Tag: Department for Education

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 5 November 2010.

Lord Bew will lead a small review panel consisting of two education experts, a number of primary headteachers and one secondary school head. The panel is due to launch a 12-week call for evidence, following which it will publish a progress report summarising the evidence gathered. The panel will publish its final report by June 2011.

The review will look at a number of issues, including

• how best to ensure schools are properly accountable to pupils, parents and the taxpayer for the achievement and progress of every child, on the basis of objective and accurate assessments
• how to ensure parents have good-quality information on the progress of their children and the success of schools
• how to avoid, as far as possible, the risk of perverse incentives, over-rehearsal and reduced focus on productive learning
• how to ensure performance information is used and interpreted appropriately within the accountability system by other agencies, increasing transparency and preserving accountability to parents, pupils and the taxpayer while avoiding the risk of crude and narrow judgements being made.

Education Secretary Michael Gove has acknowledged the current system can be improved to ensure concerns – such as children being ‘drilled’ at the expense of broad learning – are overcome while the information parents want is still provided.

Michael Gove said:

We know parents support clear, rigorous and transparent testing at the end of primary school, and the OECD has concluded that external accountability is a key driver of improvement in education and particularly important for the least advantaged. So we must continue to allow parents to know how their local primary schools are performing.

Raising standards and narrowing gaps are the central goals of the Government’s education policy. It is not our intention that the accountability system should be punitive or unfair to schools working in difficult circumstances but it must be able to identify and tackle cases of sustained underperformance.

Equally, I recognise concerns from heads and teachers about the current system. That is why I have ordered a review – to see whether there is a better way to give parents the information they want and hold schools to account, while overcoming the concerns.

I am delighted that Lord Bew, a hugely experienced, cross-bench peer, has agreed to lead the review, and I look forward to considering the panel’s findings next year.

The Education Secretary also announced today new arrangements for delivering National Curriculum tests and assessments following the abolition of the QCDA. Working within the Department, an executive agency will oversee statutory tests and assessments for children up to age 14. Its exact remit will be confirmed following consideration of the recommendations of Lord Bew’s review.

Michael Gove said:

It is essential that the statutory assessment arrangements put in place following our review are delivered in a timely and effective way. It is right that accountability for ensuring this rests with ministers, and that is why I am establishing an executive agency within my department that will be accountable to me for the secure delivery of its functions.

As the independent regulator, Ofqual will continue to have an important role, as it does now, in keeping under review the agency’s functions relating to National Curriculum tests and assessments.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 5 November 2010.

Education Secretary Michael Gove today appointed the cross-bench peer, Lord Bew, to chair the external review into Key Stage 2 testing, assessment and accountability.

Lord Bew will lead a small review panel consisting of two education experts, a number of primary headteachers and one secondary school head. The panel is due to launch a 12-week call for evidence, following which it will publish a progress report summarising the evidence gathered. The panel will publish its final report by June 2011.

The review will look at a number of issues, including:

• how best to ensure schools are properly accountable to pupils, parents and the taxpayer for the achievement and progress of every child, on the basis of objective and accurate assessments
• how to ensure parents have good-quality information on the progress of their children and the success of schools
• how to avoid, as far as possible, the risk of perverse incentives, over-rehearsal and reduced focus on productive learning
• how to ensure performance information is used and interpreted appropriately within the accountability system by other agencies, increasing transparency and preserving accountability to parents, pupils and the taxpayer while avoiding the risk of crude and narrow judgements being made.

Education Secretary Michael Gove has acknowledged the current system can be improved to ensure concerns – such as children being ‘drilled’ at the expense of broad learning – are overcome while the information parents want is still provided.

Michael Gove said:

We know parents support clear, rigorous and transparent testing at the end of primary school, and the OECD has concluded that external accountability is a key driver of improvement in education and particularly important for the least advantaged. So we must continue to allow parents to know how their local primary schools are performing.

Raising standards and narrowing gaps are the central goals of the Government’s education policy. It is not our intention that the accountability system should be punitive or unfair to schools working in difficult circumstances but it must be able to identify and tackle cases of sustained underperformance.

Equally, I recognise concerns from heads and teachers about the current system. That is why I have ordered a review – to see whether there is a better way to give parents the information they want and hold schools to account, while overcoming the concerns.

I am delighted that Lord Bew, a hugely experienced, cross-bench peer, has agreed to lead the review, and I look forward to considering the panel’s findings next year.

The Education Secretary also announced today new arrangements for delivering National Curriculum tests and assessments following the abolition of the QCDA. Working within the Department, an executive agency will oversee statutory tests and assessments for children up to age 14. Its exact remit will be confirmed following consideration of the recommendations of Lord Bew’s review.

Michael Gove said:

It is essential that the statutory assessment arrangements put in place following our review are delivered in a timely and effective way. It is right that accountability for ensuring this rests with ministers, and that is why I am establishing an executive agency within my department that will be accountable to me for the secure delivery of its functions.

As the independent regulator, Ofqual will continue to have an important role, as it does now, in keeping under review the agency’s functions relating to National Curriculum tests and assessments.

Further information

Lord Bew is a cross-bench peer, Professor of Irish Politics at Queen’s University in Belfast, and a Member of Royal Irish Academy (MRIA). He was a historical adviser to the Saville Inquiry from 1998 to 2001.

Membership of the panel in full is:

• Lord Bew – Chairman
• Miriam Rosen – Former Executive Director, Ofsted
• Ruth Miskin – Founder, Read-Write Inc. and former primary headteacher
• Greg Wallace – Headteacher, Woodberry Down Community Primary School in Hackney
• Helen Clegg – Headteacher, Shiremoor Primary School in North Tyneside
• Kate Dethridge – Headteacher, Churchend Primary School in Reading
• Lubna Khan – Headteacher, Berrymede Junior School in Ealing
• Tim Sherriff – Headteacher, Westfield Community School in Wigan
• Sally Coates – Principal, Burlington Danes Academy in West London

Representatives of Ofsted and Ofqual will act as observers.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 3 November 2010.

The Secretary of State for Education has today allocated £110 million to establish an education endowment fund (EEF) designed to raise standards in underperforming schools.

The EEF will distribute money to local authorities, academy sponsors, charities and other groups that bring forward innovative proposals to improve performance in our most challenging schools. Those bidding for funds from the EEF will have to outline how their proposals will raise attainment. Bidders must also demonstrate how they will be held accountable for the success of their proposals.

The announcement comes as Mr Gove hosts a visit from Arne Duncan, US Secretary of Education. Mr Duncan is here to exchange ideas with the UK Government. On both sides of the Atlantic, reforming Governments are implementing ambitious plans to transform state education. Secretary Duncan has helped introduce charter schools, the equivalent of our Free Schools and academies, to help raise the attainment of disadvantaged students. He has also made funds available to improve teacher recruitment and training.

The EEF draws on President Barack Obama and Secretary Duncan’s ‘Race to the Top’ programme, which invites states to apply for funding to trailblaze bold and innovative approaches in schools across the country.

By inviting bids from those who wish to turn round our weakest schools, the Government is also building on the transformative potential of the new pupil premium. Our most challenging schools are overwhelmingly concentrated in our areas of greatest deprivation.

The pupil premium will result in more money being allocated to support the education of all of our poorest children, adding £2.5 billion to school funding by the end of the CSR period. The EEF will allow many of the schools that educate our poorest children to do even more, and the innovative practice it encourages should drive improvement across the school system.

The EEF will be administered at arm’s length from ministers. The team administering the fund will be appointed following an open competition.

Funding for projects will come from returns on the EEF’s investment and fund managers will be able to draw down some of the capital from the total sum each year. The independent organisation that runs the EEF will also be expected to attract additional contributions from other organisations and philanthropists to add to the fund.

This fund is being established from the money that was set aside when the Government took the decision not to increase the number of free school meals. The establishment of the fund fulfils the Government’s pledge to better use this money to improve the attainment of disadvantaged pupils.

Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, said:

The international evidence shows that we’re falling behind other countries educationally, and we have one of the most unequal school systems in the developed world. That’s why we need to press ahead with reforms which will raise standards for all children.

This new fund builds on the success of President Obama’s ‘Race to the Top’ scheme. It will make schools and local authorities compete to help the poorest. Combined with our pupil premium, the expansion of the Academy programme, more rigorous exams and tough action to improve discipline, it adds up to a comprehensive package of school improvement.

Each project will have to meet tough criteria in order to be awarded funding, and bidders must prove their innovative, bold and rigorous approaches will support school improvement. Projects can be run by schools, charities, teachers, local authorities, national leaders of education, or successful academy sponsors and principals.

The EEF is just one part of the Government’s strategy for narrowing the attainment gap between the richest and poorest pupils and raising standards in underperforming schools. The Department’s detailed strategy for tackling the weakest schools will be laid out in the forthcoming schools white paper.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 3 November 2010.

The Secretary of State for Education has today allocated £110 million to establish an education endowment fund (EEF) designed to raise standards in underperforming schools.

The EEF will distribute money to local authorities, academy sponsors, charities and other groups that bring forward innovative proposals to improve performance in our most challenging schools. Those bidding for funds from the EEF will have to outline how their proposals will raise attainment.

The announcement comes as Mr Gove hosts a visit from Arne Duncan, US Secretary of Education. Mr Duncan is here to exchange ideas with the UK Government.

Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, said:

The international evidence shows that we’re falling behind other countries educationally, and we have one of the most unequal school systems in the developed world. That’s why we need to press ahead with reforms which will raise standards for all children.

This new fund builds on the success of President Obama’s ‘Race to the Top’ scheme. It will make schools and local authorities compete to help the poorest. Combined with our pupil premium, the expansion of the Academy programme, more rigorous exams and tough action to improve discipline, it adds up to a comprehensive package of school improvement.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 1 November 2010.

Education Secretary Michael Gove said:

I would like to thank Dr Ian Craig, the Chief Schools Adjudicator, for his annual report, which raises a number of important issues.

It is absolutely right that every parent should want their child to go to an excellent school, so school admissions will continue to be a controversial and sensitive issue as long as there are too few good school places.

I am committed to driving up educational standards so all parents have that choice of high-quality schools close to home, which is why we are encouraging providers to set up new schools and turning round under-performing schools. And so no child is disadvantaged because of their background, I am introducing the pupil premium.

I also intend to make the school admissions framework, including the School Admissions Code, simpler and fairer, and I have asked my officials to start speaking with key stakeholders.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 28 October 2010.

The Department has today confirmed that the School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB) will be abolished.

The Government has conducted a review of the future policy direction for determining school support staff pay and conditions, including the role of the SSSNB, and has concluded that the SSSNB does not fit well with the Government’s priorities for greater deregulation of the pay and conditions arrangements for the school workforce.

The SSSNB was established by the previous Government to develop a national pay and conditions framework for school support staff working in maintained schools in England. The Government has conducted a review of the future policy direction for determining school support staff pay and conditions, including the role of the SSSNB, and has concluded that the SSSNB does not fit well with the Government’s priorities for greater deregulation of the pay and conditions arrangements for the school workforce. I therefore propose to introduce legislation to abolish the SSSNB at the earliest opportunity.

This decision means that school support staff will continue to have their pay and conditions determined in accordance with existing arrangements whereby decisions are taken at a local level by employers.

In reaching this decision the Government has considered very carefully the views of the SSSNB Trade Union and Employer member organisations, and the SSSNB Independent Chair. I will be writing today to the Independent Chair and lead representatives of the SSSNB member organisations to notify them of the Government’s decision.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 20 October 2010.

The Secretary of State has today announced changes to the specialist schools programme. Funding for specialist schools, including for High Performing Specialist Schools (HPSS), will be mainstreamed from April 2011. This funding, approximately £450 million for 2010-11, is not being removed from the schools system and will continue to be routed to schools through the Dedicated Schools Grant.

The Government is also announcing that schools will no longer be required to designate or re-designate as specialist, removing this bureaucratic burden. Currently they must demonstrate that they meet a range of benchmarks set by DfE.

From April 2011 the Department will therefore no longer fund the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) and Youth Sports Trust (YST) to support schools through the designation and re-designation process and run networks of specialist schools. For this financial year, the total grant for the specialism programme for the SSAT is £13 million, and for the YST it is £2.5 million.

You can read Michael Gove’s letter to Elizabeth Reid, Chief Executive of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, below:

Elizabeth Reid
Chief Executive
Specialist Schools and Academies Trust
16th Floor, Millbank Tower
21-24 Millbank
London SW1P 4QP

October 2010

Since my appointment I have been reviewing existing policies and programmes in the context of the priorities that the coalition Government has set, including the Specialist Schools and High Performing Specialist Schools programmes. My aim is to ensure that the Government enables school leaders to achieve the best for the pupils and parents they serve. I know that many school leaders attest to the value of specialism as a catalyst for school improvement and as a means of developing a distinct character and ethos for their schools. The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust has been instrumental in the creation of the near-universal specialist system which now exists. I am grateful to you and your predecessors, and to all SSAT’s directors and staff, for your tireless commitment to raising standards in our schools.

Now that specialism is so firmly established I believe that the time has come to remove the Government imposed prescription that has built up around the programme and to give school leaders greater freedom to make use of the opportunities offered by specialism and the associated funding. This is part of my wider commitment to trust school leaders to take decisions in the best interests of the pupils and parents they serve. Of course, Academies are already freed from centralised control and are not constrained in their choice of specialism or required to undergo designation or re-designation. I look forward to an increase in the number of schools and academies enjoying these and other Academy freedoms.

In particular, I have decided that from April 2011 funding for specialism should no longer take the form of a dedicated grant, so that all schools can decide how to develop their specialisms in the light of the total resources available to them. Schools will not be required to designate or re-designate. I should stress that funding is not being removed from schools: money currently paid as specialist schools grant will continue to be routed to schools through the DSG. This is in line with the approach set out in the Department’s consultation on the Pupil Premium, which envisaged the mainstreaming of dedicated grants wherever possible.

I have also decided not to fund the current range of HPSS options after March 2011. Again, the funding will remain with the frontline. Our best schools will continue to be able to take on system leadership roles and support others to improve, and I am looking to expand the opportunities and financial incentives available to them. Academy status already offers a route for outstanding schools to support others as does becoming a National or Local Leader of Education. I intend to set out further plans in the White Paper which is due to be published later in the autumn. Of course, I would expect locally driven collaborations to continue to develop and flourish.

I appreciated the opportunity to discuss the future of the specialist schools programme with SSAT’s National Headteacher Steering Group. Members of the Group spoke with passion about the benefits of the programme and I hope that I can continue to rely on the advice of the Group about how those benefits might be realised in a changed environment.

The Department’s grant funding agreement with SSAT, which covers support for the specialist schools programme, expires at the end of this financial year. The then Minister of State for Schools wrote to you in May 2009 explaining that the Department would to go through a competitive process in order procure any similar services in future. At this point we have no plans to commission centralised support for specialism. Officials want to discuss with SSAT the management of grant funded activities over the remainder of the financial year in the light of the changes outlined above. And I know that the schools, which spoke so eloquently about the value they place on your work, will continue to support you as willing subscribers to your services.

MICHAEL GOVE

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 20 October 2010.

The schools budget will increase in real terms in each year of the Spending Review period. But economies in other areas mean that there will be a total real reduction in Departmental resource spending of 3% by 2014-15. Following on from the decision to halt Building Schools for the Future (BSF), capital spending will be reduced by 60% in real terms by 2014-15. The average annual capital budget over the period will be higher than the average annual capital budget in the 1997-98 to 2004-05 period.

£ Billions
	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15
Resource DEL1	50.8	51.2	52.1	52.9	53.9
Capital DEL	7.6	4.9	4.2	3.3	3.4
Total DEL	58.4	56.1	56.3	56.2	57.2
1 In this table, Resource DEL excludes depreciation

This will be supported through the following measures:

• We will increase funding for the schools budget by £3.6 billion in cash terms by the end of the Spending Review period – this is a 0.1% increase in real terms in each year. Along with greater freedoms and flexibility for teachers and schools, this will ensure schools can meet the demographic pressures they face, and deliver a £2.5 billion pupil premium. This will support the educational development of disadvantaged pupils, and provide incentives for good schools to take on pupils from poorer backgrounds.
• Because the Government recognises that a good early years education is critical to later achievement, we will be maintaining 15 hours of free childcare a week for all 3 and 4 year olds, and extending it to all disadvantaged 2 year olds. It’s also why Sure Start will be protected in cash terms including investment in Sure Start health visitors.

There will be a 60% reduction in real terms in capital spending over the Spending Review period. Following the decision to end the wasteful BSF programme there will be enough funding to meet demographic pressures and to address maintenance needs. The independent review of education capital will ensure that the Department for Education’s capital budget is allocated in the most cost-effective way and targeted where there is most need. Over the Spending Review period there will be a total of £15.8 billion of capital spending. The average annual capital budget will be higher than the average annual capital budget in the 1997-98 to 2004-05 period.

We have had to prioritise in order to ensure that funding is maintained on frontline services that are critical to helping us build a world-class education system, and we are determined to protect the most vulnerable children and young people in society. We are therefore streamlining our funding grants to generate better value for money but ensuring that targeted support remains available to those who need it most. For instance, we are:

• Ending Education Maintenance Allowances, which have deadweight costs of around 90%, saving £0.5 billion, and replacing them with targeted support for those who face genuine financial barriers to participation;
• As we move towards full participation by 2015 we will secure reduction in individual unit costs;
• Within the schools budget, procurement and back office savings will allow at least £1.0 billion to be invested directly on frontline teaching while the public sector pay freeze will free up an additional £1.1 billion;
• Ending and rationalising a range of centrally directed programmes and instead streamlining funding for the most vulnerable children and families in a new Early Intervention Grant to ensure local authorities have greater flexibility.
• To ensure funds are rightly prioritised on frontline education and children’s services, we are committed to making a 33% reduction in real terms by 2014-15 from the Department’s administrative budget. This will be achieved by closing NDPBs, reducing headcount, reducing the costs of the DfE estate and cutting non-essential expenditure.

In addition, the Department for Education will be adopting ideas suggested through the Spending Challenge process to improve efficiency across Whitehall. These include selling surplus Government equipment through an online e-auction site, and working with the Efficiency and Reform Group to cut costs by centralising the Department’s procurement of commonly used goods and services.

The Department has a number of next steps in order to set out how the school system and children’s services will be reformed and how the education spending settlement will be spent. These include a Schools’ White Paper, a Special Educational Needs and Disability Green paper, further announcements about allocating voluntary sector grants, and confirmation of LA allocations for schools and early years provision. We will announce further programmes and further bureaucracy we intend to end in the next three months.

Secretary of State, Michael Gove said:

The size of the deficit means we have had to make tough decisions. There will be many savings across the Department but the Coalition Government is committed to improving education for all. That’s why we’re protecting the frontline, handing power to teachers and introducing a pupil premium for the poorest.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 19 October 2010.

Latest statistics for autumn term 2009 and spring term 2010 together show a decrease in overall and persistent absence rates in both primary and secondary schools compared with autumn term 2008 and spring term 2009.

Authorised absence rates decreased in both primary and secondary schools. Unauthorised absence rates increased in primary schools and decreased in secondary schools.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said:

The small fall in the overall absence rate in all schools, and in unauthorised absence in secondary schools, is very welcome but the level of absenteeism in schools is still too high. It is crucial that children are not missing out on valuable lessons that could leave them vulnerable to falling behind.

The Government is committed to tackling the underlying causes of absenteeism, raising academic standards and ensuring every child can meet their potential, regardless of their background.

We are putting in place a series of measures to raise standards of behaviour, put teachers back in control of the classroom and ensure pupils understand that the authority of their school can extend beyond the school gates. We need to ensure that all pupils have the basic skills of reading, writing and maths before they leave primary school so they can cope with the new challenges of secondary school.

We are also introducing the first ever pupil premium to ensure pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds benefit from the same opportunities as their more affluent peers.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 15 October 2010.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has today given a speech setting out the Coalition Government’s approach to fairness and social mobility. He has announced £7 billion funding for a ‘fairness premium’, which will give all disadvantaged two-year-olds an entitlement to 15 hours a week of pre-school education and also to deliver a pupil premium for disadvantaged children.