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Category: Education

  • Robin Walker – 2022 Statement on Education

    Robin Walker – 2022 Statement on Education

    The statement made by Robin Walker, the Minister for School Standards, in the House of Commons on 31 March 2022.

    Following the launch of the Schools White Paper, which pledged that any child falling behind in maths or English will get the support they need to catch-up, I am today providing an update to the House on one of the Government’s most significant programmes supporting pupils to recover from the effects of the pandemic. My update today addresses our work to further develop the national tutoring programme to put schools in the best possible position to develop a high-quality tutoring offer for their pupils to benefit from in the next academic year.

    On 14 March, I announced that over 1 million courses had been started through the programme since its inception in November 2020. I am now pleased to advise the House that our latest estimates show that 1.2 million courses have now been started, which means that the Government remain on track to deliver the ambitious target of up to 6 million courses by 2024. Today’s estimates also show that more than 887,500 courses have been started this academic year. Of these around 675,000 were provided through school-led tutoring, which we have enabled by providing funding directly to schools that wish to deliver tutoring via their own staff. From today we are starting a schedule of regular, half-termly data reporting to set out the participation of schools and pupils across all three routes from national to local authority level.

    To ensure that as many pupils as possible can benefit from high-quality tutoring, we are today announcing that schools will have the flexibility to extend their tuition offer throughout the summer break. This will allow more pupils to benefit from targeted academic support and includes tuition provided via tuition partners, academic mentors and school-led tutoring. This reflects our commitment to invest in proven approaches, responding to the positive feedback from schools about the teaching provision they were able to offer in summer 2021.

    In light of the success of school-led tutoring this year, we have decided that from the next academic year all national tutoring programme funding will go directly to schools. This will simplify the system and give schools the freedom to decide how best to provide tutoring for their pupils. This means that schools can still use their own staff to deliver tutoring and also continue to engage tuition partners they have worked with this year. Schools can also still employ academic mentors already on their staff. We will provide new support to schools that wish to find a tuition partner to work with them next year, and we will continue to recruit a pool of academic mentors for deployment to schools that request them.

    We will share with schools their individual funding allocations in the summer term. These will be determined by each school’s number of disadvantaged pupils, which will mean that tutoring will continue to be targeted at those pupils who need it most. Schools will be able to use this funding to cover 60% of the cost of tutoring delivered in AY22-23. For the following year, schools can use national tutoring programme funding to cover 25% of the cost of tutoring.

    The Department for Education will launch a procurement process in April to appoint one or more delivery partners to quality assure tuition partners, recruit and deploy academic mentors and provide high-quality training to new tutors. Launching a new procurement means that we will not be taking up the option to renew the contract currently held with Randstad beyond its initial contract term, which ends on 31 August 2022. We are grateful to Randstad for their contribution.

  • Robert Halfon – 2022 Speech on the Education White Paper

    Robert Halfon – 2022 Speech on the Education White Paper

    The speech made by Robert Halfon, the Conservative MP for Harlow, in the House of Commons on 28 March 2022.

    I welcome the White Paper. I think that we are seeing the beginnings of a long-term plan for education, especially given tomorrow’s publication of the special needs review and the publication of the care review. The Government have begun to provide a washing line for all the clothes pegs of different educational initiatives. The parent pledge and the catch-up plan are also important.

    The White Paper refers to a knowledge-rich curriculum. I am thoroughly in favour of that, but what about a skills-rich curriculum to sit alongside it? I see that the skills Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Alex Burghart), is paying close attention. Such a curriculum would prioritise skills including oracy and financial, technical and vocational education, reverse the huge decline in design and technology skills, and prepare students better for the world of work.

    What does the White Paper do for children from care backgrounds, exclusion backgrounds and special needs backgrounds who underperform in GCSEs to such an extent in comparison with their peers? We know the grim statistics.

    How will this White Paper help them? How will the curriculum better prepare pupils for the world of work? Perhaps one of the most important priorities is the 124,000 Oliver Twist ghost children, who are possibly on our streets. What is he doing about those children who have not returned since schools reopened last year?

  • Bridget Phillipson – 2022 Speech on the Education White Paper

    Bridget Phillipson – 2022 Speech on the Education White Paper

    The speech made by Bridget Phillipson, the Shadow Education Secretary, in the House of Commons on 28 March 2022.

    I thank the right hon. Gentleman for advance sight of his statement today. It has been a little over two years since schools were closed to most pupils and almost 12 years since his party came to power, yet among the many reannouncements that we heard over the weekend, the big ideas were that three quarters of our schools should carry on as normal, teaching the hours that they already teach; that when children are falling behind, schools will be there to help; and that the national tutoring programme—described by providers as being at risk of catastrophic failure—is the answer to all our problems.

    Is that really it? Is that the limit of the Secretary of State’s ambition for our children and for our country? He rightly stresses the need to be evidence-led. Is that all he thinks the evidence supports? [Interruption.]

    Mr Speaker

    Order. I expected good order to be kept during the Secretary of State’s statement, which in fairness it was, and I certainly want the same for the shadow Secretary of State. If somebody does not want to keep good order, will they please leave now?

    Bridget Phillipson

    The Secretary of State rightly stresses the need to be evidence-led. Is that all he thinks the evidence supports, or is it all he could persuade the Chancellor to support?

    The attainment gap is widening. Performance at GCSE for our most disadvantaged kids was going into reverse even before the pandemic. After two years of ongoing disruption, it is clear enough where the focus should be. The Secretary of State says that he has ambitions, but they are hollow—hollow because they are wholly disconnected from any means of achieving them, hollow because there is no plan to deliver them, but also hollow because there is no vision for what education is for, what growing up in our country should involve and what priority we should give our children.

    We are two years into the pandemic. Two years is a long time, and an important time—half a lifetime for the children starting school in September. We can all see the impact that the years of disruption, botched exams, isolation and time spent at home has had on our children, yet time and again the Government fail to grasp the truth that time out of education for children and young people means more than time out in the rest of their lives. Instead, our children have been an afterthought for this Government—a Government who showed their priorities when they reopened pubs before they reopened schools, a Prime Minister whose own adviser on education recovery resigned in despair, a Department that closed schools to most children with little thought for how it would repair the damage or reopen them safely.

    Labour listened to parents and young people and set out the children’s recovery plan that our children need and our country deserves—breakfast clubs and new activities, quality mental health support in every school, small group tutoring for all who need it. Our children have waited long enough. When will they see a recovery plan that rises to the generational challenge staring us all in the face? Only today, the Department published research setting out that in reading in particular, pupils are falling further behind and the disadvantage gap is widening.

    It goes deeper than just the past two years. We see the value and worth of every child. We see them as ambitious and optimistic, with dreams for their future. We see the role of a Government as one of matching, not tempering, that ambition. Education is about opportunity; we want opportunity for every child, in every corner of our country, at every stage.

    We want childcare that is high-quality, affordable and available, not a cost that prices people out of parenting. We want every parent to be able to send their child to a great local state school, which is why we would launch the most ambitious school improvement plan for a generation, focusing on what happens inside the school, not the name above the door. We want teachers supported to succeed, not leaving the profession as they are doing, which is why we have set out plans for career development and for thousands of new teachers: because the success and professionalism of our teachers enables the success of our children.

    We want to see our children not just achieving, but thriving at school, with a rich and broad curriculum that enables them to flourish. We want to give children and young people real choices and see them succeed through strong colleges and apprenticeships. That is why we would deliver work experience, careers advice and digital skills for all our young people so that everyone leaves education ready for work and ready for life. That is why today’s White Paper represents such a missed opportunity.

    However, for all the disappointment that we feel on these Opposition Benches, echoed by school staff and school leaders across our country today—and the Secretary of State, in his heart, probably feels that disappointment himself—it is our children, whose voices are rarely heard in this place, who are the real losers today.

  • Nadhim Zahawi – 2022 Statement on the Education White Paper

    Nadhim Zahawi – 2022 Statement on the Education White Paper

    The statement made by Nadhim Zahawi, the Secretary of State for Education, in the House of Commons on 28 March 2022.

    With permission, Mr Speaker, I will make a statement on the publication of the schools White Paper.

    Since 2010, we have been on a mission to give every child a great education. We have made huge strides, but we know there is still further to go on that journey, which my predecessors began and I am proud to lead today. Too many children still do not get the start in life that will enable them to go on and make the best use of their talents and abilities. Sadly, disadvantaged pupils or those who have special educational needs are less likely to achieve the standards we expect for them. Since 2010, we have been rolling out many changes to our education system—changes that have driven up standards, lifted us up the league tables internationally and given us measurable evidence of what works. We will now put that evidence to use and scale up what we know will create a high-quality system for children, parents and teachers.

    We have an ambition that by 2030 we will expect 90% of primary school children to achieve the agreed standard in reading, writing and maths. In secondary schools, I want to see the national GCSE average grade in both English language and maths increase from 4.5 in 2019 to 5. By boosting the average grade, we show a real determination to see all children, whatever their level of attainment, do better. A child who goes from a grade 2 to a grade 3, or one who goes from a grade 8 to a grade 9, contributes to that ambition as much as a child on the borderline who may go up from a grade 4 to a grade 5. So every parent can rest assured that their child is going to get the attention they deserve, however well they are doing.

    It goes without saying that every child needs an excellent teacher. This White Paper continues our reforms to training and professional development, to give every child a world-class teacher. The quality of teaching is the single most important factor within a school for improving outcomes for children, especially for those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Our vision is for an excellent teacher for every child in our country, but if we are to do that, we need to make teaching even more of an attractive profession. To make sure that it is, we will deliver 500,000 teacher training and development opportunities by 2024, giving all teachers and school leaders access to world-class evidence-based training and professional development, at every stage of their career. We will also make a £180 million investment in the early years workforce. Teachers’ starting salaries are set to rise to £30,000, as we promised in our manifesto, and there will be extra incentives to work in schools with the most need.

    A world-class education also needs environments in which great teaching can have maximum impact. Therefore, we will improve standards across the curriculum, behaviour and attendance. Making sure that all children are in school and ready to learn in calm, safe, supportive classes is my priority. All children will be taught a broad, ambitious, knowledge-rich curriculum and have access to high-quality experiences. We will set up a new national curriculum body to support teachers, founded on the success of the Oak National Academy. This body will work with groups across the sector to identify best practice, deepen expertise in curriculum design and develop a set of optional resources for teachers that can be used either online or in the classroom. These resources will be available across the United Kingdom, levelling up education across our great country. We will continue to support leaders and teachers to create a classroom where all children can learn in a way that recognises individual needs and abilities. In addition, we are going to boost our ability to gather and share data on behaviour and attendance.

    We will move forward with a national behaviour survey to form an accurate picture of what really goes on in schools and classrooms and, of course, to modernise our systems to monitor attendance. We will introduce a minimum expectation for the length of the school week to the national average of 32-and-a-half hours for all mainstream state-funded schools from September 2023, at the latest. Thousands of schools already deliver that but a number do not and that needs to change.

    Too many children, especially those who are most vulnerable, routinely fall behind and never catch up with their peers. The awful covid pandemic has made that worse. Even though I am relieved to tell the House that the latest research on learning loss and recovery shows that pupils continue to make progress, there is still much more to do. That is why today’s White Paper sets out a really ambitious plan for scaling up that recovery, building on the nearly £5 billion of recovery funding that has already been announced.

    My children are the most important thing in the world to me and I know that I am not alone in saying that. All parents want their children to be happy and to grow up to a future that is full of promise, so I am today making a pledge to parents; it is a pledge from me and this Government via schools to all families. The parent pledge is that any child who falls behind in English or maths will receive timely support to enable them to reach their potential. A child’s school will let parents know how their child is doing and how the school is supporting them to catch up.

    Tutoring has been a great success and that is making a difference. It is here to stay and we want it to become mainstream and a fundamental pillar of every school’s approach to delivering the parent pledge. There will be up to 6 million tutoring packages by 2024.

    We know that the approaches that I have outlined make a huge difference to pupils, so I have asked myself this. We have 22,000 schools in England; how do we ensure that these happen systematically in every school for every child? How do we get that consistency across the system? It has become clear from my six months in the Department studying the evidence that well-managed, tightly managed families of schools are those that can consistently deliver a high-quality and inclusive education. It is one where expertise is shared for the benefit of all and where resources and support can help more teachers and leaders to deliver better outcomes for children.

    With that in mind, by 2030, we intend for every child to benefit from being taught in a family of schools, with their school in a strong—I underline the word “strong”—multi-academy trust or with plans to join or form one. That move towards a fully trust-led system, with a single regulatory approach, will drive up standards. We also want to encourage local authorities, if they think that they do well in running their schools, to establish their own strong trusts, and we will back them. There will be a clear role for every part of the school system, with local authorities given the power that they need to support children. We will set up a new collaborative standard requiring trusts to work constructively with other partners.

    I know from my experience in business and in rolling out the covid vaccine that the hardest thing for any complex system, whether it is health or education, is scaling up, but I have faith both in the brilliant leaderships that we already have in our school systems and in our educationalists to be able to deliver on this White Paper. We want to spread brilliance throughout our country, levelling up opportunity and creating a school system where there is a clear role for every part of the system, all working together and all focused on one thing: delivering outstanding outcomes for our children.

    Soon, everyone will see what we all know—that this Conservative Government are busy making our schools the very best in the world. We should be so proud of how far we have come and rightly hopeful about where we are going next. For that reason, I commend this statement to the House.

  • Robin Walker – 2022 Speech on Educational Assessments

    Robin Walker – 2022 Speech on Educational Assessments

    The speech made by Robin Walker, the Minister for School Standards, in the House of Commons on 17 March 2022.

    I genuinely congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Meon Valley (Mrs Drummond) on securing this debate and on the enthusiasm with which she has put her case. She has written extensively about examinations and assessment and she is a passionate advocate for children and young people.

    There is a great deal on which we can agree, such as understanding the importance of young people’s mental health, the importance of skills as well as academic rigour in the system, and the importance of balancing opportunities across vocational and academic routes. I entirely agree with my hon. Friend that we do not want schools to be teaching to the test and that we want pupils to be engaged in activities as well as learning from which they can benefit.

    I fear that we are fated to disagree, however, on exams and assessment reform. We stood on a manifesto that promised to ensure that

    “every pupil gets the qualifications they need for a prosperous future, while learning in an environment where they will be…fulfilled.”

    It is vital to me that qualifications align with our broader vision for education. The Government are clear that young people should be able to access a broad and balanced academically focused curriculum up until the age of 16. We believe that pupils should be introduced to the best that has been thought and said to familiarise them with the essential knowledge that they need to be educated citizens and to ensure that as many children as possible can lay claim to a rich intellectual inheritance.

    Key to that, of course, is ensuring that they have the numeracy and literacy skills to access that broad and balanced curriculum by the time they finish primary school. GCSEs provide the basis for an academically focused curriculum from 14 to 16 and it is our ambition that, by 2025, 90% of pupils will sit a core set of academic GCSEs known as the EBacc.

    We have taken steps to ensure that pupils have the opportunity to study high-quality vocational and technical qualifications alongside that core from 14 to 16. We have improved the quality of non-GCSE qualifications at key stage 4 by introducing a new approvals process for technical awards. Only those that meet our stretching requirements and are reviewed by Ofqual will be recognised in key stage 4 performance tables alongside academic qualifications.

    With that broad grounding, all students, regardless of background, are prepared to fulfil their aspirations post 16. Pupils can specialise by choosing from a range of high-quality academic and technical qualifications and routes that then become open to them. As my hon. Friend rightly pointed out, the academic route is not the only path to success, which is why it is important that a range of assessment types and pathways is available, drawn from our rigorous and evidence-informed blend of qualifications, to ensure that all students can achieve their full potential.

    Alongside A-levels, we have introduced T-levels. Our 10 new T-levels are being taught, including digital, construction, education and childcare, and healthcare science. More than 20 will be available from 2023 and they give students a clear path from their studies to their chosen career. We are also streamlining and improving the quality of post-16 qualifications at level 3 and below.

    Sir John Hayes (South Holland and The Deepings) (Con)

    The Minister is both diligent and thoughtful about these matters. The key thing is that many people’s tastes and talents take them down a practical route, yet we are still labouring under the illusion that the only way to gain accomplishment comes through academic prowess. The simple fact of the matter is that, as he suggested, we need to recognise that fewer people should be studying those degrees that confer neither intellectual rigour nor economic value. People should be studying practical, vocational, technical subjects for their own benefit and fulfilment and for the national interest.

    Mr Walker

    I do not disagree at all with my right hon. Friend, and he will see that some of the work our right hon. Friend the Minister for Higher and Further Education is doing with the university sector is about recognising precisely that, but I do not think that is an argument for removing GCSEs at the age of 16; it is an argument for ensuring that those vocational routes are available.

    As we all know, the past two summers have seen unprecedented disruption to the familiar routine of exams and assessments. Teachers and school and college leaders across the country have coped amazingly well with the pandemic and with its associated disruption to exams—and I want to take this opportunity to again thank them from the Dispatch Box for their herculean efforts—but we know that exams are the best and fairest way of judging students’ performance.

    Exams provide a shared understanding of what students know and can do—an even playing field with everyone being assessed on the same thing at the same time, independently. We know that exams and the preparation leading up to them can be motivating and lead to improved learning. Beyond that, exams provide students with an objective and accurate gauge of their progress and understanding of subject matter, which can inform their choices about where to go on to next. Exams are the most objective measure, which is why non-examined assessment and coursework is used only where knowledge, skills and understanding cannot be tested validly by an exam. Examples of this would include coursework in GCSE and A-level art and design. For all those reasons we are committed to exams continuing to play a crucial role in our education system, and we are firmly committed to their reintroduction this summer as we emerge from the effects of the pandemic.

    Over the course of the last 10 years our reforms to secondary and further education qualifications have created a gold-standard exam system that is respected around the world. Our qualifications exports in 2018 were worth £3.3 billion to the UK economy; this points to a model of success of which we should rightly be proud.

    My predecessors in the Department reformed and strengthened GCSEs from 2013 to address concerns from higher and further education institutions and employers that the previous qualification did not adequately prepare young people for the demands of the workplace and higher studies—points my hon. Friend the Member for Meon Valley made. Our reformed GCSEs rigorously assess knowledge acquired by pupils in key stage 4 and are in line with expected standards in countries with the highest-performing education systems.

    Our reforms strengthened GCSEs in a number of ways. Qualifications became linear, with exams sat at the end of a two-year course so that less time is spent preparing for modules and resits and more time is spent on teaching and learning. My hon. Friend raised the point about teaching for tests. I have frequently discussed that with Ofsted, which takes it very seriously; its new inspection framework encourages schools to keep a focus on the breadth of curriculum, particularly at key stage 3 and earlier, and discourages teaching to the test.

    Ofqual was formally established as the new independent regulator in 2010, with a statutory responsibility to maintain standards. It put in place robust arrangements to maintain standards, which led to year-on-year stability in grades over a long period. Ofqual also introduced a new grading scale, from 9 to 1, with 9 the highest and 1 the lowest grade, in place of A* to G, to signal that the standard of qualifications had changed and to allow greater differentiation of performance at the top end. In 2017 Ofqual also introduced a national reference test to capture improvements in attainment in English and maths so that these could be reflected in grading.

    GCSEs serve a critical function as a measure of attainment and a vehicle for progression, and they do so because they are recognised and trusted. They have strong public recognition, with support from 75% of those surveyed as part of Ofqual’s most recent public perceptions and confidence study. That trust stems from a long history in this country of assessment at age 16, which has existed since at least 1918 when the school certificate was introduced, through to the introduction of O-levels in 1951, CSEs in 1965 and GCSEs in 1988.

    Mrs Drummond

    That was fine when young people were leaving at 16 because they needed some qualifications to take into the workplace, but we are now expecting all young people to stay in education or training until 18, so does it not make more sense to shift that exam at 16 to 18?

    Mr Walker

    That training can of course include the workplace, such as through apprenticeships and the vocational route, so I have to disagree fundamentally. It is important that young people have those opportunities to continue studying in school or, for those who are not suited to school, to go on to a vocational route to pursue further study and development of their careers in the workplace.

    We know that half of students change institution at the age of 16, and it is because they have a shared and recognised qualification that they can transition easily post-16. GCSEs equip students to move directly into employment or apprenticeships at that age with a qualification in hand. GCSEs are long-standing, credible and well respected. At the same time, as I mentioned, we have worked with higher education providers and employers to reform A-levels to ensure that they better meet the needs of higher education. That includes decoupling the AS-level to reduce the assessment burden and enable A-level students to spend more time learning and developing their depth of understanding of subjects. Reformed GCSEs support reformed A-levels, and reformed A-levels support higher graduation rates in three-year degrees from our internationally recognised universities, with four British universities currently in the top 10 globally and 17 in the top 100.

    I turn to vocational and technical qualifications, which we all recognise are important. From our reforms to the way in which grades have been awarded in the context of the covid-19 pandemic, we have sought to ensure parity between those receiving vocational and technical qualifications and those receiving GCSEs and AS and A-levels. As I mentioned, the new T-levels have been developed in collaboration with employers so that students can get the specific training, knowledge and skills required for their chosen career. Not only that: they include a nine-week high quality placement in a relevant industry, giving students first-hand experience of work during their studies.

    Alongside the introduction of our T-levels, we are streamlining and strengthening the quality of all other post-16 qualifications at level 3, making the system easier to navigate and more responsive to employers’ needs. The changes that we are making will give students a clear route map to the high-quality technical and academic choices available—choices that they can trust to lead to rewarding careers.

    My hon. Friend mentioned the role of UTCs. The Government are committed to providing young people with technical skills and knowledge to progress into further and higher education, apprenticeships and employment. Indeed, strong university technical colleges such as the outstanding UTC in Portsmouth to which she referred are succeeding in equipping their students with those vital skills.

    I turn to the immediate arrangements for qualifications. We recognise that students taking exams this year will have experienced disruption caused by the covid pandemic, so we have rightly worked closely with Ofqual to put in place a package of measures to recognise that. The measures will include unprecedented support to ensure that students can fairly demonstrate what they know and can do. They offer the right balance to account for the disruption students faced while providing students, teachers, schools and colleges with the consistency and independence of assessment and familiarity that exams deliver. The package of measures this year includes advance information on the focus of exams in most subjects for GCSE and AS and A-level students; a choice of topic or content in some GCSE exams where advance information is not provided; exam aids for use during some GCSE exams; and a range of adaptations for students taking vocational and technical qualifications depending on the purpose of the qualification.

    In balancing public confidence in qualifications with fairness, Ofqual has also confirmed that 2022 will be a transition year to reflect the fact that we are in a pandemic recovery period and that students’ education has been disrupted. In 2022, the aim will be for grades to reflect a midway point between 2021 and 2019, with national results likely to be higher than pre-pandemic levels, providing a safety net for those of this year’s students who might otherwise have missed out on a grade. We are confident that those measures, alongside the direct investment of nearly £5 billion in education recovery, provide a pathway for a successful return to normal exams and assessments in the academic year 2022-23.

    My hon. Friend rightly mentioned the importance of mental health. Exams and other assessments are an essential part of ensuring that young people have acquired the knowledge and skills that they need to study. The Government are clear that education providers should encourage pupils and students to work hard, but not at the expense of their wellbeing. I recognise that exams, like other things in life including job interviews, moving house or having a first child, are by their nature stressful, but when pupils receive the right support, many find the level of stress from exams manageable—and actually a certain level of stress can be a motivating factor. Schools and colleges should be able to identify signs of exam-related stress whenever they emerge and be in a position to respond appropriately.

    Research shows that there is a clear difference between exam stress, which is not necessarily a bad thing, and anxiety, which is a cause for concern. Clearly, we do not want young people to be in a situation where pressure tips over into mental health problems. That is why we have provided schools with a wide range of training and resources to help them support pupils and students’ wellbeing. Our recent £15 million wellbeing for education recovery and wellbeing for education return programmes have provided free expert training, support and resources for education staff, helping to promote and support the wellbeing and mental health of pupils and students as they recover from the impacts of the covid pandemic. Ofqual has also issued guidance on coping with exam pressure. The information provides some techniques that students can use to help to alleviate or lessen anxiety they might have about exams, and it can be accessed through Ofqual’s website.

    My hon. Friend mentioned primary assessments. We think it is vital that primary assessments go forward this year, not least because we want to ensure that that data is available to look at the impact on learning from the pandemic and that we can work across the system. However, I can confirm to her that we will not be publishing comparative data between schools this year, which I know has been a concern for the sector. Recognising that school tests and assessments will be returning for the first time since 2019 without the adaptations we have in secondary, the results will not be published in league tables.

    Mrs Drummond

    If that is successful, will the Minister continue it in future years? One of the problems that make the stakes high is that schools are put in league tables. That is why they are teaching to the test, because, obviously, they want to appear higher up in the league tables. If it is a success this year, will it be carried on so that we do not have league tables anymore?

    Mr Walker

    The specific measures we are taking this year are in recognition of the pressures the sector has faced. We will, of course, review their impact as we go forward.

    I am grateful to have had the opportunity to debate this very important issue this evening. I must be clear that there are no plans for new wholesale reform of GCSEs and A-levels, which are internationally respected and enjoy high levels of public support. I am proud of the strides that this Government and previous Governments have taken to boost the quality of our technical and vocational qualifications. Our reforms since 2010 have already made a lasting improvement to qualifications, ensuring that they reflect the knowledge and skills pupils need to progress. Our GCSE and A-level reforms were substantial and designed to last, but some of the reforms to qualifications were quite new when the pandemic started. I am determined to continue the great work of my predecessors and embed them into our system. I am also acutely aware that schools, colleges and our brilliant teachers will benefit from a period of stability as we recover from the effects of the pandemic.

    As we gear up for the return of exams this summer, I will close with a reflection on what that will mean for students across the country who are preparing for them. For the first time in two years, students in my constituency of Worcester, as well as in my hon. Friend’s constituency of Meon Valley and along with those up and down the country, will have the chance to demonstrate what they have learned through public exams. I am pleased that through their hard work and the hard work of their teachers, they will have the opportunity to secure the valuable qualifications they need to progress to the next stage of their careers.

  • Flick Drummond – 2022 Speech on Educational Assessments

    Flick Drummond – 2022 Speech on Educational Assessments

    The speech made by Flick Drummond, the Conservative MP for Meon Valley, in the House of Commons on 17 March 2022.

    I thank Mr Speaker for allowing me to bring this important debate to the Chamber, and I thank the Minister for being here, particularly much later than expected, to respond.

    The Minister will be aware that I have been working on this important issue for some time. It is something that I am passionate about and wrote about in my One Nation paper in summer 2020. It is not just me: we now have five commissions reporting on the reform of educational assessment, so this is a good moment to debate the merits of reforming our present system.

    Even before covid, 21st century society was rapidly changing, but our education is still stuck in the 20th century. Even its original architect, Lord Baker, argues that it is due an overhaul. Covid has given us the chance to re-look at various policies, not least how we assess our children. We need to grasp that chance.

    As Professor Bill Lucas, co-founder of Rethinking Assessment, states:

    “Across the world assessment is not working. We are not evidencing the kinds of dispositions and capabilities that society increasingly wants. Educational jurisdictions are placing too much reliance on high-stakes, standardised testing. They are testing the wrong things in the wrong ways. High-stakes assessment is having a damaging impact on the health and wellbeing of students and it is not giving universities, colleges or employers the kind of information they want.”

    Let us unpick those words. What does society want from education? Our assessment system currently dominates our entire schooling, influencing what is taught and how it is taught. As Professor Lucas says, we have a system focused on performance in a narrow range of high-stakes academic standardised testing.

    It is important that I say that standards are vital, but increasingly employers do not understand the myriad qualifications and whether they are gold standard or not, especially when GCSEs are reduced to a milepost in a young person’s journey to 18, when they leave for university or work. The House of Lords’ Youth Unemployment Committee states:

    “Skills gaps and shortages are clearly a major driver of youth unemployment and damage labour market productivity”.

    The Times Education Commission’s interim report has been very focused on asking employers what they are looking for, and they agree that young people are not coming out with the life skills that would help in the workplace.

    We have a knowledge-based curriculum, but we also need to build skills into the curriculum. It does not have to be a binary choice of knowledge versus skills; we need to marry powerful knowledge with the skills and attributes needed to apply them to real life. Are we testing the wrong things in the wrong ways? The figures seem to show that we are. A third of all students every year do not get grade 4 and above, which is considered a pass. As 613,000 young people took GCSEs last year, a third of that means that some 200,000 young people did not make the grade—a huge number. They are leaving education without substantive qualifications because our system fails those learners, who are better served by practical, technical and vocational ways of learning and assessment.

    The Department for Education says that exams are the fairest way of everyone being tested the same. Really? Is that why girls do so much better? In 2019, 72% of girls received grade 4 or above GCSEs and only 63% of boys—a 9% difference that has not changed over a number of years. Are we saying that girls are much cleverer than boys, or is the reality that this is not a fair way of assessing everyone? We know that girls and boys learn differently.

    I became increasingly concerned about the failure of our assessment system when I was the MP for Portsmouth South. I heard how many young people at college were taking their maths and English GCSEs over and over again. That seems ridiculous. Surely there is a better way of engaging pupils in maths and English that makes sense to them and enables them to achieve a certain level, not necessarily through an exam—I stress that I am not against exams, but against what I consider to be unnecessary exams at 16 that are narrowly focused when we are expecting young people to stay in education or training until they are 18. It would make far more sense to assess young people at 18, especially when there is ample evidence that assessment at 16 does not work and is harming our children. Professor Lucas says exams at 16 cause

    “a damaging impact on the health and well-being of students”.

    Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, professor of psychology and cognitive neuroscience at Cambridge University, has done a huge amount of research into how teenage brains develop. She spoke to us at a fringe event at the Conservative party conference in 2021. She says that high-stakes exams put huge pressure and stress on teenagers, reducing motivation during a critical time during their development. The yearly Children’s Society’s “Good Childhood Report” raises young people’s mental health as an issue. In 2018, children aged 15 in the UK had the greatest fear of failure and the lowest life satisfaction in school of children across 24 European countries. The 2021 report found that school, followed by friendships and appearance, continue to cause the greatest dissatisfaction in adolescence. In the Children’s Commissioner’s Big Ask survey, young people highlighted that stress related to high-stakes exams or assessment remains a significant concern to them.

    Not just young people but parents and teachers are concerned. Of course, we all have to cope with stress and deal with it throughout our lives, but not when it is going to have a big impact on the future of a young person. For the record, I do not accept that the term “snowflake” is fair in any way for this generation. It is simplistic and lazy, and makes no allowance for the complexity that young people face today.

    The last point in the quote is about education and employers not receiving the kind of information that they want. A YouGov poll commissioned by the Edge Foundation in 2020 found that 92% of teachers agree that the assessment system needs to recognise the full range of a young person’s strengths and skills through more than just written exams, especially as they place an emphasis on rote learning to the detriment of developing the skills and attitudes needed for work.

    The Times Education Commission has been very clear that employers would like to see skills as well as knowledge. We are talking about skills of how to tackle and deal with any challenges during a lifetime, as well as other softer skills, including the value of oracy and team work. For example, disadvantaged children’s spoken language development is significantly lower than that of their more advantaged peers, although spoken language is one of the strongest predictors of a child’s future. However, the concentration and time spent on written exams does not allow for this development. That cannot be right or fair. Employers say that personality is more important than qualifications, and those of us whose exams were a long time ago know there is absolute truth in that, so why is it designed out of our present assessment system?

    We are not just talking about exams at 16—it starts much younger in primary schools. SATs dominate year 6, and I am afraid there is teaching to the test to the exclusion of a wider curriculum. Pupils are reassessed when they get to secondary schools in any case. People say that SATs are needed as a measure of school accountability—really? We have Ofsted, and there are many ways of judging schools, such as quality of teaching and professional development of teachers for starters.

    Parents do not look primarily at results when they are choosing a school—in fact, that is at the bottom of their list. They want a school where their child will be happy, achieve their potential and enjoy learning at the same time, alongside a wide range of activities. That is why so many people decide to pay to send their children to independent schools when they can afford it, but this is ridiculous as it is possible for every state school to do all of this. That is important because the Government’s Industrial Strategy Council highlighted that, by 2030, 7 million additional workers could be under-skilled for their job requirements. The skills gap is costing UK companies £6.6 billion a year.

    Some people feel that education should be about inspiring young people through a knowledge-based curriculum only, or, as I would put it, learning information that they may never look at again. That is one argument, but it should be mixed with learning how to learn, learning skills that will make our children lifelong learners because it makes sense, learning because it interests and engages them and learning for the love of learning, rather than for a narrow set of exams. The Department for Education’s employer skills survey and findings from the CBI and other organisations, such as the World Economic Forum, all point to employers looking for skills such as problem solving, communication, self-management, team working, creativity, numeracy and digital skills. Those are not soft skills that come at the expense of knowledge. Knowledge is only useful where individuals have the skills to interpret and communicate it.

    So what is the answer? I know this is not going to happen overnight—certainly not under this Government, although we will hear what the Minister says—but we will need to move gradually to a new system to give teachers, parents, young people and employers confidence in the changes. I am not calling for some radical seismic shift, but we must recognise that there is substantial evidence that there is a better alternative and work towards it—one that is multi-disciplined, offers a broad and balanced portfolio of assessment and blends the best of knowledge and skills.

    The OECD and the programme for international student assessment, or PISA, are currently developing assessments to be used across the world, for example, in collaborative problem solving and creative thinking. The international baccalaureate model is used in 5,000 schools in more than 150 countries. There is good practice and systems out there that we can look at to design our own assessment at 18. We should have a 14-to-18 curriculum without a break for GCSEs which, as I have said, are no longer fit for purpose. We should have a broad and varied curriculum that enables young people to find their own path, whether that is academic or vocational with exams and/or assessment, be that a final assessment or continual assessment throughout those four years.

    We should have a portfolio of achievement that includes English and maths in a format that is relevant to what that student wants to do; taking part in the National Citizen Service or Duke of Edinburgh award scheme and other organisations that bring character and skills; and a transcript that shows what a young person is really like, not just their ability to pass or fail national exams. That is particularly important in terms of equality. Young people from deprived and lower-income backgrounds often require more time and resources to realise their potential, and a more diverse and expansive range of subjects than the narrow curriculum we impose at present. An extended school day would help with that, too.

    University technical colleges are already following the 14-to-18 model. They have been remarkably successful in identifying how an education can inspire and engage young people. I visited the Portsmouth UTC, which has been going for five years. Entry is by ballot and it has three applicants for every place. It gives young people the skills for the world of work, and those who do not go to university mostly go straight into higher-level apprenticeships. Time and again, it is a success story for those young people and it is in operation right now in this country.

    A good education has the power to change lives and open doors to greater employment and lifelong learning. It leads to better health choices and active citizenship. Good teaching inspires and, crucially, assessment reform must give power back to teachers so that they can do what they were trained to do—impart a love for their subject to the next generation, rather than teaching to the test. If we do not change, we will continue to fail millions of young people in this country, including many from disadvantaged backgrounds. We will continue to struggle against our international competitors because we will lack the 21st-century skills that we need to be global Britain.

    With the right focus and commitment, young people from all backgrounds, who are engaged and who know that the point of their assessment is to realise their ambitions, will flourish, but they need time to study the subjects in which they are interested—academic or vocational—in depth, over four years. That would set up many more of our children for a lifetime of work and learning. We need to start working on a system that works for them as we enter the second quarter of the 21st century and as young people face all the challenges of this complex world.

  • Robin Walker – 2022 Statement on Education

    Robin Walker – 2022 Statement on Education

    The statement made by Robin Walker, the Minister for School Standards, in the House of Commons on 14 March 2022.

    Today, I am providing an update to the House on three elements of this Government’s work to enable every child to fulfil their potential by ensuring that they receive the right support, in the right place, at the right time. This is in advance of the forthcoming Schools White Paper, which will demonstrate how our education system can deliver on the Government’s priorities of building back better after the pandemic and levelling up across the country.

    My update today addresses our work on tutoring, the Oak National Academy and with the Education Endowment Foundation.

    I can now confirm to the House that over one million courses have been started by children across the country through the National Tutoring Programme. Of these, around 532,000 were provided through the school-led tutoring route, which provides funding directly to schools giving them greater flexibility to source their own tutors, whether external or staff already working in the school.

    We are building on this success by transferring, this academic year, up to £65 million to school-led tutoring from the academic mentor and tuition partner pillars of the programme. This will give schools even greater autonomy to deliver high quality tutoring to as many children and young people as possible, reflecting the Department’s continued focus on following the evidence of what works.

    To support schools further and meet increasing demand, the eligibility criteria for recruiting academic mentors into schools has been updated, with minimum A level requirements replacing the requirement for a degree, along with increasing the rate of pay for all graduate mentors looking to enrol and support the programme.

    Alongside, we are giving schools working with tuition partners increased discretion to determine the size of groups receiving tutoring; our advice remains that three pupils per tuition group is optimal, but we are raising the maximum group size to six pupils to allow greater flexibility where needed, such as for phonics where pair work is required.

    This Government will continue to build on the success of the National Tutoring Programme this year, in particular the school-led route. Schools, tutors and other stakeholders have continued to provide feedback to the Department over the course of the year—in particular regarding the need for a programme that is as simple as possible—and we are exploring all options to make sure that feedback is reflected in the programme next year.

    Tutoring is vital for providing extra help to pupils. But the heart of their education will of course come from the outstanding teaching they receive in their classrooms.

    We want to empower teachers to focus on delivering the best possible lessons, and support schools by giving them access to resources and approaches that have proved their effectiveness.

    Oak National Academy has been one of the great achievements coming out of the education system’s response to the pandemic. Over 500 teachers from over 50 schools, trusts and partners worked together, delivering over 140 million lessons.

    Building on this success, we will now establish a new arm’s length curriculum body incorporating Oak, working independently of Government and collaboratively with the sector.

    Curriculum design is complex, and we want to share the very best practice so teachers can draw inspiration from examples of evidence-based, carefully sequenced curriculum design.

    Under the framework already provided by our excellent national curriculum, the curriculum body will lead the creation of curriculum maps and resources which will be freely available to all teachers, parents and children.

    Instead of each teacher reinventing the wheel, they will be able to access content, for free, that continuously evolves and improves through feedback from teachers across the country—reducing workload and of course improving lessons and curriculum expertise. The resources will be entirely optional and will not be mandated by Ofsted.

    At the heart of this body will be collaboration and partnership, with the sector and with providers of resources. The curriculum body will work closely with teachers to ensure it is meeting their needs, including those supporting children with additional needs. We are committed to building on the “by teachers, for teachers” approach that has been a key success factor for Oak National Academy.

    The body will continue work with the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) to ensure its resources are informed by the best available evidence and align with best practice.

    With the same motivation to use evidence where we can, we will permanently put evidence at the heart of the teaching profession by re-endowing the EEF. As independent evidence guardians in the system, the EEF will continue to generate and spread world-leading education evidence. This work will include leading an ongoing cycle of reviews of the underpinning frameworks for teacher development to make sure they are always based on “what works” to improve pupil outcomes. The EEF will keep these frameworks updated in line with the best available evidence from this country and abroad, giving an independent badge of assurance to our teacher development programmes.

    We will also continue to work with the EEF to scale up and spread effective teaching practice in literacy and numeracy to ensure pupils have the best chance of catching up following the pandemic.

    Further details on the endowment will be confirmed in due course.

  • Bridget Phillipson – 2022 Speech to Association of School and College Leaders Conference

    Bridget Phillipson – 2022 Speech to Association of School and College Leaders Conference

    The speech made by Bridget Phillipson, the Shadow Education Secretary, on 12 March 2022.

    Thank you to Pepe, Geoff, Julie and your team for making me feel so welcome today.

    Geoff, I know you have been a reassuring voice of calm and reason these last two years cutting through the chaos and providing invaluable support to school and college leaders in these difficult times.

    Your weekly bulletins have made life that bit smoother for headteachers and principals, during a period like no other and you have done so with a positivity that must have been severely tested.

    I look forward to working with you and ASCL in the coming months and years.

    When the story of this pandemic is written, NHS workers, and those who developed vaccines so fast, will deservedly get many of the accolades.

    But I believe alongside them there should be a proud place, for those who work in our schools and colleges – the headteachers, principals, senior leaders, teachers, lecturers, support staff.

    It is you who have kept young people going throughout extraordinary and difficult circumstances.

    – Who have helped with their wellbeing.

    – Stepped in when free school meals were not being paid.

    – Undertaken extra safeguarding checks for the children most at risk.

    – Moved lessons online.

    – Provided technology for those without.

    – Supported the most vulnerable.

    – Turned your schools into testing centres.

    – Coped with a never-ending exam fiasco.

    – Kept going when staff absences got above 10, 20, 30% – in some cases more.

    You have absorbed the stress of the community, comforted bereaved families, provided a safe space for reflection and through it all, given each teacher and each group of children the best chance of continuing to learn.

    You deserve our heartfelt thanks. You have been true heroes.

    Thank you.

    Sadly, your life has been made so much more difficult and more stressful, by having to deal with a chaotic patchwork of promises and guidance, often at the last minute, often too late to pre-empt every school and college in the country having to make up their own policies.

    When clear, focused, government leadership was needed in response to the pandemic there was a vacuum.

    No plan, no direction. No ambition.

    And when a clear, focused plan for recovery was needed – again, nothing.

    Sir Kevan Collins’ plan was rejected out of hand by a Chancellor who told us he had “maxed out” on support for our children, and education ministers who didn’t make the case for investment in our children’s future.

    Time and again, for this government, our children are an afterthought.

    So I take on my role at a time when we need to raise our sights as a country.

    Ambitious Leadership is the theme of this conference and now is the time for it.

    I know so many of you have reflected deeply on the last two years, and want something better for young people.

    If we are to come back stronger after the pandemic, then part of the renewal is to ask bigger and bolder questions.

    When forty percent of teachers leave the profession within four years, we need to ask how we can make this profession so rewarding and stimulating, that teachers want to stay.

    When take up of the creative arts has plummeted, we need to ask questions about the balance in the curriculum.

    When one in three children leave primary school below the standards we want them to reach in English and Maths, and a third leave school without vital qualifications, we need to ask how we redouble our efforts to ensure every child leaves education both ready for work and ready for life.

    When five years after leaving school, more than a quarter of disadvantaged children end up outside sustained education, employment or training, we need to ask why we don’t have a better model for tackling inequality and creating opportunity.

    The biggest question of all is how can we enable every young person to both achieve and to thrive.

    For me that’s about seeing every individual as both extraordinary and multi-dimensional – the capacity to inspire, collaborate, create, think, perform, talk, is the great wonder of humanity.

    We see that emerging in the early years classroom, captured in the early learning goals that span basic skills, understanding of the world, and social and emotional development.

    Yet as children grow up, that balance changes. School becomes more, not less, narrow.

    And that narrowing turns too many young people off learning – which is a problem for their future, and for all of our futures.

    We must retain the breadth of the early years throughout a child’s journey through education.

    Our world is increasingly polarised by seemingly binary choices. Debate quickly becomes dogmatic, along those fault lines.

    Education is no different.

    But I have no time for these false choices.

    I make no apology for being determined to see young people achieve academically, and just as important, I want them to thrive in life.

    Supporting children to develop the literacy and numeracy skills they need is central to education.

    And so is supporting them to become ambitious, creative, confident young people who enjoy music, arts, sport, and culture.

    As someone who loved studying history, I celebrate the incredible work of our teachers and lecturers who bring knowledge alive for the next generation.

    Knowledge is essential, but so is the ability to apply that rich knowledge to the real world, so young people learn communication, collaboration and problem solving skills, and understand the difference they can make.

    That is why Keir Starmer has announced Labour’s Council of Skills Advisors, to support us in ensuring every young person receives a rounded education that instils a love of learning while equipping them with the skills they need for work and for life.

    Because children need to achieve so they go on to succeed, and they also need to thrive as human beings so they can flourish as adults.

    We want children to be happy and to be successful.

    The increasingly narrow focus, often designed to hit what many feel to be arbitrary benchmarks, is not beneficial to young people, and not beneficial for our society or our country.

    We need to get behind you – the school leaders – who I know want to nurture creative subjects, enrichment opportunities and a rounded education, but often have to go against the grain of the accountability structures currently in place.

    That is why we must ensure that school improvement and school accountability work better together – with peer to peer learning in particular, recognised for its value, encouraged, and developed between schools and leaders.

    In a week that marks thirty years since Ofsted was created, we should remember the remarkable improvements in schools and colleges in that time.

    The “long tail of underachievement” we saw when inspections started has now largely gone.

    The fact that 85% of schools are good or outstanding, in Ofsted terms, is testimony to the huge efforts and hard work of school leaders and teachers across the country over these last three decades.

    Here in this room, you have put your shoulders to the wheel to achieve that, and I thank all of you.

    But I want to highlight too the political choices – the focus, the investment, the ambition, and the sense of priority and urgency – which the last Labour government made, after years of Conservative neglect, and which unlocked and enabled that achievement.

    So what next?

    Let me be clear. Labour believes that inspection has been part of that success.

    An independent schools inspectorate, with chief inspectors not beholden to ministers, unafraid to speak their minds, is a sign of a mature and confident education system.

    But to be supportive of Ofsted’s role, is not to believe it cannot be better.

    For one thing, it is hardly surprising if the Ofsted we need tomorrow is different from the Ofsted we needed 30 years ago.

    For another, the way inspections operate makes teachers, leaders and lecturers too often feel punished rather than supported.

    Getting the best out of people means respecting their professionalism, and supporting improvement, as well as challenging their performance.

    And of course, the way in which schools are funded, managed, and structured, has changed entirely in that time.

    Multi-academy trusts have become central to how many schools are run and how they perform, but inspection of them is missing.

    At the same time, and in too many cases, local authorities have responsibilities that matter, but without the powers to deliver.

    All of that has to change.

    Ofsted should be a critical friend to every good leader and every good teacher.

    The sort of friend who tells you the truth from which others might flinch.

    Yet Ofsted still operates in a way that is often too high stakes, and where the risks of a ‘bad’ inspection outweigh the rewards of a good one.

    A cat and mouse game between inspectors and schools, with no incentive to have an honest professional dialogue, to accept weakness and work to address it, are the unhelpful features of such an adversarial system.

    That should concern the government as much as it concerns schools.

    So change needs to happen.

    Labour is not in the business of disrupting good schools.

    We need a focus on supporting and improving struggling schools and spreading best practice.

    So the way we assess performance has to fit the educational landscape of today and tomorrow, not yesterday .

    We have to be clear what inspection is for:

    For children, to ensure they get the start they deserve, the chance to achieve and to thrive.

    For teachers, to learn and develop, ensuring they are supported to deliver those opportunities every child needs.

    For parents, so we have independent and trusted information about the performance of our child’s school.

    For the system as a whole, that responsibility sits at the right level, with multi-academy trusts properly accountable for the provision within schools.

    The triggers for intervention and the way the whole system operates need to be more in line with those purposes:

    – We need to see more of a focus on the schools that need support to improve.

    – We need inspections of every part of the school system that can be a locus for improvement and a force for change.

    – Inspections where the intensity of the experience is reasonable and proportionate.

    – That point teachers to the support they need to improve.

    – That consider the broad context for schools and recognise when progress is being made.

    – And we need assessments that celebrate what’s great as well as identify what’s not.

    I said that this is the year Ofsted turns thirty.

    It’s time for Ofsted to turn a corner.

    And we need wider change.

    Labour has already started to set out the direction in which we want to take our schools and our colleges.

    We have announced a National Excellence Programme for schools and we will pay for that by ending the tax exemptions for private schools.

    It will mean:

    – a teacher recruitment fund, to recruit and train over six and a half thousand new teachers, filling vacancies and skills gaps,

    – establishing an Excellence in Leadership programme, to support new headteachers throughout their first years on the job,

    – and a teacher development programme, to enable all leaders and teachers to access continuing professional development.

    Because we believe that investment in our young people, includes investing in you.

    And I have to say, the contrast with yesterday’s announcements from the Secretary of State is stark.

    So little to offer a profession that has given so much, and a generation that has lost so much.

    We see things very differently.

    We believe in supporting children’s recovery from the pandemic, because their future is going to be all of our futures.

    It matters for the children who have been deprived of opportunities during lockdown.

    And it matters for the country we want to build.

    The evidence is very clear about the longer-term damage that will be caused to our economy, to wider society, and to the opportunities and life chances of our young people, if we don’t invest now and get this right.

    That’s why this is such a priority for Labour.

    Labour’s Children’s Recovery Plan means small group tutoring, breakfast clubs and activities for every child, quality mental health support for children in every school, professional development for teachers, and targeted extra investment for those young people who struggled most with lockdown.

    The drumbeat of news about the failures of the government’s National Tutoring Programme shows all too clearly the perils of ministerial arrogance, of not bothering to listen to school leaders about what works.

    In this recovery, we also need to pay special attention to the early years.

    We knew this long before Covid but now we need to redouble our efforts.

    Children who joined reception classes in September will have lived more than half their lives under the pandemic.

    In many cases, they have not had the chance to explore, socialise, develop vital skills, in nurseries or play groups, all of which will matter right throughout school, and right throughout their lives.

    As we move on from the pandemic we need not just to get children’s recovery right, but to put education once more at the heart of our ambition for Britain.

    Because what’s clear is that for this government it isn’t there.

    You heard the paucity of their ambition yesterday.

    The Conservatives are failing a generation of our children, and they’re not even ashamed of it.

    Our future depends on unleashing the ingenuity, problem solving, community-building, ability of our people.

    The only way we will build the Britain we want to see, bringing opportunity to every corner of our country, is by harnessing the creativity, know-how, technology and innovation to create the high skilled jobs of the future.

    And to do that education has to be world class.

    Keir Starmer has staked out the three guiding principles of this national renewal: security, prosperity, and respect.

    Education is crucial to each.

    A good education, with strong foundations in the basics, provides the platform of security for young people.

    An education that fosters creative thinking, and ensures every child leaves education ready for work and ready for life, is the route for individuals and nations to become more prosperous.

    And respect is about how we respect the worth of every person – ensuring that whatever your background, whatever your needs, you are given the opportunity to think big, to spread your wings, to seize opportunities.

    Ultimately, education is about opportunity.

    So when Keir asked me to become shadow secretary of state for education, I was honoured and delighted.

    Because my own life has been a lesson in the power of education.

    My local state school in the North East completely transformed my life.

    My mam brought me up on her own, so times were often hard for her as a single parent in the 1980s.

    We didn’t always have it easy but in other ways I know I was lucky.

    I had a family where I was supported to read, where education was valued and encouraged, and I look back now and feel how fortunate I’ve been.

    I went to a school where my teachers were fiercely ambitious for me and my friends, because they believed in the value and worth of every single one of us.

    They had high expectations and saw no reason why either our ambition or our achievements should not meet them.

    So I was lucky. But life should not come down to luck.

    Too many children are held back by virtue of where they’re born, their circumstances and family background.

    My priority will be to see that change.

    Government should not temper, but match, the ambition of our young people.

    I will bring that sense of ambition and those expectations with me to government, to champion every child’s learning and wellbeing, delivering enriching childhoods, which support every young person to succeed.

    I want every child to benefit from a brilliant education which instils in them a love of learning carried throughout their life.

    Because when I meet parents and pupils, teachers, and lecturers headteachers, principals or employers there is a clear consensus about what needs to happen next.

    They all want us to be more ambitious.

    To offer young people a rounded education, one that develops all their human faculties – a rich mix of knowledge, skills and abilities – one that gives young people the chance to shape their life rather than having life done to them, one that delivers academic success alongside enriching experiences.

    It is that which will give every child the chances they deserve, and it is that which will make a world class education a reality.

    Thank you for all your extraordinary efforts over these last two turbulent years.

    I look forward to working with you all, to make the change we need, the reality we see.

    Thank you.

  • Nadhim Zahawi – 2022 Speech to the Association of School and College Leaders Conference

    Nadhim Zahawi – 2022 Speech to the Association of School and College Leaders Conference

    The speech made by Nadhim Zahawi, the Secretary of State for Education, on 11 March 2022.

    Ladies and gentlemen, I am really pleased and honoured to be here for my first ASCL conference.

    I have been looking forward to being with you.

    As we gather today, the Ukrainian flag flies over the Department for Education. It does so because we stand shoulder to shoulder with all Ukrainians against the barbaric, criminal invasion of their sovereign, democratic country.

    For us in our country, it is almost impossible to imagine the horror they are going through, because we know that more unites us than separates us, and we are lucky to live in a safe, secure country where we resolve our differences through debate, discussion and of course through and the ballot box.

    We will continue to support Ukrainians in any way we can. I know schools and colleges are doing what they can to support their students make sense of what they are seeing on television.

    And we have a team that’s already making plans for a capacity of 100,000 Ukrainian children that will come in and take their places in our schools.

    To support schools’ efforts, I asked Oak National Academy to roll out an auto-translate function across all 10,000 of its online lessons. And I can share with you today that they have delivered on this, meaning Ukrainian children arriving in the UK can access education in their native language as they transition into life and safety here.

    In that same spirit of unity and support, after the two years we’ve just been through, I’d like to thank you on such a well-chosen and positive theme.

    I think all leaders should aim to be ambitious but there has never been a more critical time for leaders to make ambition really count.

    Actually, ambition is what gets me racing to the office in the morning …

    And before you say it, well there’s a surprise… he’s another politician…

    My ambition isn’t for me, but for every child, every teenager, every adult learner to get the absolute best chance to succeed in life.

    Which I know is exactly what you want for every child.

    So, with that in mind, as I speak to you, I want us to ask ourselves, why are we here today?

    Before I go any further, I just want to say thank you for the magnificent way you have responded to Covid – I know the past two years have been absolutely bruising.

    Now, typically when you hear from an Education Secretary, you might expect to hear about accomplishments in the sector – and certainly, in this room, there are enough accomplishments to fill the entirety of my speech.

    I will in a moment talk about what we have achieved together.

    But before I do that, I want to tell you why this is so important to me personally.

    I came here aged 11, unable to string a sentence of English together. I hid at the back of the class.

    Even the thought of going to school was a scary one.

    If my parents hadn’t had the wherewithal to push me to take advantage of the education this great country provides, I don’t know where I would have ended up.

    And if my teacher Bob Hiller hadn’t reminded me to funnel my – how should I put it – creative, disruptive energy into something good, I certainly wouldn’t be here today. Bob, wherever you are, thank you.

    Skills, schools, families. These are my priorities, and these are informed in many ways by my own life story.

    They are what made the difference to me and what I think can make a real difference in the lives of children across our country.

    Because there are children in our country, right now, who need the support that I needed.

    And those children will achieve incredible things if given that chance.

    Colleagues, we are going on a journey – I hope together – to do exactly that.

    The next chapter of this journey is the Schools White Paper.

    Since 2010 we have been on a mission to give every single child a great education, and I think we’ve made huge progress, but we have not yet achieved every goal that we need to.

    Too many children still do not get the start in life that will enable them to go on and fulfil their potential.

    Even before the Covid pandemic, about one in three primary school students did not reach expected standards in reading, writing and maths.

    And we all know that children who are on free-school meals or who have special educational needs are less likely to achieve the standards we want for them, and that gap widens as children get older, making it harder and harder for them to catch up…

    I know you’ll agree with me that this has to change. This is going to change.

    I want us to really come together… work together… so that we can work out how we are going to achieve this.

    The biggest asset we have in changing the lives of children for generations to come is the energy and expertise of our teachers, and of course the school and college leaders in this room and around the country.

    You can’t have a great education if you don’t have a great teacher.

    You will already know that I have set an ambitious target that 90% of children leaving primary school should meet the expected standards in literacy and numeracy, up from 65% today.

    Every child must be able to read, write and do basic maths fluently.

    They’re important in their own right, but also act as a door to other wonderful and joyful subjects that can inspire young minds as they make their way through school, college and beyond.

    Let me be clear: these are ambitions for the whole system. They are about making sure that we are ambitious for every child across our country.

    The White Paper sets out a plan to deliver on this strategy, and it is an achievable vision only because I know that in this room, we have the excellence and leadership to make it a reality.

    I know that investing in teachers and leaders – in you and your staff – is the single most important way to improve pupil outcomes.

    I am determined to make our system of training and support for teachers and school and college leaders world-class.

    We will deliver our promised 500,000 teacher training opportunities to make sure that every teacher, in every corner of our country, benefits from evidence-based professional development at every stage of their career.

    I am proud to be able to confirm today that more than 25,000 teachers and almost 23,000 mentors have taken part in our flagship Early Career Framework programmes this year.

    This is beyond even my most optimistic estimate, and, I think, testament to the support you as leaders are providing.

    But I also know that embedding this programme has been a huge undertaking for you and your colleagues, particularly mentors. We are listening to your feedback and we will be making improvements in areas that you have told us are causing real difficulties.

    And I want to keep working with you now and in the future to make sure we take forward this shared priority and to ensure that we achieve our shared goal of giving every early career teacher their entitlement to a high-quality, structured induction to the teaching profession.

    Building on this success, our golden thread of high-quality teacher development programmes includes a new Leading Literacy National Professional Qualification, available from this autumn.

    This will mean every school can have a trained literacy expert, driving higher standards of literacy teaching, kick-starting our 90% literacy mission.

    With this, as with the rest of the reformed suite of National Professional Qualifications, these will be freely available to all teachers and leaders in state-funded schools and colleges.

    What I ask, for those here or watching this speech, is that every leader here today walk away from this with a commitment to enrol their staff on a National Professional Qualification from the autumn.

    Alongside world-class training, we will also continue to invest in top graduates with generous bursaries and scholarships for those who choose to train to teach.

    And we will deliver on our manifesto commitment to the £30,000 starting salary.

    As an engineering graduate, I know the wonders of science and I want more children to be exposed to and inspired by science – not least to help save the planet.

    I want them to be taught by well-trained science teachers, equipped to give future generations of scientists the knowledge they need to tackle climate change, develop new vaccines and maintain our place as a scientific superpower.

    Through our Levelling Up Premium worth up to £3,000 tax-free for maths, physics, chemistry and computing teachers, we will retain more teachers in some of the most important subjects and of course in places where they are needed most.

    And because teaching is an increasingly global profession, I want to attract the very best teachers from across the world.

    That is why we will also introduce a new relocation premium to help with visas and other expenses for teachers and trainees moving here from abroad.

    But even this is not enough: I want our country to be known around the world as the place to train and practise teaching, rivalling the likes of Shanghai, Canada and of course Finland.

    But of course, great teachers need support.

    I want to empower teachers to focus on delivering the best possible lessons, and support schools by giving them access to resources and approaches that have proved their effectiveness.

    Oak National Academy has certainly been one of our great achievements.

    It was created by teachers, for teachers, and showed brilliantly what the profession was capable of in the hour of need.

    Over 500 teachers from over 50 schools, trusts and partners worked together, delivering over 140 million lessons during the pandemic.

    Building on this success, we will now establish Oak as a new arms-length curriculum body, working independently of government and collaboratively with the sector.

    Why is this important?

    The data backs up what you all know anecdotally: a recent survey showed 46% of primary teachers plan lessons from scratch. This is a drain on teachers’ time and I want to help fix that.

    Curriculum design is complex, and we want to share the very best practice so teachers can draw inspiration from examples of evidence based, carefully sequenced curriculum design.

    Instead of each teacher reinventing the wheel, they will be able to access content, for free, that continuously evolves and gets better and better on the back of feedback from teachers across the country – saving time and of course improving lessons immeasurably.

    Under the framework already provided by our excellent national curriculum, the curriculum body will lead the creation of curriculum maps and thousands of downloadable lessons and resources… and all freely available to all teachers, parents and children.

    These will help schools in a variety of ways depending on their needs. They will be also entirely optional and of course these materials will not be mandated by Ofsted.

    Teachers, who know their pupils best, can then adapt these, and the curriculum body will work closely with teachers to ensure it is meeting their needs, including those supporting children with additional needs.

    And the body will continue work with the Education Endowment Foundation – the EEF – to ensure its work is informed by the best available evidence and aligns with best practice.

    At the heart of this body will be collaboration and partnership, I am committed to building on the “by teachers, for teachers” approach that has been a key success factor for Oak National Academy.

    And with the same motivation to use evidence wherever we can, we will permanently put evidence at the heart of the teaching profession by re-endowing the EEF.

    As independent evidence guardians in the system, they will continue to generate and spread world-leading education evidence. The EEF will lead an ongoing cycle of reviews of the underpinning frameworks for teacher development at all levels to make sure they’re always based on “what works” to improve pupil outcomes.

    They will keep these frameworks updated in line with the best available evidence from this country and of course from abroad, giving an independent badge of assurance to our teacher development programmes… and all the while making sure teachers in England get the cutting-edge training they need to drive up standards.

    And we will continue to work with the EEF to scale up and spread effective teaching practice in literacy and numeracy to ensure pupils have the best chance of catching up following the pandemic.

    Colleagues, we must be sky-high in our ambitions for every pupil. If we don’t aim for excellence, we’re not going to achieve it by chance.

    I’ve listened to you, acted on your insight, and looked at the evidence across the whole educational landscape. And evidence shows that a family of schools that are tightly managed and well supported achieve the right outcomes for their students and deliver those important opportunities for staff.

    How? There are three things I want to highlight.

    A resilient profession… because high performing families of schools support leaders and give great opportunities to teachers for training and career progression.

    Collaboration… because schools can benefit from working together, creating opportunities to share resources and reduce workload, while reinvesting back into frontline teaching.

    And Freedom… because leaders spend less time worrying about managing facilities and more time making sure children learn and teachers teach.

    I’ve been clear before that I see this future as involving all schools being part of a strong trust – and I will say more about this in my White Paper.

    But I will say now that I underline the word strong because, and we mustn’t sugar coat this, some trusts are not high performing. The White Paper will set out how I plan to deal with that challenge as well.

    You are the future my friends, and you are going to produce other leaders of the future. We need you – I need you – on this journey.

    I know that everyone in this room will have an opinion on this – I’d expect nothing less, but I ask you to consider the data, the evidence, with an as open mind as possible.

    What I will pledge to you is that I will be guided by the data and the evidence.

    I want evidence to be our watchword, just as it was mine as vaccines Minister and continues to be now as Secretary of State for Education.

    In fact, following what the data tells me has shaped the new Schools White Paper.

    But that doesn’t mean I expect everyone to agree with me all the time. I am not afraid to disagree with you, and I know you – certainly Geoff – are not afraid to challenge me.

    What is important is that we follow what the evidence says. If we have a divergence of views on the evidence, then we will have a healthy debate and I will make my case as I am sure you will make yours.

    But no matter what, the priority must be working together.

    Because we can’t level up, we can’t deliver for children, if we don’t work together.

    Everything we are doing as a government comes back to one core mission and that is that we make life fairer for every child, in every school in our country.

    One of the most effective tools we have at our disposal to meet our ambition is targeted support.

    A huge part of that is tutoring, which I know will be going on in all of your schools right now.

    It’s important to step back and look at what we’ve achieved with the National Tutoring Programme.

    Tutoring used to be something only richer parents could afford.

    Thanks to the NTP, today it’s benefitting all children who need it, from Bristol to Blackpool and Newquay to Newcastle, helping them realise their potential.

    I am proud to be able to say that more than one million tutoring courses have been delivered since we rolled out this programme last year. ASCL, this is incredible.

    But there are still children who need this targeted tuition, and I know that many of you have had challenges with the programme. I have listened and I have heard you, and we are making improvements as I speak to you today.

    This includes the immediate transfer of up to £65 million into School Led Tutoring from the other two routes. It’s become clear to me that by far the most popular route is the one run by you – the school.

    I hope you will agree with me that what we are doing together on tutoring is an invaluable addition to our education system, and I am continuing to look at how we can make sure it is having as big an impact as we can make it.

    In addition to this, one of my priorities in the White Paper will be the schools and areas of the country most in need of support.

    Areas including County Durham, Cornwall and Hartlepool will get extra investment, to build strong trusts, enabling them to retain and recruit the best teachers and tackle those problems that have stopped them achieving what they should be achieving.

    I want to get this right, and I want you to have your say, so I will be announcing a consultation shortly on tackling school underperformance.

    Ahead of that, we must build on what we have already accomplished.

    We must make the most of the £7 billion increase in core spending 2024-25 – with an increase in real terms per pupil funding of 4% next year alone – really count.

    And, we cannot say we care about children’s education if we ignore those most in need. So, we must protect the pupil premium to support schools in improving outcomes for disadvantaged students.

    Because I have the same high ambitions for children with special educational needs and disabilities as I do for every child. And I know that they benefit from excellent teaching that allows them to fulfil their potential.

    I also know that headteachers are doing an incredible job at supporting children with SEND, and worked tirelessly to support them throughout the pandemic.

    So, before I come to a close, I want to say that the plans I am setting out today – for teacher development, for evidence-based practice, and for high quality curriculum – will all help to support children with SEND. But there is further to go.

    The forthcoming SEND Review will set our ambitious proposals for how we will deliver a system that ensures every child and young person gets the right support in the right place and at the right time.

    Geoff, I began by asking everyone why we are here today.

    I am here today to deliver on the promise in this room.

    I am here to embark on a journey together – one that means every single child and learner gets the start in life to be the best version of themselves….

    I couldn’t hope to deliver this vision if it wasn’t for you…

    Thank you.

     

  • Alex Burghart – 2022 Statement on the Level 2 and Below Qualifications Update

    Alex Burghart – 2022 Statement on the Level 2 and Below Qualifications Update

    The statement made by Alex Burghart, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education, in the House of Commons on 2 March 2022.

    Consultation on level 2 and below qualifications

    I am pleased to announce the next stage of the review of post-16 qualifications in England. It is vital in a fast-moving and high-tech economy that education closes the gap between what people study and the needs of employers. Priorities change rapidly and we need an education system that is dynamic and forward looking. It must deliver the skills we will need in the future to strengthen the economy, not only as we emerge from the coronavirus pandemic but as we move forward in the 21st century.

    We set out our plans for the reform of level 3 qualifications in July 2021, and we are now consulting on proposals to reform level 2, level 1 and entry level qualifications. The current landscape at level 2 and below is complex, with over 8,000 qualifications approved for funding for students aged 16 and above. While many of these qualifications are likely to be excellent, it is not a consistent picture. It is hard to tell which ones are high quality and will lead to good outcomes. Improving the quality of qualifications at these levels will contribute to levelling up our country and building back better.

    We recognise the diversity of the cohort studying at level 2 and below. Individuals who take these qualifications will have very different backgrounds, achievements, needs, aspirations and motivations. They are also more likely to be taken post-16 by students from disadvantaged backgrounds or with special educational needs or disabilities. These students can have complex needs ranging from emotional, behavioural and mental health issues; physical disabilities; cognitive or developmental conditions; and others including hearing impairments and sensory issues. It is more vital than ever that these students can benefit from high-quality provision that provides the support they need to unlock their potential and benefit from great progression opportunities. Our proposed landscape will serve all students better.

    Our proposals aim to streamline and improve the quality of qualifications at level 2 and below for both 16 to 19-year-olds and adults. At the end of 2020, 21% of 16-year-olds were in full-time education studying at level 2 and below1. These qualifications are also important for adults, who in 2018-19 accounted for around 57% of ESFA-funded enrolments at these levels2. We want to ensure that all qualifications that receive public funding in future are high quality, have a clear purpose and will lead to strong progression outcomes, with every student having a range of options leading into either employment or further study—or, for a small minority of students, independent living.

    The proposals I am setting out today are open for consultation until 27 April. They have been developed following an extensive call for evidence which ran from November 2020 to February 2021. I am very grateful to those who engaged positively with, and responded to, this exercise.

    As previously set out, GCSEs, functional skills qualifications (FSQs) and essential digital skills qualifications (EDSQs) are not in scope for this consultation.

    Proposals—Level 2

    We propose that qualifications at level 2 should prepare students for further study or training at level 3 where possible, including T-Levels (through the T-Level transition programme), other level 3 technical qualifications and apprenticeships. With employers at the heart of their design and by aligning to employer-led standards, some level 2 qualifications will also provide a great opportunity to move directly into skilled jobs in some sectors.

    For 16 to 19-year-olds studying at level 2 who are aiming to get a job at level 2, we propose a two-year study programme to prepare them for the world of work.

    Proposals—Level 1 and below

    We propose the focus of study for most learners at level 1 and below should be progression to a qualification at level 2 or above that provides entry into a skilled occupation, or progression to a work-based pathway such as supported internships, traineeships and apprenticeships. Basic skills qualifications in English, maths and digital will continue to be vital for many of these students.

    Proposals—Personal, social and employability qualifications

    We recognise that some students will leave education with their highest achievement being level 1 or entry level, and for a small minority their main aim will be independent living. Personal, social and employability provision is an integral part of study for many of these students, and we propose to set national standards and core content for these qualifications to be designed against. Aligning these qualifications with national standards will ensure greater consistency and confidence in their quality. As part of the consultation, we are specifically seeking views from employers about the value and recognition of these qualifications.

    Consultation response on basic digital skills

    We consulted in the call for evidence on proposals to remove public funding approval from basic digital skills qualifications at level 2 (ICT user and ICT functional skills qualifications). We are publishing our response alongside the consultation, which confirms and sets out our decision to remove public funding approval from all level 2 ICT user qualifications and all level 2 ICT functional skills qualifications.

    I look forward to further engagement with the sector on these reforms. In response to this consultation, I will set out the next steps for implementing reforms at level 2 and below.

    Update on level 3 implementation

    In July 2021 we set out our plans for the reform of level 3 qualifications. In November, recognising the need to allow sufficient time for awarding organisations and providers to prepare, we announced an extra year for the reforms to be implemented. To support this, we are also moving the pathfinder for approving qualifications in the digital route into the first full cycle of approvals for other technical qualifications. The pathfinder would have seen the introduction of reformed qualifications in the digital route for 2024, ahead of our other reforms. These approvals processes will now be merged and first delivery of reformed qualifications will be from 2025.

    1 https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/ac2c9345-145c-46d0-aabc-055e9f92936b

    2 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/933584/Ad-hoc_3_Level_3_and_below_-_contextual_information.pdf