guided by emerging science about how the brain develops. And why we want to look to emerging good practice on the ground from all of you represented here today and beyond. From those who are developing a better understanding of how to bring children up in a way that ensures that they’re resilient; that they’re intelligent; that they’re loving; and that they’re citizens of whom we can be proud, and whose values we admire.

    Now it must be recognised that child development is changing. It’s important that we’re aware of the sophistication of some of the arguments that are now being developed about how we can best support children. In the past, there tended to be something of a division between different views about how we should encourage children to become ready for school. And I’m going to caricature, to exaggerate in order to simplify – and, I hope, to illuminate. On the one hand were those people who believe that the single most important thing that you can do with children was encourage them to play, encourage them to take delight in exploring their curiosity, and that everything about a child’s learning in the very earliest years should be driven by a child’s own impulses and instincts. And this was a view which, without wanting to be too highfaluting about it, developed from the ideas of Rousseau and the principle that the newborn child was capable of infinite goodness, but it was society that corrupted them. The important thing to do was to allow that innocence to be sustained and to flourish for as long as possible. Now there was also an alternative view – a view that believes children should be institutionalised at the earliest possible age, and that there should be formality, rigor and structure to their learning. Yes, play has its role. But that role shouldn’t overwhelm the vital importance of making sure that children are acquainted, for example, with the letters of the alphabet or the sequence of numbers at the earliest possible stage. I exaggerate, but we are all aware of people who exemplify some of those impulses: those who argue that the most important thing to do at the beginning is to nurture creativity, and others who believe that children need to be introduced to a formal body of knowledge at the earliest possible stage.

    I think it’s really important that we acknowledge that there is truth to both traditions. It’s really important that we recognise that when children are playing, they are learning; and that creativity is essential to what great child development involves. But it’s also critical that we recognise that children do need to be introduced to formal knowledge in a way and at a time that is appropriate for their own development. Some of you like me may have grown up watching the genius that is Jim Henson and the Muppets of Sesame Street. You may wonder why I’m mentioning Big Bird now. The reason that Jim Henson is a genius is not just because he was an amazing puppeteer and a fantastic communicator and a great entertainer. He was also a genius because Sesame Street sought out children growing up in homes where parents weren’t taking them through their ABCs and their 123s, and introduced them to the alphabet and numerical progression. Because he recognised that the allocation of cultural capital in our society is unequal. He recognised that for those who are rich and well-connected, their book-rich homes and their opportunity-rich lives give the children a fantastic start in life. But for those who don’t have those opportunities – who don’t have access to literature at home, to museums, to cinema – it’s sometimes more difficult to get the stimuli that give young minds the opportunity to flourish. Jim Henson recognised that, which is why Sesame Street concentrated on giving children a route into formal knowledge.

    But no one watching Sesame Street would have thought that it was a dry as dust, Victorian-style, schoolroom approach to learning. Sesame Street’s approach was driven by the belief that learning should be fun, that it should be entertaining, and that it should be built around the child’s sense of growing wonder as they mastered more knowledge and became more confident in the way they interacted with others. The very, very best practice in the early years acknowledges the sheer pleasure that comes from spending time with children and the delight of seeing them enjoy themselves. But the best practice also devotes itself to ensuring that all children grow up equally literate, equally numerate and with equal levels of access to cultural capital. Every part of what the wealthiest in our society have taken for granted as their birthright, belongs to every child.

    Now in order to achieve that, we need to provide support for those working in the early years. We recognise the difficulties that some of you face, and we also recognise that there are some of the tremendous opportunities to deliver an even better service for the parents who depend on you. So I just want to say a little bit about what the Coalition Government proposes to do and how we hope to support you. Firstly, I’m aware that we’re all living through difficult economic times. One of the things that I saw in the newspapers just before I left was the Institute of Fiscal Studies report that drew attention to the fact that money was tighter than ever before. I was grateful to them for putting it on to the front page of the Daily Telegraph… but I didn’t really need it there in order to know it. As a constituency MP, as a Minister and as a father, I know that times are extraordinarily tight. I know that the money that’s available through the Early Intervention Grant and through the Dedicated Schools Grant is not as generous as any of us would like to see. However, what we have tried to do is two things. One is to allow as much flexibility as possible about how you spend that money. And the other is trying to ensure that the early years get their fair share. That’s why Sarah Teather fought a battle with the Treasury and made sure we honoured the last government’s guarantee of 15 free hours of pre-school learning for all three- and four-year-olds. Some people believe this was inevitably going to happen. It wasn’t. The move from twelve-and-a-half to 15 hours had to be fought for. And it was Sarah who won it for all of us. It was also Sarah who was instrumental in making sure that we extended 15 hours of free education to more disadvantaged two-year-olds. The last government, to their credit, introduced this offer to 20,000 two-year-olds. We’re extending it to 120,000. I’d like to go further. But at a time when there are so many cuts occurring, I think it’s testament to Sarah’s passion – and to her skill as a Minister – that she was able to get more money for a vital project at a time when funding was being reduced elsewhere.

    I know ‘you’re not suffering as badly as the next person’ is perhaps not the most inspiring message. And I know that the money you need is not there at the level you deserve. But we’re fighting hard to make sure that at a time of difficulty we do everything we can to support you. I’m also struck by the degree of leadership local government is showing. Of course the quality of councils varies. But I’m really impressed by the fact that local government as a whole is doing everything possible to keep children’s centres open and, more critically to my mind, to ensure that the services provided are preserved as well. There may be closures, there may be mergers, but there are also opportunities to ensure even better working. And I hope that our proposals to introduce payment by results will mean that those of you who are innovating will feel that we’re there to support you, to celebrate the superb practice that goes on, and to provide more resources for those who are in a position to be able to expand.

    Now of course in mentioning good practice, I have to underline our commitment to making sure that we provide you with the curriculum, materials, and methods of accountability to help you with the work that you do. That’s why I’m so grateful to Clare Tickell for having looked at the Early Years Foundation Stage; for reporting on how we can make it less bureaucratic; and for reflecting in her work the vital importance of balancing school readiness with an appreciation of the best contemporary research on child development. I know that many of you have engaged both with Dame Clare’s review, and subsequently, with the consultation about how best to implement it. There’s more to say and more to do. But to use a jargon phrase: this has been a co-creative exercise. The work has been done with you, in order to ensure that the materials we produce reflect the best practice on the ground.

    And talking again of best practice there on the ground, one of the other things I’m very conscious of is the divorce between the workforce in schools and the workforce in early years. And we’ve tended to think that those who work in schools are teachers; they have their fantastic unions – with whom we enjoy talking – and their wonderful union leaders who get to appear on Question Time. They’re the people who get to command media attention. And resources. And ministers’ diaries. The early years workforce is sometimes seen as an amorphous group, not least because it is split between DCLG and the Department for Education in terms of the responsibility that we take for it. Well I think the time has come (in fact I think it’s long overdue) for us to recognise that all those who work with children – from the moment that they’re conceived and born, to the moment that they go out into the world of work – make up one fused and united workforce. All of you are teachers. All of you are involved in the business of education. All of you care about how well children will be integrated into the community. All of you will have skills in pastoral care. All of you are intimately involved in making sure that children learn – and that they find learning fun and stimulating, from the very earliest months through to the rest of their lives. That’s why I believe that it’s critically important that we reinforce the importance of the workforce in the early years. And that means support for your professional development. It means making sure that we provide the best possible routes to allow you to improve your qualifications and it means eventually that we should have one fused and unified profession, so that from the earliest years, right through to college and university, we think of everyone involved in the business of education as a teacher: equally valued, equally respected, and with equal prestige and esteem in the eyes of society. So that’s why I’m so pleased that Sarah has launched the Nutbrown Review, which is going to look specifically at how we can enhance the level of support that we give to the early years workforce. We’re going to look at the qualifications you need, the assistance you require, the professional development that should be available, and what government – local and central – can do to ensure that we have the best-equipped workforce possible.

    I mentioned that cave in the Dordogne right at the beginning of my remarks. One of the reasons why that story stuck in my mind is because it reinforces a perception which has influenced me during my time in government. There are some things that Education Secretaries are inevitably judged by. These are often things that tend to happen later on in children’s schools lives. We tend to be judged by improvements in Key Stage 2 results; we tend to be judged by increases in attainment at GCSE; we tend to be judged by the number of students going on to top universities or into great apprenticeships. Actually, how we should be judged is very different. What we should be judged by is the quality of the relationships that we foster and that we allow to be created. In some respects, it’s intangible. It can’t be measured. Ofsted can’t pat you on the head because data show the quality of relationships in the institution that you’re responsible for are better than those down the road. But it’s the quality of relationships that determine the health, the welfare, the worth of a society. And the reason why that cavern image stays in my mind is because, at a time when life was exceptionally tough, when people were living through subsistence agriculture, and through hunting and gathering, it was still the case that parents made time to be with their children at the earliest points in their life. And whether by parents or carers, the hands of those children were guided as they were inducted into that society’s values – and they were encouraged to become creative and become young adults in turn. I think it would be a tragedy if we were to create a situation where we so privileged work, where we were so focused on those things that could be measured, that we actually, 10,000 years on, forgot that simple, but powerful lesson: that the most important thing that we can do is to be there to guide the hand of the next generation. To allow them to become truly creative. To allow them to take the path alongside us as proud, confident adults. To allow them to have a healthy relationship with us and with the rest of society. It’s because of the work that you do that I know that the quality of relationships for children now is going to be better than ever before.

    Thank you.

  • John Hayes – 2011 Speech to the Association of Colleges Annual Conference

    John Hayes – 2011 Speech to the Association of Colleges Annual Conference

    The speech made by John Hayes, the then Education Minister, on 15 November 2011.

    Thank you Kirsty [Wark] and good afternoon everyone.

    It’s always pleasant when I’m able to begin a speech with congratulations.

    I’m sure you’ll all want to join me in congratulating Kirsty Wark on the impressively high levels of skill in the kitchen she displayed recently by reaching the final of the BBC Celebrity Masterchef competition.

    That was quite an achievement. The daytime television enthusiasts among you who have seen the show will know that its catchphrase is

    “Cooking doesn’t get tougher than this”.

    Speaking of great achievements, a second helping of congratulations must go to the UK team that competed at last month’s WorldSkills competition who are here today.

    I’m sure most of you know how fiercely competitive WorldSkills is. Yet our team, over half of whom were apprentices or former apprentices, won 5 Gold medals, 2 silvers, and 6 bronzes, plus 12 Medallions for Excellence. That placed us 5th out of 51in the competition, ahead of Germany, France, our best-ever finish.

    One of our gold medals was for cookery.

    And I can say with all due deference to Kirsty that cooking really doesn’t get tougher than that.

    If the members of the team would like to stand up. I’m sure that everyone here would like to take a closer look at the best of the best our skills system can produce and people who represent the level of achievement to which all our learners should be able to aspire.

    And I’m sure we’d all like to show them our appreciation.

    Given the fall from the state of grace with which we’ve all been struggling almost since the beginning of time, I understand why few human beings see as many reasons to be cheerful as I do.

    But we can all be cheerful about the progress the further education sector has made; is making. Progress through the changes we’ve made since coming to Government.

    It’s good to remember just how much needed to change.

    For how long FE was neglected.

    It’s easy to forget just how far we’ve travelled together over the last 18 months.

    Just how many petty restrictions we have swept away,

    Just how many pointless quangos are no longer around to interfere with your work.

    And just how many more apprentices are there gaining the skills and experience upon which they can build good careers and fulfilled lives?

    By the way, anyone who has still to be convinced of the importance of Apprenticeships could do worse than read the Institute for Public Policy Research’s new pamphlet Rethinking Apprenticeships, which is being published today and to which Vince Cable, Martin Doel and I all have contributed.

    There is always more we can do. But a record 442,700 apprenticeships starts is an achievement of which you can be proud and the Government can be proud too.

    Last year, when I spoke to you, I set out our vision of a free sector supporting growth and social renewal.

    Today I want to describe not only the journey we have been on together since then. But also the next steps.

    Of course, I know that in the FE sector new beginnings have never been in short supply. Over the last 10 years we’ve had

    Four skills strategies, two FE strategies and the Leitch Review.

    Three Acts of Parliament, the old LSC agenda for change.

    And countless Secretaries of State, and even more FE Ministers.

    I hope you agree that since we came to power the message has been clear. And it’s not all down to me, despite the compliments from the Secretary of State for Education; he deserves so much credit for all he is doing. FE – no longer the neglected middle child between schools and HE, but the prodigal son.

    And the strategy I formed with you, for you, at the outset holds firm.

    Because the simple truth at its heart holds true; it is this: If we want skills provision sufficiently responsive to meet dynamic economic and social needs, power must rest in your hands.

    In framing our plans, having listened to you over the years, I had no doubt about your capacity to respond to the most radical change in the assumptions about FE in recent years.

    This is systemic change. A paradigm shift; a sector that moves quickly.

    I am so proud of what you have achieved. Thank you.

    I am especially pleased with the way you have delivered on apprenticeships – the biggest growth in apprenticeship numbers ever. There are now 267,200 apprenticeship starts for 16-24 year olds; and 175,500 for 25+.

    That’s growing the skills of our workforce by building people’s prospects.

    This summer, we gave you yet another document. New Challenges, New Chances. It cements the strategy by responding again to what you have said.

    Following the consultation to which so many of you responded – and thank again you for that – we’re now on the verge of another package of reforms.

    But never again a signpost to a future that will never happen.

    I can’t anticipate the changes and challenges that will face our successors when our time is done, but I know that by building our strategy on time honoured principles we’ll be fit to face the journey to the future.

    A future of lives changed for the better because of the difference your work makes.

    Now “we have longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life. “

    My direction of travel has been plotted on the roadmap you can help to draw. We have not only sought your views at every stage, we have taken them seriously.

    That is because only you can ensure that the sector’s teaching and learning is what’s right; what is needed.

    I’ll do all I can to see that you get the funding you need, but each of you, all of you are uniquely sighted about how best to spend it to meet the needs of your local areas.

    My view matters, but I’m certain yours matter more.

    I want to abolish as much uncertainty for FE as I can.

    So the New Challenges, New Chances reforms will be designed to help you plan for years – at least until the end of this Parliament – and to do so the ephemera of spin and soft soap must be washed away, replaced by a cleansing long term vision.

    No different strategy on my watch. This plan will last.

    And I can assure you that these plans will not be a lurch in an entirely new direction. On the contrary, they will follow the direction of travel that Skills for Sustainable Growth set a year ago and to which you contributed so much.

    I want to talk mainly about that perspective during the rest of my time today.

    About the new relationship between colleges, our economy, and the kind of civil society the coming generations deserve.

    A relationship in which colleges will be trusted not only to manage their own affairs, but to play a key part in designing the whole framework within which they operate.

    A new relationship that challenges all of us, but which is fundamentally true to the legacy of the founders of adult education in England.

    I believe, like them, that further education should exist for the benefit of local people and their communities.

    And that it should feed the local economies that sustain them.

    Crucially – that it should help ensure that every parent’s wish comes true; that their children enjoy the best chances and better prospects that earlier generations enjoyed,

    My vision is a sector freed from Governments that predict and provide. Free to reflect and respond to what it sees around it.

    What do you see from the window of the principal’s office?

    Does it make you cry out, like Miranda,

    “O wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world that has such people in it!”?

    Shops, offices, factories, open or closed.

    Groups of mainly young people talking or speaking into mobiles.

    People on foot, in cars or on buses going about their business.

    Your communities. Your people.

    But I’ll tell you what you don’t see.

    You don’t see me. Though I do know that some of you have my photo on your desks (some even on bedside tables or in wallets, I am told) and that’s perfectly understandable.

    You don’t see Vince Cable’s nor Michael Gove’s. (no photos in wallets there)

    Not Geoff Russell’s face nor Simon Waugh’s nor Sir Michael Wilshaw’s.

    What you see is where your interest lies, where your passion for learning lives.

    People write and talk a lot about localism but a lot less about what it ought to mean.

    Localism is being aware of your community’s needs, sensitive to its roots, careful about its future; feeling for the people around you, their prospects and their welfare, knowing that your fulfilment is bound to their well being; understanding that we are all part of an organic whole, each of us stronger because the whole is stronger.

    Each of our endeavours, achievements nurturing the common good.

    You are stronger for me not telling you how to relate to the people you serve.

    The past tendency in parts of Government was to see running an FE college like running a sweet shop – that is finally at an end. I know what you do – run multi-million pound organisations, which, in business terms, are large employers.

    I know that what it takes to be a successful college leader is not so different from what it takes to run any successful business and retain the support of your board of directors while drawing on their expertise.

    College governors are typically busy successful people.

    So why ask them to give up their time unless we actually allow them to govern?

    You are shaping the skills Britain needs to prosper.

    Key to the future of your communities, colleges can help to fashion Britain’s future.

    And so we must have the courage to set you free to do so.

    I don’t want the sector to be rule-bound. I want you to establish best practice yourself through collective action like this week’s publication of the Foundation Code of Governance.

    That process of liberation began when I spoke at City & Islington College 18 month ago and continued with Skills for Sustainable Growth last November.

    The outcome of our New Challenges, New Chances consultation will map how much further we will travel by the end of this Parliament.

    But I can give you just a taste of what’s to come.

    First, it’s clear that you must have the ability to innovate to meet new demands.

    Margaret Sharp and her colleagues have stressed the need for an innovative code. And I thank Margaret for her presentation this morning and for the work she has led in producing the Colleges in the Communities report. I think we’re only just beginning to understand quite how important this work and its follow-up will be.

    So I will ask my officials to organise with the AoC a series of workshops to put into practice Margaret’s proposals.

    Second, we must allow you to accelerate the speed of change.

    We can’t afford to prevaricate when employers have needs and there are unemployed adults ready to meet them, its no use waiting for the system to catch up. You need to get started with twin track qualifications and I’m pleased to tell you that Geoff Russell has found an easy way to do it – funding new start-up programmes through a simple mechanism.

    We will bring forward further plans to make real the changes heralded by Education Bill. That means more deregulation more quickly.

    Geoff may say more on that when he speaks to you on Wednesday.

    Third, there are over 2.5m people unemployed – a million of them young people – in this country at present. So I have also asked Geoff to use the normal process of reallocating funding to good performers, funding for those NEETs most in need.

    And because of the urgency of this issue we are making up to £25 million available this academic year to increase capacity to improve the skills and employment prospects of the most disengaged young people using the in-year flexibilities in the skills funding system.

    Fourth, all organisations need stability in order to plan, to innovate and to build relationships. That is why I will continue to argue for colleges to be given three-year budgets, including for capital, of the sort that universities have enjoyed for decades.

    Fifth, I want our changes to HE to have colleges at their heart. We will deliver more higher education in colleges – the 20,000 places is a beginning, not an end.

    And we will redefine higher learning through the accelerated development of level 4 and 5 apprenticeship frameworks. I will shortly announce the first round successful bids for funding for this step change.

    Sixth, on apprenticeships: we will make the growth in numbers sustainable by further cuts in bureaucracy; by marketing apprenticeships to businesses that don’t yet enjoy their benefit with fresh verve and vehemence; a renewed emphasis on quality; and ensuring good fit between welfare reform and our skills offer

    Seventh, to ensure that our teachers are the best in the world and have access to HE I can announce today that we will introduce a bursary for initial teacher training.

    Eighth, because Further Education must think increasingly broadly, looking to international opportunities I’ve asked the AoC to develop, with my department, a global strategy for FE.

    And finally, I can confirm that an independent review of professionalism in FE will be undertaken by David Sherlock CBE and Dawn Ward OBE, Burton and South Derbyshire College.

    The Government can do much to empower the learner and we are doing so, through things like the new National Careers Service, Lifelong Learning Accounts and good information on where jobs will be in the future – linking advice to opportunities and growth.

    Another sort of empowerment is recognising a shared responsibility for supporting learning; the Government providing core financial support, some individuals paying fees supported by loans and employers contributing so supporting learning too.

    But the essential relationship remains that between learner or employer and provider.

    Because first-class programmes of learning; quality of teaching; and students growing by gaining new skills. These are at the beating heart of further education.

    Some cynics claim that me declining to tell you what to do and how to do it will lead to chaos. They say you’re not ready for freedom. That by me trusting you “mere anarchy is loosed upon the world”

    I prefer another of Yeats’ memorable phrases, “a terrible beauty is born”. The beauty I envisage of is the beauty of imagination; the beauty of creative minds. And its only terror is the thrill of new.

    Some critics call me an old-fashioned Tory. And they are right.

    My approach is rooted in the Toryism of Wilberforce and Shaftesbury of Randolf Churchill and Rab Butler.

    My approach to your sector, our sector, certainly echoes the approach of my party when Disraeli, said that

    “all power is a trust; that we are accountable for its exercise; that from the people and for the people all springs, and all must exist.”

    The changes we propose – and will publish by the end of the month – are a radical shift of power, from me to you.

    But I want to make clear that I am and will remain accountable to Parliament – to the elected representatives of the people you serve- for the justness of your decisions, the excellence of your leadership; and the quality of your services.

    And after serving the people of my constituency, I see that as the greatest honour of my political life.

    Thank you for that.

    Thank you for coming with us on this journey.

    And thank you for all you do, for all those whose lives you touch.

    Further Education – once described as the neglected middle child of our education system – now favoured.

    Favoured by me; by the Government of which I am part.

    Further education grown tall. Grown strong. At last, treated as a grown up.

    Favoured Sons and Daughters, Further Education has come of age.

  • Nick Gibb – 2011 Article in TES on Teacher Pensions

    Nick Gibb – 2011 Article in TES on Teacher Pensions

    The article by Nick Gibb, published as a press release by the Department for Education, in the TES on 11 November 2011.

    Rising life expectancy is a miracle of the modern age. The average 60-year-old in this country is now living 10 years longer than 30 years ago. And people over the age of 60 are staying healthy for longer too. Both advances are to be celebrated.

    But these dramatic demographic and social changes, coupled with the turbulent economic times, present enormous challenges for the long-term provision of pensions. Across the world, countries are debating how best to support an ageing population.

    The new offer on public sector pensions made by the government last week is a good one. A better accrual rate will mean that a teacher retiring on a salary of £37,800 will receive an inflation-proof pension of £25,200. And no one within a decade of retirement will see any difference at all. These proposals are fair for teachers, fair for the taxpayer and can be sustained for years to come.

    The Government is offering a good deal for teachers. Following representations from teachers and their unions, we are now proposing a better offer than the original package. We are ready to continue open and honest discussions about what a reformed Teachers’ Pension Scheme might look like.

    On the one hand, we must reward public service workers for their years of dedicated service. Teachers and lecturers are fundamental to the strength of our nation and the Government is determined to ensure that the profession is recognised and valued through good pay, good pensions and good conditions. On the other hand, we cannot avoid the costs that arise from people living longer and the need to bring public finances under control if we are to get our economy back on track and deliver growth.

    Doing nothing is not an option. Expenditure on teachers’ pensions is projected to double from the £5 billion a year it cost in the financial year 2005 to 2006 to almost £10 billion in 2015 to 2016, while the overall public sector pension bill has risen by a third in the last decade to £32 billion – and will continue to rise. This is simply not sustainable without eating into other areas of public spending such as schools and hospitals. Already, more than two-thirds of each teacher’s and lecturer’s pension is met by the taxpayer, rather than employer and employee contributions.

    Former Labour cabinet minister Lord Hutton’s report earlier this year was clear that public service pensions need more fundamental, lasting changes. We’ve already had to make the hard decision to ask staff to contribute more to their pensions from next April, as part of the government’s plans to save £2.8 billion from public sector pensions between 2012 and 2015.

    But the Hutton report found that we need a firmer grip on long-term costs to the taxpayer. That means changing the structure of the scheme, recognising increases in life expectancy through changes to the retirement age and spreading the costs more evenly between employees and employers.

    We also need to make pensions fairer because, as Lord Hutton showed, lower-paid staff simply do not get as good a deal for their pension contributions as their higher-earning colleagues. Our starting point has always been that public sector pension schemes such as the Teachers’ Pension Scheme will remain among the best available.

    The Government will honour teachers’ and lecturers’ existing accrued pensions in full. No one will lose a penny of the final salary pension they have already built up – and that final salary will be the final salary at the time of retirement. We will continue to provide a guaranteed amount in retirement, calculated as a proportion of staff’s salary and not dependent on whether the stock market goes up or down.

    But it is important for teachers to understand how their pensions compare to other professions, including people in the private sector. Most private sector pensions in this country have already undergone big changes as businesses reassess their costs both now and in the future. A diminishing number of private-sector employees have a company pension. The number enjoying final salary or defined benefit schemes is even smaller. But public sector workers will still be sheltered from this uncertainty.

    Employers will continue to make significant contributions to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme, while the scheme strikes a fairer balance between high earners and others. We want to secure the very best outcome for teachers, which will ensure that the scheme continues to provide good quality pensions for teachers, but is fairer to the taxpayer and sustainable for the future. Our job over coming weeks is to work through the detail with the unions to get the decisions that are right for the profession.

    The previous government made big changes to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme for new staff joining the profession from 2007, but Lord Hutton concluded that further reform is necessary. A good deal, agreed by all, will also mean that teachers continue to have one of the best retirement deals available to any profession.

  • Michael Gove – 2011 Statement on Increased Funding to Address Shortage in Pupil Places

    Michael Gove – 2011 Statement on Increased Funding to Address Shortage in Pupil Places

    The statement made by Michael Gove, the then Secretary of State for Education, in the House of Commons on 3 November 2011.

    I would like to update the House on my Department’s work to address the shortage in pupil places being experienced by some local authorities, and reduce the level of prescription and unnecessary guidance which are a feature of the school premises regulations and hamper the development of new schools.

    I would also like to inform members of my final decisions on the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme in the six authorities which mounted Judicial Reviews.

    In July, I announced that an extra £500 million would be made available, this year, to local authorities experiencing the greatest need in managing shortfalls in providing pupil places. This additional funding has been made available from efficiencies and savings identified in BSF projects that are continuing.

    I can announce today that over one hundred local authorities will receive a share of the funding. The allocations have been calculated using figures provided to the Department for Education by local authorities through the 2011 School Capacity and Forecast Information returns. By using the most up-to-date information available we are making sure the savings identified are being targeted to local authorities experiencing the most severe need.

    I understand the economic situation means difficult choices need to be made about how to direct funding but I urge local authorities to target resources at managing the shortfalls in pupils places wherever they are most needed, and taking into account of the views of parents. This is especially pertinent in light of the data released last week by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showing that previous projections for population growth were underestimated and by 2020 there will be around 21 per cent more primary age children than in 2010.

    Today’s extra funding means that in 2011-12, a total of £1.3 billion will have been allocated to fund additional school places. The Government already announced an allocation of £800 million funding in December 2010, twice the previous annual level of support. The nature of this funding, (capital grant which is not ring fenced) the nature of the projects it will fund, (mainly small primary school projects) and the readiness of local authorities to get projects underway mean that this money will be spent efficiently. Further, I expect much of it to benefit small and medium-sized enterprises and to stimulate local economic activity across the country.

    I would like to reassure those local authorities whose needs were not as severe as others – and which, therefore, did not receive a share of this extra £500 million – that future capital allocations for basic need and maintenance pressures will be announced later in the year.

    I am also launching a twelve week consultation on the revision of school premises regulations. The consultation document sets out how the Government intends to deregulate and end the confusion and unnecessary bureaucracy surrounding the current requirements. A copy of the consultation document will be placed in the House Libraries.

    I am proposing to make the requirements for independent and maintained schools identical and to reduce the overall number of regulations. Some regulations are duplicated in other pieces of legislation or are simply unnecessary and I propose to remove these regulations completely. I also think that other regulations can be simplified to remove unnecessary bureaucracy and make requirements proportionate, without reducing the quality of buildings. I would welcome views on my proposals, further details of which can be found on the Department for Education’s website.

    Finally, today I am announcing my decision on the schools that are subject to the BSF Judicial Review proceedings, brought by Luton Borough Council; Nottingham City Council; Waltham Forest London Borough Council; Newham London Borough Council; Kent County Council; and Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council.

    I announced what I was minded to do in July and have received further representations from each of the claimant authorities. I considered these carefully but I am not persuaded that I should depart from the decision which I announced I was minded to take. My final decision is, therefore, not to fund the schools in the claim but, instead, to fund, in capital grant, the value of the claimant authorities proven contractual liabilities.

  • John Hayes – 2011 Speech to the Institute for Careers Guidance Annual Conference

    John Hayes – 2011 Speech to the Institute for Careers Guidance Annual Conference

    The speech made by John Hayes, the then Education Minister, at the Thistle Hotel in Brighton on 3 November 2011.

    Good morning everyone.

    I am very pleased to be here today in one of our most fashionable, creative and enterprising cities. Given that fashion is about here and now and I’m more interested in then and when, it is the other two adjectives – creative and enterprising – which are my main themes for today.

    The National Careers Service will be launched next April, and builds on Next Step, introduced last Summer, which has been and continues to be a vital and successful Government service. Next Step has the capacity to provide guidance to 700,000 adults a year, and can handle up to 1 million telephone guidance sessions and 20 million website sessions. And over 80% of adults receiving guidance say that it influences their decision to learn or move on in employment.

    These are impressive figures. They are testament to the achievements of the careers sector, and the respect in which careers guidance is held by those who have benefitted from it. And Next Step is a landmark service, streets ahead of the provision for adults we have seen in the past. Establishing a fully integrated careers service for adults was my ambition in opposition, delivered in Government.

    Now as we plan the launch of the National Careers Service we approach a moment of immense significance. It marks the point at which the careers sector will step into the sunlight. It is the start of your renaissance.

    And to do that, the sector needs to be both creative and enterprising, just as the City of Brighton and Hove has been. From the prescribing of seawater in the 1740s to its current epithet of “Silicon Beach”, Brighton has flourished.

    Change is always a challenge, and for some people too hard to face. Perhaps that’s why we’ve heard too much talk of a “golden age” in careers guidance which is at risk. I don’t want you to have any illusions that the past was better than the future. Although the Connexions service had an impact on the lives of many young people, it was a model that simply did not work.

    Giving professional careers guidance is a specialism, which requires expertise and experience. The Connexions model stretched professional careers advisers to breaking point, requiring of them that they give expert advice on health, housing, personal finance and other matters.

    This was ineffective, and ultimately destructive: the product of a public service strategy which asked professionals to do everything at once, rather than doing what they know best.

    This was not the right model for professional careers guidance, and it will not be the model for the future.

    The launch of the National Careers Service brings a clear focus on professional, independent guidance which springs from a deep knowledge of the labour market and the specialist skills and experience of the careers adviser. Empirical, up to date, and to the point. That is what you have all called for, and that is exactly what will be delivered.

    But it depends on the commitment of every single person in this room; every professional in the sector; everyone like us who has a passion for careers guidance.

    I am sensitive to the scale of the challenge you face and know just how radical our ambitions are. But I want us to move on and up, and take bold strides forward. Yes,economic circumstances are difficult. But that must be a spur, an inspiration to even greater creativity, drive and ambition. As I said in Belfast, we simply have to do more with less; and that will be the project and the glory of the careers profession.

    I am passionate about guidance. It can set young people upon a path which will inspire and motivate them at every turn. It can help adults who have fallen on hard times turn around their lives. It deserves the highest and widest public recognition, and the prestige of a profession which is respected and admired.

    You have a chance, a golden chance, to turn your passion for guidance into a reinvigoration of the sector’s aims and ambitions. But we must move with the times. The model of the past is not the model of the future, and I want you to develop, to innovate, to reinvent where you need to reinvent, and to rise to the challenge.

    As I have said before, guidance is “the stuff of dreams”, because it clarifies and inspires. As Ruskin put it, “To see clearly is poetry, prophecy and religion, all in one.”

    The National Careers Service will bring online and helpline services for young people and adults together in one place. It will be required to hold the new, more rigorous matrix standard which I had the pleasure to launch earlier this month. It will have a redesigned website which makes information about careers and the labour market more accessible. It will provide high quality advice and guidance to adults in community locations. And it will be promoted at a national level, so that its profile and visibility are high.

    I want the National Careers Service to be the gold standard in careers guidance. It will not manage the market – the Government’s approach is to remove regulation, not increase it. But it will set a standard of quality and professionalism that all providers of guidance should seek to match.

    Alongside that, the Careers Profession Alliance is leading the renaissance of the guidance profession. Following the great work of the Careers Profession Task Force, the Alliance has set itself the target of achieving chartered status for the careers profession inside three years.

    I was delighted to share a platform today with Ruth Spellman, who is chair of the Alliance. This is not by chance, but by design. I want to stand shoulder to shoulder with the careers profession as it continues its journey, and I was pleased that Ruth spoke with authority about the steps which need to be taken.

    I applaud the ambition the Alliance have shown, and strongly support the work that Ruth and her colleagues are leading. Developing a set of professional standards which are respected and aspired to by all those providing careers advice – wherever they work and to whatever professional body they belong – is an undertaking of the utmost importance; and I urge all the parties involved onwards to success.

    I support the work on developing Higher Apprenticeships as a route for the professions, and I am sympathetic with the view that a quota of level 6 staff should be the aim. So the building blocks are in place. And we are working to a clear strategy, which will not change.

    The participation age for education and training will be raised to 18 in 2015. In line with that flagship policy, responsibility for careers guidance for young people will be devolved to the institutions of learning which know them best, and local authorities will be expected to work hard to re-engage those who have disengaged with the system. Schools will work with local authorities to identify young people who are at risk.

    The National Careers Service will provide information, advice and guidance which supports growth and social mobility, and is in tune with the labour market. Its advisers will be expert, and its reputation will be second to none.

    And underpinning this, the careers profession – and the market in high quality careers services – will continue to grow.

    We must continue to look for new and better ways of measuring and recording the positive outcomes to which guidance can lead. Government will play its part in seeking new sources of evidence; but we will continue to be challenged to justify every penny we spend, and the best evidence of success is that which you yourselves provide.

    The Alliance, its constituent bodies, and every organisation and adviser in the sector, will need to champion the quality of professional standards to which guidance is delivered, so that there is demand for professional services.

    And everyone whose business it is to engage in this noble profession – not just the National Careers Service – will need to look for the opportunities and openings which allow them to demonstrate their skill and commitment.

    I know there has been debate about the importance of face to face careers guidance for young people.

    I share the view that face to face guidance is of critical importance. Pupils and students can benefit enormously from support offered in person, which raises their aspirations and guides them onto a successful path.

    This is particularly true of those young people who do not have the social networks which can connect them to inspiring figures in different occupations; or those who come from families with a long history of unemployment; or those with learning difficulties or disabilities. You will have heard me speak before about the importance of wherewithal: many young people do not lack aspiration, but do lack the means to achieve their goals. Face to face guidance can help to move them onto the right path. This is the difference between information and advice, between data and understanding. It was Eliot after all who said “where is the knowledge lost in information.”

    Many of you have stressed the importance of ensuring that schools are able to draw on careers guidance of the highest quality. I share that view. My friends in the teaching profession have left me in no doubt that headteachers are ready to respond to the new duty to secure independent, impartial careers guidance. But they have called for support to help them take advantage of opportunity, and help others do the same.

    So today I am pleased to report that my right honourable friend Lord Hill of Oareford told the House of Lords last week that Government will bring forward statutory guidance for schools on the new legal duty. He also said that this statutory guidance will highlight to schools how they can be confident that the external support they are buying in is of the desired quality; and that the Government would consult on the guidance.

    Lord Hill also confirmed that the Government will place a clear expectation on schools that they should secure face-to-face careers guidance where it is the most suitable support, in particular for disadvantaged children, those who have special needs and those with learning difficulties or disabilities.

    These important messages in statutory guidance will be underpinned by the sharing of effective practice and evidence of what works. Headteachers need to be able to spread the word about the best, most innovative and most cost effective providers of guidance.

    And we will not stop there. The matrix standard embodies the quality I expect of all careers guidance services. As a visible national standard, it will be promoted, and should serve to help schools decide what careers guidance to secure.

    And providers in the National Careers Service will be encouraged to market their services to schools. This will provide an additional stimulus for the market in young people’s guidance to respond.

    Let me reiterate. We are moving from a past in which specialist, professional careers guidance was submerged by a model which did not work, to a future in which high quality, dynamic and responsive careers services will flourish.

    We can create a long term environment for guidance which endures. But the sector needs to seize its opportunity.

    And in Government, we will not rest on our laurels. On the contrary, we will continue to increase the reach and visibility of careers guidance.

    We will encourage careers guidance providers in the community to establish networks with other public, private and voluntary sector services. Specialist services working in partnership can have a huge impact on outcomes for individual people. So I want to build on the level of co-location which the Next Step service has already developed.

    I can confirm today that the number of Further Education colleges working with Next Step has now reached 139. Some, such as Southgate College, are exploring new models which bring together careers and job support. Here, in Brighton, Next Step South East is co-located with City College and the Whitehawk Inn community centre to deliver both support and training. We will work with the Association of Colleges, Jobcentre Plus and others to further develop those models. Following our launch in the spring, my ambition is for co-location with Job Centre Plus and colleges to exceed 250 sites across the UK by the end of next year. I can also announce that from April 2012, we will pilot new forms of co-location for the National Careers Service, including in places of worship, community centres, the charitable and voluntary sectors.

    We will help providers in the service to expand their share of business in the market, so they can take the quality of the National Careers Service offer out as widely as possible, and I want to explore how a peripatetic service can be put in place to serve rural areas like the one I represent. The National Careers Service – in towns, cities and villages across the UK.

    And we will continue to explore how we make best use of available funding to support Growth and Social Mobility – for example, by reviewing the groups which are eligible for more than one session of face to face support.

    The National Careers Service will be at the heart of the system. To play its role as part of the vision I have set out, it will need inspirational leadership, and a hotline to the profession. So I can announce today:

    that we will establish a National Council for Careers made up of key figures from the profession, to advise on the management and direction of the service as it continues to develop;

    and that in the New Year, we will publish a document confirming the policy and direction for careers guidance, which will reinforce everything I have said today.

    In Belfast, I issued a challenge, and called on you all to respond. My message has not changed. Indeed, it has got stronger, my conviction still more certain.

    This is the careers profession’s time. This is a renaissance. I love the past but I am not its captive. It will not take us forward.

    Everyone in this room, everyone out there in the sector is committed to inspiring and guiding the young people and adults of this country. We need to step up to the mark, as will the Government . In Kipling’s words “Gardens are not made by sitting in the shade.” We must continue the journey, and move into the bright sunshine. Moving forward, not holding back. Aiming high, not for ourselves, but for the lives we change through what we are and what we do.

    Thank you for listening.

  • Sarah Teather – 2011 Speech to the National Children and Adult Services Conference

    Sarah Teather – 2011 Speech to the National Children and Adult Services Conference

    The speech made by Sarah Teather, the then Children’s Minister, on 24 October 2011.

    Thanks to NCAS. It’s a great pleasure to be here today.

    This is not an easy time to be in government at any level. It’s not an easy time to be in national government, and it’s not an easy time to be in local government. I am sure I speak for all Ministers in saying that we’re extremely grateful for all that you have done working with us over the last year at a time when I know that it hasn’t been easy for you.

    Despite challenging financial circumstances, the government is determined to stick to the principles I outlined to you last year. Our priorities are early intervention; a focus on the most disadvantaged; and we want to do that by working through principles of localism.

    In an ideal world I could wave a magic wand and conjure up more money. I am sure that all of you wish that you could too. But the truth is that neither of us can. You know as well as I do that the government has to tackle the deficit and we have to get the economy back onto a sound footing.

    It makes it an incredibly challenging time for all of us to play a leadership role. But you don’t get to choose your moment to be in government. You only get to choose how you act. It’s more important now, than at any other time, that we have very clear priorities, and that we stick to those despite the challenging circumstances in which we’re working.

    It would have been easier for us to have acceded to calls to reintroduce ring fencing, to tighten up targets, and to introduce more prescriptive guidance. We chose not to. We made a promise to you that we would give you more freedom and give you more power to act. Localism is something that we believe in and it is something that we’ve tried to stick to.

    Similarly, I imagine it would have been easier for you to have cut deeply into early intervention services. But many of you have chosen not to do that this year. Most of you have worked incredibly hard to protect frontline services. Most of you have done your best to prioritise Sure Start Children’s Centres, by merging back office functions, clustering services, because you know that this makes sense. You know that it makes sense for children, it makes sense for families and, in the long term, it makes good financial sense for you if you’re running a council.

    Tough times are the times when leadership comes to the fore. We know we need to give DCSs the space to fill that leadership role. We have recently issued a consultation on revised statutory guidance on the role of the DCS and Lead Member for Children’s Services.

    It is much shorter and much less prescriptive. It will be up to local authorities to determine their structures. It is important that we’re able to assure ourselves that we have in place the clear line of accountability that Lord Laming and Professor Munro saw as critical to the well-being and safety of children and young people. This is a question of balance, a question where we’re trying to make sure that we clearly balance our priorities with our localist principles. I would certainly encourage you to respond to the consultation.

    Part of leadership is about sharing knowledge with one another. There is an enormous amount that you can teach others, very much including myself.

    We’ve seen that clearly in the 18 authorities who are participating in trials this year to develop provision or capacity for the new entitlement for two year olds.

    Already some promising evidence is filtering through. For example, in Rotherham, settings have boosted the number of places they can offer through earlier opening times and stretching the offer across all weeks of the year, rather than just during term time. One setting now offers 45 places rather than 14.

    Similarly, we’ve seen great examples in Medway, where they’ve created a database to track the development of each child or cohort, so that children starting to fall behind are identified promptly.

    Examples like this are just the tip of the iceberg. I’m sure that there will be many examples in your local authority where you know that you’re really challenging practice; that you’re taking ideas forward; that you’re doing things on the ground that others could learn from. I hope that conferences like this are opportunities for you to flaunt those examples and advertise them to others to make sure that everyone is learning from the good practice that is working on the ground.

    We’ve been trying to tap into that ingenuity and good practice in the way in which we are developing policy.

    Early Years

    Just before the summer recess we issued a document called Families in the Foundation Years. We worked on that document in a different way: through a co-production process, working with local authority representatives and professionals from the early years to make sure we were actually developing policy from the ground up.

    There’s a considerable amount of work now building on that initial work that we announced in the summer. We have our consultation on Early Education and Childcare coming up. This is really important – for lead members and DCSs as well as for early years leads.

    It is important because it sets out proposals for which disadvantaged two-year-olds will be eligible for free early education from September 2013.

    We want to make sure that your teams have local discretion to fund other disadvantaged two years old who might benefit. In particular, that means children with disabilities or with special educational needs.

    Included in the consultation is draft guidance for the delivery of free early education for 2, 3 and 4 year olds, along with strengthened criteria for free early education places so that we have a more open process for identifying quality and promoting improvement.

    I think you’ll also be pleased to hear it has dropped in size from 100 pages to fewer than 20. I hope that’s good news! It’s something that we are trying to do across the piece.

    And do please feed in to Professor Nutbrown’s upcoming review, which will be looking at the early years workforce, something which is incredibly important and which many of you have raised with me at previous conferences. It will be formally launched at the end of this month, through a ‘call to evidence’ to the sector. We’re very keen to hear your views, so please do get involved.

    Payment by results is another good example of where the sector leading the way in shaping future services. Local authorities are supporting one other under the guidance of the ADCS, SOLACE and the LGA.

    Trials of payment by results for children’s centres have started in 26 areas. These will find ways to reward children’s centres and local authorities for improvements in outcomes, rather than inputs, with a particular focus on child development, school readiness and reducing inequalities for the most disadvantaged families. We’re looking forward to hearing what makes a difference on the ground, and what needs to change.

    Another critical aspect of leadership is joining up services in the interests of children. I know that this is something that you do every day in your work.

    It’s something that is core to what we’ve been trying to do through our Green Paper on Special Educational Needs, and the reforms that we’re taking forward.

    We want health services to be firmly integrated into a local offer, a single assessment process and the Education, Health and Care plan.

    Local authority leaders have key role in achieving this ambition. I’m grateful to those of you whose teams are currently involved in the pathfinders. We’ve already seen some very exciting ideas coming out from them, and it’s a tremendous credit to the local authorities involved.

    We have a lot to do to make sure that these proposals work. They’ve been developed with the ideas that have come from you and come from others over the first 18 months that we’ve been in government. A lot of work is going to be needed to hold all of those professionals’ feet to the fire, including making sure that we properly integrate that work with health, something that I know many of you feel very strongly about. I’m going to need all of your help on the ground to make sure that we develop that properly.

    The pilots are trying to make sure that we look through to 25; that we deal with the issues around transition that we know are so difficult. Bringing together assessments and bringing together the role of the voluntary sector.

    I hope that it will put children, young people and families at the heart of the process. Making sure the services they receive are not just about adults, but about the children and young people who are receiving them.

    There are many exciting opportunities coming up for local authorities – getting more involved in public health, for example. Tom Jeffery and David Behan are giving a presentation on this subject on Friday, and looking at issues around the new relationship with public health, something that I know many of you will be interested in.

    I know that this is a tough time, and I also know that it’s not going to get any easier in the short term. We both know that.

    But we can’t stand still in that time, no matter how difficult it may be. We have to put in place now the right changes. The right structural changes that will benefit us in the long term. Making sure that we’re clear about our priorities. Making sure that partnership working really does work.

    A great deal can change, even in days when money is short, by working better together. By changing how we work. By changing the way in which we learn from one another.

    That takes leadership. And it takes a different style of leadership. Leadership which is open – open to challenge, open to new ideas. Not necessarily ideas that were started here, but also making sure that we’re making the most of ideas that started in other places too.

    Let me finish by saying a huge thank you to you for all that you have done, for all the work that you’re taking forward; for all the ways that you’ve positively responded to consultations and requests that we’ve made of you for more information, detail and examples to make sure that we’re getting our policy right. I’m determined that we continue to work in that spirit, and look forward to working with you over the next twelve months.

  • Nick Gibb – 2011 Speech at the Reading Reform Foundation Conference

    Nick Gibb – 2011 Speech at the Reading Reform Foundation Conference

    The speech made by Nick Gibb, the then Education Minister, on 14 October 2011.

    I’d like to start by thanking the experts I have worked with over the last five years, people like Ruth Miskin, Jennifer Chew, Sue Lloyd, Debbie Hepplewhite and others.

    I am profoundly grateful to them and to all of you for teaching me and the children in your care so much about reading. Thanks to your patience, perseverance and passion at the most vital stage of a child’s education, hundreds of thousands of pupils have taken their first successful step in a lifetime of education.

    The Government is determined to improve the teaching of reading in schools, and close the gap in attainment between the wealthiest and poorest pupils. We want to help all children, from all backgrounds, to become fluent and enthusiastic readers. Only once children have learnt to read, can they read to learn.

    We already know how to tackle reading failure. High-quality international evidence has proved that systematic teaching of synthetic phonics is the best way to drive up standards in reading. Taught as part of a language rich curriculum, systematic synthetic phonics allows problems to be identified early and rectified before it is too late.

    But although this country is one of the world’s highest spenders on education, too many children are failing. When teachers should be helping children to develop a lifetime’s love of reading, poor teaching strategies and practices are condemning too many children to a lifelong struggle.

    The figures speak for themselves:

    Only 73 per cent of all pupils on free school meals, and only two-thirds of boys eligible for free school meals, achieve the expected standard in reading at Key Stage 1;
    More than 83,000 seven-year-olds achieved below Level 2 at Key Stage 1 this year;
    One in five 11 year-olds leaves primary school still struggling with reading. Even worse, nine per cent of 11-year-old boys only achieve Level 2 or below at Key Stage 2;
    Looking just at white boys eligible for free school meals, 60 per cent still aren’t reading properly at the age of 14;
    And the reading ability of GCSE pupils in England is more than a year behind the standard of their peers in Shanghai, Korea and Finland, and at least six months behind those in Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada, New Zealand, Japan and Australia;
    Overall, in the last nine years, England has fallen in PISA’s international tables from 7th to 25th in reading.
    Early reading failure can affect a child’s education and attainment for the rest of their life. A recent report from the Centre for Social Justice pointed out that “significant literacy and numeracy problems are found in between 50 and 76 per cent of children who are permanently excluded from school”.

    The report also identified literacy and numeracy problems in 60 per cent of children in special schools for those with behavioural problems, and in 50-60 per cent of the prison population. As the report’s author, Adele Eastman, concluded: “Many display challenging behaviour to hide the fact that they cannot read.”

    And too many children grow to adulthood without ever learning this basic skill. Just this week, Army recruiting offices revealed that hundreds of would-be soldiers are being turned away because they cannot pass the most basic literacy and numeracy tests – that is, because they do not have a reading age of more than 11.

    As a report by Civitas has stated, “Weak reading lies at the heart of both the educational apartheid between the advantaged and disadvantaged and stalled social mobility. The inability to read properly is the single greatest handicap to progress both in school and adult life”.

    So for all these reasons, tackling reading failure is an urgent priority for this Government. We are completely focused on improving the teaching of reading in reception and Year 1 of primary school, with an emphasis on systematic synthetic phonics as the most effective means to achieve it.

    And as well as mastering the basic skill of decoding, we want to encourage children to experience the joy of reading and develop a lifelong love of books.

    One of my greatest pleasures when visiting a good school is listening to the children talking with real passion about their favourite books – the characters they have grown to love and the stories they have learnt.

    But according to the OECD, the UK is ranked 47th out of 65 nations on the number of young people who read for enjoyment. Only six out of 10 teenagers regularly read for pleasure in this country, compared to 90 per cent in countries like Kazakhstan, Albania, China and Thailand. The difference in reading ability between pupils who never read for enjoyment, and those who read for just half an hour a day, is equivalent to a year’s schooling at age 15.

    So we’re also working on policies to promote reading for pleasure. We’re currently considering ways to encourage children to read large numbers of books, and I will bring you up to date on our plans in due course.

    We have already introduced a number of measures to ensure that more children learn the essential skill of decoding, and to equip teachers with the necessary skills, resources and training.

    From next summer, our new Year 1 reading check will help teachers confirm whether individual pupils have grasped fundamental phonics decoding skills, and identify which children may need extra help.

    The check will provide a national benchmark for phonic decoding, allowing schools to judge their performance on a local and national level, and encouraging them to set high expectations for what their pupils can achieve by the end of Year 1.

    It will also help to give parents confidence that their child has learnt this crucial skill, reflecting research that found that 73 per cent of parents thought a year 1 reading check is a good idea.

    Our pilot this year took place in around 300 schools across the country. Independent evaluation by a team from Sheffield Hallam University showed that three quarters of the schools felt that the check assessed phonic decoding ability accurately, while the vast majority of schools (over 90 per cent) thought that most aspects of the check’s content were suitable for their pupils.

    Most importantly, almost half of the pilot schools (43 per cent) indicated that the check had helped them to identify pupils with phonic decoding issues of which they were not previously aware.

    We’re now planning to roll out this short, simple check across the country next summer. The check will consist of a list of 40 words and non-words, 20 of each, which a child will read one-to-one with their own teacher.

    The independent evaluation of the pilot showed that most children actively enjoyed the non-words, and thought they were “fun”.

    Of course, it is important that children understand the difference between real words and non-words, and we are taking steps to address this issue: helping teachers to introduce non-words clearly, and carefully considering how non-words should be labelled or presented.

    But I am very glad to see that our overall plans for the reading check have been welcomed by the Reading Reform Foundation (RRF), and that you believe that it will “ensure that all children have a good phonics foundation, and identify those pupils who need extra help”.

    I hope that we can recruit all of the RRF’s members to help us raise awareness about the check among schools, teachers and parents, and highlight the benefits of using systematic synthetic phonics to give children the skills they will need to succeed.

    Of course, it goes without saying that ongoing teacher assessment alongside the check will continue to be hugely important in ensuring that pupils are making progress.

    To ensure that teachers have the necessary skills and training, we’ve reviewed the qualified teacher status (QTS) standards under Sally Coates. It is now an explicit requirement that teachers of early reading should demonstrate a clear understanding of the theory and teaching of systematic synthetic phonics. You won’t be able to acquire QTS as a primary teacher unless you can demonstrate a skill in teaching phonics.

    As a consequence the Training and Development Agency, together with the Universities Council for the Education of Teachers, is working to ensure that all university teacher training faculties are improving the training of teachers in this area.

    And so that all schools have access to high-quality phonic resources, we have introduced matched-funding of £3,000 per school. This funding will support schools in choosing and purchasing the appropriate resources for their pupils, together with our recently released catalogue of well-respected phonics products and training, The Importance of Phonics. We are considering running a new procurement process for inclusion in an updated catalogue of resources in Spring 2012, and more information on that will be available in due course.

    Finally, Ofsted has published a new inspection framework which draws a closer link between teaching quality and the overall grade schools receive. This new way of inspecting schools will allow Ofsted to spend more time in the classroom and I am very pleased that, for the first time, Ofsted inspectors will listen to pupils reading aloud to check their rate of progress – with a particular focus on weaker readers.

    We hope that these measures will help all children to master the essential and life-changing skill of turning words on the page into images, information and ideas in their heads.

    In this work I am delighted to have the support of the Reading Reform Foundation, and delighted to be here with you all today. Thank you again for all your hard work and I look forward to working with the RRF over the coming months and years as we take this important task forward.

    For children from all backgrounds, being able to read is the vital skill that unlocks all the benefits of education. Together, I hope that we can give more children the key to reading and tackle reading failure.

  • Jonathan Hill – 2010 Speech at the National Launch of Studio Schools

    Jonathan Hill – 2010 Speech at the National Launch of Studio Schools

    The speech made by Jonathan Hill, the then Education Minister, in London on 18 November 2010.

    Good morning everyone and thank you Geoff for that warm welcome.

    The more observant among you will by now have realised that I’m not Michael Gove, who unfortunately has been called away at the last minute. He has asked me to apologise on his behalf and to say how sorry he is not to be here. I know that he is a big fan of studio schools, a great admirer of the pioneering work done by the Young Foundation, and a keen supporter of the Studio Schools Trust, which he recently described as ‘superb’.

    But I am delighted to be here in his place because it gives me the chance – less eloquently than Michael no doubt – to put on the record my own support for the work of the Studio Schools Trust and my appreciation for what you do.

    I have been lucky enough to go to Barnfield College in Luton, shortly after it opened one of the first two studio schools in September. And last Friday I was at Futures Community College in Southend-on-Sea – not a studio school but doing something similar around practical training.

    I am the new kid on the block, but you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to get the point.

    Switched-on, positive children working hard and learning practical skills.

    Switched-on, positive employers telling me how brilliant it was for them.

    Academic and vocational teaching being offered side by side; learning tailored to pupils’ individual needs; aspirations raised, so that going to university or getting a good job becomes a realistic prospect for children in families where aspiration and expectation has been very low.

    So I want to thank them, as well as everyone at the Netherhall Learning Campus in Kirklees, the Studio Schools Trust and the Young Foundation for the enormous amount of work they’ve done to push the boundaries forward and make the argument for why we need to offer young people the chance of acquiring high-quality practical and technical skills, as well as high-quality academic qualifications.

    The challenges

    I came to this new job not having worked in education. For the last 12 years, I ran my own business. It has meant I have had – and still have – a steep learning curve, but coming to something fresh is not without advantages.

    It means you have to approach things from first principles and you have to ask lots of questions.

    Questions like: are enough of our children leaving primary school able to read and write properly?

    Are we equipping young people with the skills, knowledge and aspirations employers and universities are demanding?

    Have we got an exam and qualification system to which we have confidence? Have league tables and equivalents led to gaming of the system?

    Are we motivating and enthusing the workforce of tomorrow – so they fulfil their potential and have the confidence to succeed? Or, at the very least, know how to turn up on time, work in a team, or take direction from a manager?

    Is vocational and practical training strong enough so we can compete internationally – or even be able to fill jobs at home without having to recruit from overseas?

    How do we measure up against best practice internationally?

    To which, my answers are: no, up to a point, not really, yes, not well enough, no and it’s a very mixed picture.

    The truth is that too many young people still don’t get the right skills and qualifications for work and further study.

    Too many young people are turned off learning at an early age, fall behind and then get left behind.

    And it’s not good enough for more young people to be staying on in education if the qualifications they’re working towards aren’t valued by future employers.

    I also can’t help feeling that out of a well-intended desire to give vocational and academic skills parity of esteem – which is right – we have ended up undervaluing both.

    We’ve forced vocational and academic qualifications to have some kind of uneasy equivalence, when actually we should just be making sure that they are all high quality and do what universities and employers need. And above all that they should be tailored to what individual children need.

    So, what are we doing about it?

    The top line is that we are trying to get out of the hair of professions to allow them to get on with what they do best. To come up with ideas of their own – like studio schools – as to how they can best cater for their children.

    We also want to stop directing and prescribing quite so much, I hope leaving more space for professionals to learn from each other, forming partnerships, spreading good practice and raising standards through collaboration and the sharing of experience.

    Reform

    More specifically, we have a number of clear aims.

    First, to strengthen qualifications so they are more robust, rigorous and teach the economically valuable skills that employers demand to keep pace with the rest of the world.

    We will also give universities and employers more say over developing A levels. It’s right that those with the strongest interest in making sure young people have the right skills have a louder voice.

    Second, we’ve asked Professor Alison Wolf to lead an independent review of vocational qualifications. Alison’s review isn’t about creating yet another set of Whitehall-designed, top-down qualifications – it’s about giving colleges and schools the flexibility to offer qualifications that meet the labour market’s constantly shifting demands and higher expectations.

    Third, we want to raise the quality of careers guidance.

    Fourth, we are expanding the number of Apprenticeships.

    It’s sobering that only eight per cent of employers in England offer Apprenticeships – compared with 24 per cent in Germany. And of businesses with at least 500 employees, it’s just 30 per cent here compared with more than 90 per cent across in Germany.

    Fifth, we are trying to put the right structures in place through our wider reform programme.

    People sometimes say to me: why are you making these structural changes? Surely its teachers who make the difference? Stop messing around and concentrate on the teachers.

    I agree totally that it always comes down to people – and we will be saying more about that in our white paper to be published shortly. But the point of the structural changes is to give those people more space and it provides the opportunity for new ideas to bubble up from below.

    So we’re expanding the Academies programme and we’re ensuring that new providers including parents, community groups and businesses can come together and open new Free Schools where there’s demand – bringing outside expertise and experience into the state sector.

    That’s why we back Lord Baker, who through the Baker-Dearing Trust that he set up with the late Lord Dearing, is doing a fantastic job in pioneering a new generation of University Technical Colleges.

    They will offer high-quality technical qualifications – all as autonomous institutions, sponsored by leading local businesses and a local university.

    The JCB Academy in Staffordshire is already open – offering hard practical learning alongside academic GCSEs.

    The new UTC in Birmingham will specialise in engineering and manufacturing when it opens in 2012 – with students working with Aston University engineering staff and students, as well as local business and colleges.

    And Ken has ambitious plans to open many more in cities across the country.

    Studio schools – the way forward

    And it’s in that same spirit that we are right behind the studio schools movement and keen to see it grow, and we hope that the wider education system sits up and takes note of your distinctive philosophy and ethos.

    We think that studio schools have huge potential, and it’s not just us who think so. I gather that there is a great deal of interest from overseas.

    Studio schools have a fresh and new culture for young people at risk of dropping out elsewhere. They are all ability, have high aspirations for all pupils and make sure young people get the strong qualifications they need to get into employment or university, whether that’s GCSEs, A levels, Diplomas, BTECs or NVQs.

    But they also give them the practical skills employers demand in trades like construction, hospitality, plumbing and engineering, as well as softer skills like team working, communication, initiative and punctuality – exactly the kind of intangibles that businesses want but often can’t find in school leavers.

    Studio schools show us how to go beyond so-called ‘traditional’ teaching by using some of the most innovative teaching methods like personal mentoring and coaching, project-based learning which cuts across subjects, and rooting lessons in practical, real-life situations. And they use smaller classes to back up high-quality staff, allowing them to focus more attention on pupils who might have been at risk of falling behind or switching off.

    And one vital point: this doesn’t mean dumbing down – it’s about making sure young people are inspired and excited to invest the time and effort in their own futures.

    They mustn’t be seen as some kind of halfway house between mainstream provision and PRUs, as some sort of sticking plaster. This is exactly the kind of false label, often attached to vocational education, which we need to squash. It doesn’t do justice to the teachers teaching or the pupils learning in them. And it misses the point about the enormous potential that studio schools have.

    By bringing employers into the classroom, it’s a win-win for them and the children.

    Young people are doing real work in real business environments – the over-16s are paid a proper wage, but above all they are getting the chance to work alongside professionals on real commercial projects.

    I like the fact that employers involved in studio schools recognise that there is not much value in making noises-off about the quality of skills, while not actually working in schools directly. So it is absolutely right they are reaching out to young people directly and taking them under their wing.

    By working together, I know we can spread the word about the studio school approach. And I would urge everyone here who thinks they might be interested to talk to the Studio Schools Trust.

    Conclusion

    Today is a celebration of the launch of the first two studio schools, but I hope it also heralds more to come.

    It is extremely important that the pioneers do well, not just for the children you are teaching, but because of the role models you can be.

    Showing that it is possible to break down the long-standing divide between academic and vocational qualifications that has existed in our country for too long. Showing that it is possible to re-engage young people and get them to set their targets higher.

    And showing that we can give more young people real choice in their lives.

    I believe that studio schools can help achieve all of that.

    And I hope this is just the start of things to come.

    Thank you.

  • Nick Gibb – 2011 Speech at the Centre for Social Justice

    Nick Gibb – 2011 Speech at the Centre for Social Justice

    The speech made by Nick Gibb, the then Schools Minister, on 12 September 2011.

    It is a pleasure to be here at the launch of another important report from the Centre for Social Justice. Since the think tank was founded in 2004, by Iain Duncan Smith, it has contributed hugely to the public debate about how to tackle some of Britain’s most intractable social problems. Its seminal report, Breakthrough Britain, highlighted the central role of education in the life chances of us all and the role that poor quality schools have played in “stifling the chances of children in our poorest areas”.

    This report looks in more detail at educational exclusion, whether that be the literal exclusion of persistently poorly behaved children from school or the metaphorical educational exclusion of those attending schools that fail to deliver the type of education available to the most advantaged in society. The report makes an important contribution to the education debate and for that we are deeply indebted to the Centre for Social Justice and in particular to Adele Eastman.

    I have long taken the view that education is the only route out of poverty and a poor education is, in this modern world, a clear pathway to low income and narrow opportunities.

    And the starting point to anyone’s education is learning how to read. This country is one of the world’s highest spenders on education and yet one in five 11 year-olds leaves primary school still struggling with this basic skill. Nine per cent of 11-year-old boys leave primary school with a reading age of seven or younger. And that problem is compounded further when you look just at white boys eligible for free school meals amongst whom 60 per cent aren’t reading properly at the age of 14.

    Today’s CSJ report points out that “significant literacy and numeracy problems are found in between 50 and 76 per cent of children who are permanently excluded from school”. It also points to literacy and numeracy problems in 60 per cent of children in special schools for those with behavioural problems and in 50-60 per cent of the prison population. As Adele Eastman correctly concludes:

    “Many display challenging behaviour to hide the fact that they cannot read.”

    There is a strong body of opinion and evidence that the reason for this country’s problems with reading is the teaching method that was introduced in the 1950s known as Look and Say, that asserted that exposure to and repetition of high frequency words was the easiest way to teach children to read. But evidence from longitudinal studies such as the Clackmannanshire study by Rhona Johnston and Joyce Watson, showed that early systematic synthetic phonics was the most successful method of teaching children to read. Indeed the Clackmannanshire study of 300 pupils over seven years showed that at the end of that seven year period systematic synthetic phonics had given those children an average word reading age of 14 by the time they were 11. The multi-million dollar meta-analysis from the US, the National Reading Panel, came to similar conclusions.

    That’s why the Government is giving primary schools matched funding of up to £3,000 to buy phonics materials and training. We’re also introducing a phonic check at the end of year one of primary school to ensure that every child has mastered the basic skill of decoding words. Too many children are slipping through the net, with their struggle with reading allowed to continue without the help they need.

    The OECD’s PISA report also shows that Britain ranks 47th out of 65 countries when it comes to reading for pleasure. Four out of 10 teenagers fail to do so in this country compared to just 10 per cent in Kazakhstan, Albania, China and Thailand. So we’re also working on policies to promote greater reading for pleasure.

    Today’s CSJ report, interestingly, points to boredom as a factor. “Boredom”, the report says, “has been regularly cited as a factor in challenging behaviour and a reason for disengagement with education”. There are obviously a range of reasons why children might be bored with some lessons. Not being able to read might be a factor or the skills-based approach to history or geography.

    A report by the Centre for the Use of Research and Evidence in Education points to a significant proportion of pupils not being challenged sufficiently. In that study 8,000 children were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with the statement, “lessons are often too difficult for me”. 50 per cent disagreed and 20 per cent strongly disagreed with the statement.

    So that’s why we are reviewing the national curriculum, slimming it down so that it concentrates on the core knowledge that pupils need to be taught. We are looking at the curricula of the best performing education systems in the world to ensure that our national curriculum is on a par with the best.

    The OECD has also been looking at how some students around the world are able to overcome their socio-economic background when it comes to educational achievement. The report shows that deprived pupils from this country perform significantly less well than deprived pupils in most OECD countries – putting us 39th out of 65 countries.

    It is measured in terms of the resilience of students to their social backgrounds. In the UK just a quarter of pupils from poor backgrounds are “resilient” according to the PISA measure compared to three-quarters in Shanghai-China and Hong Kong and nearly half in Singapore. The OECD average is 31 per cent. The OECD concludes that what helps disadvantaged students to overcome their social backgrounds and achieve well in school in spending more time in class, particularly in science.

    “Among disadvantaged students, learning time in school is one of the strongest predictors of which students will outperform their peers. In practically all OECD countries … the average resilient student spends more time studying science at school – on average between one and two hours per week – than the average low-achiever.”

    That’s why the English-Baccalaureate is such an important concept. Last year only 22 per cent of all students and just 8 per cent of those eligible for FSM, were entered for the E-Bacc subjects at GCSE – English, Maths, at least two of the three sciences or the double award, history or geography and a language. Indications are that GCSE choices for this September show that figure rising to 47 per cent and while we don’t have the breakdown of that figure to show the FSM proportion, it is likely to have increased across the board.

    It is the quality of education available to those pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds that is the driving force behind all our education reforms. We want to see the attainment gap between those from wealthier and poorer backgrounds narrowing and ultimately closing.

    For example, less than 10 per cent of schools with the highest proportion of pupils eligible for FSM make languages compulsory compared to 50 per cent of schools with the lowest level of pupils eligible for FSM. Pupils on FSM are three times more likely to be persistent absentees and around three times more likely to be excluded than non FSM pupils. So again, we believe the E-Bacc policy will increase opportunity and encouragement to study languages even in areas of the greatest deprivation.

    And it’s why we are so determined to drive forward the academies programme – because academies, in some of the most challenging areas of the country – are improving their academic results at twice the pace of non-academy schools. It’s why we believe the Free School policy will make such an impact – with 24 such schools opening this month after just 16 months in office. 50 per cent of those free schools are in the most deprived 30 per cent of local areas.

    It is why we have raised the threshold when it comes to persistent absence from schools, so now being away for 15 per cent of the school year rather than 20 per cent is the new definition and ultimately we need to take that down to 10 per cent.

    And we also need to do more to make schools safe, happy and calm places where pupils are free to study and able to learn. Persistent low level disruption distracts children, it helps spread poor behaviour and it drives out talented teachers from the profession. The OECD estimates that 30 per cent of effective teaching time is lost because of poor behaviour in schools.

    We have to restore the respect for teachers and shift the balance of authority in the classroom away from the child and back to the adult. This is what pupils want as much as teachers and parents. That’s why the Education Bill going through Parliament at the moment will strengthen teachers’ powers to enforce school rules.

    It will remove the absurd 24 hours’ notice rule for detentions and it will seek to improve the quality of alternative provision for those pupils who are excluded from school by allowing Pupil Referral Units to have the same autonomy and freedoms as academies. We’re also encouraging new providers to establish alternative provision free schools and we’re piloting a new approach to exclusion in which the school will be responsible for selecting any alternative education and be held accountable for the academic results of those excluded pupils.

    Early intervention is also key which is why we’re recruiting an extra 4,200 health visitors to support parents after the birth of their children, extending free childcare for three and four year olds to 15 hours per week from the current 12.5 hours, and introducing 15 hours a week free childcare for the poorest two year olds.

    The CSJ and this Government share many objectives – the principal one being to tackle social disadvantage and to close the attainment gap between those from poorer and wealthier backgrounds. Today’s report is a welcome contribution to understanding how we deliver on those vital objectives and I look forward to working with the Centre for Social Justice on what more we can do to ensure that our joint objective becomes a reality.

  • John Hayes – 2011 Speech on Cutting Apprenticeship Red tape for Employers

    John Hayes – 2011 Speech on Cutting Apprenticeship Red tape for Employers

    The speech made by John Hayes, the then Education Minister, at the CBI in London on 6 September 2011.

    Good morning everyone.

    Most of us might think of this time of year as one of endings rather than beginnings. With the nights starting to draw in and a cold nip in the morning air, summer holidays are over and harvest-time is upon us. Whether or not they amount to mellow fruitfulness, the temptation is for us all to sit back and admire the results of the work we did earlier in the year.

    But as we stand on the threshold of autumn, we should remember that this can be a time of important beginnings as well as endings. My children, like millions of others, returned to a new year at school yesterday. Take today, 6 September, for example. William the Conqueror landed in England and set in motion amongst the most profound social and political changes that this country has ever seen. Nearly six centuries later, this was also the day on which the Mayflower set sail for America, not just starting the rise of a new superpower, which in crucial ways sowed the seeds of the modern business environment in which most of you operate.

    And what we do in the future can be as glorious as all the best of what we’ve done in the past. So I want to speak today of a future which is better for Britain because it’s better for business. Specifically, I’d like to share some thoughts with you about the steps we are hoping to take with you to spread the social and economic benefits of Apprenticeships even more widely.

    That’s not merely a technical issue – it’s about investing in human capital.

    Anyone who has seen for themselves just what an Apprenticeship can do to turn someone’s life around, knows the power of that investment, whether the apprentice is an adult looking for a new direction or a young person just starting out. Power not only to give them new skill, fresh hope and undreamt-of earning potential, but even more importantly power to give new pride in new abilities, people with a constructive purpose in life, real self-respect reinforced by the respect of those around them.

    You know that, our Government is facing two profound domestic policy challenges. First, promoting renewed economic growth and prosperity for British businesses. And second, giving renewed hope and purpose to British people, especially the young, whose disaffection with things as they are was shown so graphically recently.

    Building an Apprenticeships programme that delivers to its maximum potential is highly relevant to increasing the chances of meeting both challenges successfully.

    And it’s highly relevant to you. Some businesspeople say that they’re reluctant to become involved in training because it’s easier to just go out and buy the skills they need to grow and to thrive, if necessary by looking abroad. But that’s a short term fix not a long term solution to Britain’s skills shortages.

    I appreciate that many of you already engage apprentices in large numbers as well as offering training to your existing staff. You know already what they can do for your businesses’ performance and for their standing within the community, you value the difference skills make to productivity and competitiveness. I know, too, that many of you have been powerful advocates of training among other businesses in your own sectors. And I want to pay public tribute to that this morning.

    Your efforts have played their part in allowing us to offer at least 250,000 more Apprenticeships over this Parliament than the previous Government had planned. Thank you.

    But with nearly one million young people not in education, employment or training, I think it’s obvious that we haven’t yet done enough.

    Too often in the recent past, businesses have been asked to collude in Government numbers games. Getting more so-called NEETs off the unemployment register by setting arbitrary targets and creating schemes just to meet them is just not right.

    We must also make progress in increasing the range of Apprenticeships, and improving their quality. Their reach must become as wide as the scope of learners’ abilities and aspirations. Their quality must be such as to make the apprentice sought after by employers, envied by their peers and admired by the rest of us.
    That necessitates, among other things, for creative thinking and for expanding our own perceptions of what Apprenticeships are.

    They certainly remain highly valuable for traditional crafts. The special quality of the interface between an apprentice and his mentor, the vital symbiosis, can inspire both; between one generation eager to pass on all it knows and the next ready to learn. Too rarely are, these days, generations brought together in that way. But the potential for knowledge to be passed on from one generation to another, and for them to find common cause as craftsmen, goes far beyond a particular discipline.

    I said last year that craft is as much about learning to be a film technician as furniture maker; as much about learning to be a fashion designer as a fishmonger. I did not have Pinewood Studios in mind when I said that, but I’m still glad that you will hear from them later on about how they have brought together a network of small employers in their supply chain to deliver successful Apprenticeships.

    This variant on the Group Training Associations theme, with small employers working with a large totemic employer, is something that is worthy of further consideration. Its very nature generates cross-Sector Skills Council working and a sector-led approach to generate growth. This is something that I obviously welcome and about which I have been talking to the UK Commission for Employment and Skills.

    A second key area where we must make progress, one that I think will strike a particular chord here. The Government said in its response to the Wolf Review in May that we were committed to simplifying Apprenticeships, in order to remove unnecessary bureaucracy and make them less onerous for employers to offer.

    And I, for one, see no contradiction between our wish to raise quality and our commitment to cut red tape. That’s why we have started a specific project looking further at how we can facilitate greater engagement with small and medium-sized enterprises in skills, training, and Apprenticeships. That project will report to me this Autumn.

    But I also recognise that reducing bureaucracy and burdens for large employers is not easy. Tinkering would not be the answer. It had – as some of you may recall – been tried before and had made little difference. Instead, we needed to start from some robust analysis of the systems and burdens imposed on large employers to allow us to step back and think about the way the system operates as a whole.

    What we do must be evidentially based.

    Which is why I was so delighted to give my full support to a commission by the Employer Reference Group, in which the CBI and many large employers played an important part. The commission’s aim was to review the processes faced by large employers seeking to take on apprentices and the result of its work is the excellent report being published today. This sets out in detail the processes involved in taking on apprentices and how bureaucracy can be reduced for large employers who contract directly with the Skill Funding Agency.

    The report has been co-sponsored by two of the Employer Reference Group members – BT and TUI Travel, and I am delighted that Andy Palmer from BT will speak to you in a moment. The study and the report were produced by the Learning and Skills Improvement Service – LSIS – who are also here today.

    The report has made a series of broad recommendations to simplify the system and help encourage more large employers to recruit apprentices. Naturally, we were reluctant to wait for publication of the report before taking action, and I have here an Action Plan that we are implementing to take forward the report’s recommendations.

    One key measure suggested by employers – that we look at paying large employers by outcomes only, thus stripping away a significant number of data collection and audit burdens – has, I am delighted to say, started this month with a pilot of over 20 major employers.

    But we will go further:

    Providing an online, plain-English, toolkit for employers that clearly explains the end-to-end processes employers need to undertake for apprenticeships;
    Streamlining contracting arrangements;
    A commitment to no “in year” changes to contracting arrangements;
    A more proportionate approach to audit and inspection – reducing preparation time for employers;
    Greater use of electronic information, thus reducing paperwork;
    A more streamlined certification process.
    Progress against this Action Plan will be monitored via a Task and Finish Group of employers being set up by the National Apprenticeship Service, with the Skills Funding Agency. This group will not only keep me informed of progress and the impact that the changes are having but will also report regularly to the Employer Reference Group. And I will insist on 6 month and 12 month progress reports tested against the views on major employers, the CBI and other key players. I know that many of you, too, will also be keen to see how this work is progressing.

    It remains only for me to thank the CBI, for their hospitality this morning, their championing of Apprenticeships in general, and the work they, and all the employer members of the Reference Group, especially Andy Palmer from BT and Andy Smyth from TUI Travel, have done to support this study and the resulting report and action plan.

    Apprenticeships: time honoured, but right for now.

    Right for business because they boost productivity.

    Right for those that gain the skills to prosper.

    Right for Britain because by fuelling economic growth and fostering the common good they feed our national interest.