Tag: Bridget Phillipson

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

Good morning, everyone.

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

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

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

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

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

It’s my story.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Not because they were lazy, they weren’t.

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

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

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

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

I worked hard, of course I did.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For kids like me.

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

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

I don’t forget. Not now. Not ever.

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

I get up every morning to right those wrongs.

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

Background wasn’t my destiny.

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

That is my vision for education.

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

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

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

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

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

No more flying blind, guided only by tradition.

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

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

Raising the floor, removing the ceiling.

Take one example, one that matters immensely.

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

But teachers can then innovate in how they teach it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But now, right now, we need more teachers.

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

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

More teaching, better learning.

But more alone is not enough.

I want to drive up the quality of teaching too.

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

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

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

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

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

But there is much, much more to do.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Exam performance rising, above the national average.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Because I tell you, this government is very clear.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stuck schools.

Too many schools coasting.

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

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

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

They leave primary school with results 14 percentage points worse.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Trust leaders right at the centre.

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

Excellence – for every child.

High and rising standards – for every child.

Success – for every child.

No more stuck schools drifting along.

Tackling drift by reforming accountability and intervention.

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

To take the whole school system forward.

The way we hold schools accountable underpins it all.

How we identify poor performance and drive change,

To lift the life chances of children.

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

With Ofsted’s role right at its heart.

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

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

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

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

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

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

But the time for change has come.

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

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

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

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

Our searchlight on poor performance must now become brighter

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We want to spread that excellence

To promote innovation,

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

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

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

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

But a new spirit too – including with schools.

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

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

Better outcomes for children.

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

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

I have to say, I welcome it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Well, I’m talking now.

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

I say this,

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

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

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

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

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

And I make no apologies for that,

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

Because I believe that background shouldn’t be destiny.

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

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

Thank you.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As politicians we like to talk about our own story.

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

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

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

The ones arriving too hungry to learn.

The ones arriving too tired to concentrate.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The foundations of opportunity in Britain may be rotten.

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

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

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

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

… an urgent mission to fix the foundations of opportunity

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

It can be done.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So how can we spread opportunity more widely?

Part of the answer does lie in the childcare rollout.

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

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

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

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

It won’t be simple. It won’t be easy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A foundation in reading, writing and maths, yes.

Of course.

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

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

Never compromising on standards in the basics.

Quite the opposite.

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

Those standards must be for each and every child.

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

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

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

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

High standards, not high stakes.

Broad and rich, not narrow and reductive.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thank you.

The speech made by Bridget Phillipson, the Secretary of State for Education, at the Embassy Education Conference held on 23 July 2024.

Thank you very much. I am delighted to be here with you today. Thanks so much for the invitation.

In my first weeks as secretary of state in this new government I have been resetting relationships across the length and breadth of education.

I want to refresh old partnerships and grow new ones, not just at home but around the world too.

By joining forces in education, we can build new bridges between our nations.

And I want to set the record straight on international students. I know there’s been some mixed messaging from governments in the past, from our predecessors most of all.

And for too long international students have been treated as political footballs, not valued guests.

Their fees welcomed, but their presence resented.

Exploited for cheap headlines, not cherished for all they bring to our communities.

This government will take a different approach and we will speak clearly.

Be in no doubt: international students are welcome in the UK.

This new government values their contribution – to our universities, to our communities, to our country.

I want Britain to welcome those who want to come to these shores to study, and meet the requirements to do so.

Now this is part of a wider sea change here in the UK.

Under this new government, education is once again at the forefront of national life.

Under this new government, universities are a public good, not a political battleground.

Under this new government, opportunity is for everyone.

And our international partnerships are central to this drive to spread opportunity far and wide.

The more we work together, the more progress we will see in the world – partners in the push for better.

Closed systems that only look inward quickly run out of ideas. Creativity crumbles, innovation dies, the same thoughts spin round and round and collapse in on themselves.

But through our international partners, we can reach out across the world and bring back a freshness of thought that breathes new life into our society.

That includes our universities, and it includes international students.

How could it not?

These people are brave. They move to a new culture, far away from their homes and their families.

They take a leap of faith, hoping to develop new skills and chase new horizons. And I am enormously proud that so many want to take that leap here in the UK.

And we will do everything we can to help them succeed.

That’s why we offer the opportunity to remain in the UK on a graduate visa for 2 years after their studies end – or 3 for PhDs – to work, to live, and to contribute.

While this government is committed to managing migration carefully, international students will always be welcome in this country.

The UK wouldn’t be the same without them.

Arts, music, culture, sport, food, language, humour – international students drive dynamism on so many levels.

And of course, their contribution to the British economy is substantial. Each international student adds about £100,000 to our national prosperity.

This impact is not just a national statistic. It’s felt in towns and cities right across country.

I’ve seen it in Sunderland, where I have the privilege to serve as a member of parliament. The city is home to almost 5,000 international students.

Many come from China, flying across the world to study at the University of Sunderland. I welcome their presence and I value their contribution.

And students from all nations add to the city’s buzz.

More footfall on our highstreets.

More laughter in our pubs.

More conversation in our cafes.

International students contribute so much to my home city, so much to our country.  And they get so much in return. The UK is a fantastic place to come and study.

Every student who steps off the plane in Manchester or arrives on the Eurostar in London is a vote of confidence in our universities.

Students come because they know they will receive a world class education. They come because they know it sets them up for success.

Many go on to positions of power. Above the desks of leaders around the world sit certificates from British universities.

They, and hopefully many of you, will know the joy of living abroad, the excitement of discovering a new culture, a new perspective, perhaps even a new weather system …

While students may not come to the UK for our weather system, they do come for our rich and varied culture.

They know this is a country that sparks genius, that has birthed innovation to the rest of the world.

What better place to study science than the land of Charles Darwin, Ada Lovelace, Alan Turing?

What better place to study English than the land of William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Zadie Smith?

And what better place to study music than the land of John Lennon, Stormzy, Adele?

Students benefit from coming to the UK, and we benefit from them being here.

But I don’t see this as a hard-nosed transactional relationship. It’s not just about GDP, balance sheets or export receipts.

No. My passion is for an open, global Britain – one that welcomes new ideas.

One that looks outward in optimism, not inward in exclusion.

In my university days I made some wonderful friends who came from around the world.

They broadened my horizons, challenged my views, and pushed me to be better.

Students come and build bonds with their classmates – and friendships between students become friendships between countries.

That’s what education is all about.

A force for good in people’s lives, a force for good in our world.

A generation of young people who have studied abroad and cultivated friendships with people from different cultures – those ties make the world a safer, more vibrant place.

This new government is mission-led. And I am leading on the mission to break down the barriers to opportunity.

I am determined to make Britain the international home of opportunity.

So I want genuine partnerships with countries across the world in higher education and beyond.

We already have deep education partnerships with countless countries around the globe, and I want to build more.

From our closest neighbours, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, to major regional powers, India, Nigeria, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, important allies, the US and Australia, to world leading systems like Singapore and Japan, and many others.

Whether that’s through British international schools abroad, or cross-border collaboration on skills training.

School trips and scholarships, exchange programmes and language learning, policy conversations that span the early years to learners with special educational needs.

And I want our universities to work with their international partners to deliver courses across borders.

Education must be at the forefront of tackling the major global challenges of our time.

Artificial intelligence, climate change, poverty, misinformation, polarisation, war and instability.

Education puts us on the path to freedom.

Intellectual freedom. Economic freedom. Social freedom. Cultural freedom.

Through education, we can enlarge and expand those freedoms, we can show that government is a power not just for administration but for transformation.

The answer is partnership. And the answer is education.

As I close, I want to extend an invitation to all your education ministers to attend the education world forum here in London next year from the 18th to the 21st of May.

You can expect a rich exchange of ideas, visits to schools, colleges and universities, and enlightening keynote speakers.

This is a time of change here in Britain. A new age of hope. A new era of optimism for our country.

A place where once again education and opportunity are the foundations of a better society.

A place where our universities are nurseries of global friendships, as well as places of economic growth.

A place where new ideas are prized.

I want to work with all of you to deliver opportunity for all – not just here at home, but across the world too.

Thank you.

The speech made by Bridget Phillipson, the Secretary of State for Education, on 19 July 2024.

I am today announcing the launch of an independent expert-led curriculum and assessment review. The review will consider the existing national curriculum and statutory assessment system, and pathways for learners in 16-to-19 education, to drive high and rising standards for every young person. The review will be chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE, an expert in education policy, including curriculum and education inequality.

The review will contribute to the Government’s missions to break down the barriers to opportunity for every child and young person at every stage, and to kick-start economic growth.

The review will build on the Government’s commitment to high standards in the curriculum in England, while ensuring greater attention to breadth and flexibility and that no child or young person is left behind. The review will seek to address the key problems and hard barriers to achievement in the curriculum and assessment system from key stage 1 to key stage 5.

Specifically, the review will seek to deliver:

An excellent foundation in core subjects of reading, writing and maths.

A broader curriculum, so that children and young people do not miss out on subjects such as music, art, sport and drama, as well as vocational subjects.

A curriculum that ensures children and young people leave compulsory education ready for life and ready for work, building the knowledge, skills and attributes young people need to thrive. This includes embedding digital, oracy and life skills in their learning.

A curriculum that reflects the issues and diversities of our society, ensuring all children and young people are represented.

An assessment system that captures the strengths of every child and young person and the breadth of the curriculum, with the right balance of assessment methods, while maintaining the important role of examinations.

The review will be rigorously evidence-driven and will look closely at the barriers which hold children and young people back, particularly those who are from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, have a special educational need or disability and/or are otherwise vulnerable.

The review will seek evolution not revolution, build on the existing relative strengths of a system with finite resources, and not add unnecessary burdens by seeking to fix things that are not broken.

The review will build on the hard work of teachers and staff across the system, and will be undertaken in close consultation with education professionals and other experts; parents; children and young people; and stakeholders such as employers, colleges, universities and trade unions.

The review will start this autumn with a call for evidence. The call for evidence will set out the areas where the review group would particularly welcome evidence and input from the sector and stakeholders, and will direct the focus of the engagement with the sector over the autumn term. The review group will publish an interim report in the new year setting out its interim findings and confirming the key areas for further work. We plan to publish the final review with recommendations in autumn 2025.

Alongside the review, the Department for Education will make legislative changes so that all state schools, including academies, will be required to teach the national curriculum. This will support the Government’s ambition for every child to receive a rich and broad curriculum taught by excellent teachers, wherever they are in the country, to set them up with the knowledge and skills to thrive in the future.

The review marks the Government’s first step towards an education system where background is no barrier and every young person leaves school or college with the best life chances.

The speech made by Bridget Phillipson, the Shadow Secretary of State for Education, in the House of Commons on 17 July 2023.

I thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of her statement.

Today’s statement tells us several stories about this Government. It tells a story about their priorities: why universities, and why now? It tells a story about their analysis: what they think is wrong and what they think is not. It tells a story about their competence: why these changes, when their own regulator has used a different approach for so long? It tells a story about their prejudice, about why they continue to reinforce a binary choice for young people: either academic or vocational, university or apprenticeship. Above all, it tells a story about values—about the choice to put caps on the aspirations and ambitions of our young people; about Ministers for whom opportunity is for their children, but not for other people’s children; about a Government whose only big idea for our world-leading universities is to put up fresh barriers to opportunity, anxious to keep young people in their place. It tells you everything you need to know about the Tories that this is their priority for our young people.

This is the Tories’ priority when we are in the middle of an urgent crisis in this country; when families are struggling to make ends meet; when patients are facing the biggest waiting lists in NHS history; when children are going to school in buildings that Ministers themselves acknowledge are “very likely” to collapse; and when a spiral of low productivity, low growth, and low wages under the Tories is holding Britain back. It is because the Prime Minister is weak and he is in hock to his Back Benchers that we are not seeing action on those important priorities. Instead, after more than 13 years in power, the Government have shown what they really think of our universities, which are famous across the world, are core to so many of our regional economies and were essential to our pandemic response: that they are not a public good, but a political battleground.

The Government’s concept of a successful university course, based on earnings, is not just narrow but limiting. I ask the Secretary of State briefly to consider the case of the right hon. Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Rishi Sunak). The Prime Minister has a degree in politics from one of our leading universities, yet his Government lost control of almost 50 councils this year, he was the second choice of his own party, and now he is on track to fail to deliver on the pledges he set himself publicly. Does the Secretary of State believe that the Prime Minister’s degree was in any sense a high-value course?

Let us be clear what today’s announcement is really about. Many of our most successful newer universities—the fruits of the determination of successive Governments, Labour and Conservative, to spread opportunity in this country—often draw more students from their local communities. Many of those areas are far from London, far from existing concentrations of graduate jobs. Many of those students come from backgrounds where few in their family, if any, will have had the chance to go to university. Many of those young people benefit from extra support when they arrive at university to ensure they succeed. We on the Labour Benches welcome the success of those universities in widening participation and welcoming more young people into higher education, yet today, the Secretary of State is telling those young people—including those excited to be finishing their studies this year—that this Government believe their hard work counts for nothing. Can the Secretary of State be absolutely clear with the House, and tell us which of those universities’ courses she considers to be of low value?

The Secretary of State is keen to trumpet her party’s record on apprenticeships, but let me set out what this Government’s record really is. Since 2015-16, apprenticeship starts among under-19s have dropped by 41%, and apprentice achievements in that age group are down by 57%. Since the Secretary of State entered this place, the number of young people achieving an apprenticeship at any level has more than halved, failing a generation of young people desperate to take on an apprenticeship.

Lastly and most importantly, the values that this Government have set out today are clear: the Conservatives are saying to England’s young people that opportunity is not for them and that choice is not for them. The bizarre irony of a Conservative Government seeking to restrict freedom and restrict choices seems entirely lost on them. Labour will shatter the class ceiling. We will ensure that young people believe that opportunity is for them. Labour is the party of opportunity, aspiration and freedom. Let us be clear, too, that young people want to go to university not merely to get on financially, but for the chance to join the pursuit of learning, to explore ideas and undertake research that benefits us all. That chance and that opportunity matter too. Our children deserve better. They deserve a Government whose most important mission will be to break down the barriers to opportunity and to build a country where background is no barrier. They deserve a Labour Government.

Gillian Keegan

As usual, the hon. Lady has more words than actions. None of those actions was put in place either in Wales, where Labour is running the education system, or in the UK when it was running it in England. We have always made the deliberate choice of quality over quantity, and this is a story of a consistent drive for quality, whether that is through my right hon. Friend the Schools Minister having driven up school standards, so that we are the best in the west for reading and fourth best in the world, or through childcare, revolutionising the apprenticeship system—none of that existed before we put it in place—and technical education and higher education.

I was an other people’s child: I was that kid who left school at 16, who went to a failing comprehensive school in Knowsley. I relied on the business, and the college and the university that I went to. I did not know their brand images and I knew absolutely nobody who had ever been there. I put my trust in that company, and luckily it did me very well. Not all universities and not all courses have the trusted brand image of Oxford and Cambridge, which I think is where the hon. Lady went, along with my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister. I have worked with many leaders all over the world in my many years in business, and the Prime Minister is a world-class leader.

On apprenticeships, it is a case of quality always over quantity. What we found, and this is why I introduced the quality standards, is that, yes, the numbers were higher, but many of the people did not realise they were on an apprenticeship, many of the apprenticeships lasted less than 12 months and for many of them there was zero off-the-job training. They were apprenticeships in name only, which is what the Labour party will be when it comes to standards for education.