Tag: Nicky Morgan

Below is the text of the speech made by Nicky Morgan, the Secretary of State for Education, on 30 April 2016.

Thank you, Kim [Johnson, NAHT President], for that introduction.

I want to start by saying thank you – to all of you. Thank you for your hard work, your commitment and your exceptional ability to bring about excellent educational outcomes for young people. You, together with your dedicated staff, are at the forefront of our education system and it’s thanks to your collective efforts that education in England has taken huge leaps forward, with 1.4 million more children and young people in ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ schools since our reforms began in 2010.

And let me be clear that, while we may not always agree, I have enormous respect for the work you do, leading your schools to success and ensuring that every child is encouraged and enabled to reach their potential.

Primary assessment

I recognise the pressures this term brings in terms of assessments, but it’s because we, like you, want to continue raising standards for young people that we made changes to primary assessment.

Let me take this opportunity to apologise again for the recent incident where a section of the key stage 1 final test was published early, alongside the sample papers. I have received a personal assurance from the Chief Executive of the Standards and Testing Agency that she and her team will be taking every possible step, working closely with my department, to ensure that such a mistake can never happen again.

We all agree it’s critical that we get primary assessment right, with tests fit for purpose, because mastering the basics in primary school is vital to the future success of young people.

But in terms of evaluating school performance, the primary school floor standard has 2 parts: attainment and, crucially, progress. We are increasing the emphasis on the progress pupils make, because it’s a fairer way of evaluating school performance, particularly for those schools making great progress for pupils from a low starting point.

Although one part of the floor standard is more challenging this year, with the new expected standard, we are really clear that schools will be judged on their pupils’ progress as well as their attainment.

As you know, if a school meets the progress standard it is above the floor altogether. We have made sure all who hold schools accountable are aware of this too, and we will continue to do so.

Historically, the floor standard has identified only a small proportion of schools every year which are below that standard – and this year I can reassure you that no more than 1% more schools will be below the floor standard than last year.

To get primary assessment right we have to make sure teachers have the time and resources to prepare, so we appreciate that we have to make primary assessment run more smoothly, with as much support as possible.

But I don’t accept the claim from some outside this hall, that the higher expectations embodied in the new national curriculum are somehow ‘inappropriate’. Virtually all children have the potential to become properly literate and numerate and I am unwilling, as I know you are, to settle for anything less.

In countries like Korea and Singapore, the proportion of functionally literate and numerate pupils aged 15 is over 90%, according to the 2012 PISA survey. In Ireland the proportion of functionally literate pupils aged 15 is more than 90% too, but in England it’s only 82%, and only 77% are functionally numerate.

According to the materials used by PISA, this means that one year prior to leaving school, just under a fifth of our pupils cannot read and understand the moral behind one of Aesop’s fables. And more than a fifth are unable to work out how many people on average climb a mountain each day, when given the annual figure – while more than 90% of their peers in Korea and Singapore can do so.

‘Will more rigorous tests at key stage 2 actually address this gap?’ you might ask. My answer is yes. These new key stage 2 assessments give a better picture of whether a pupil has the reading and mathematical ability, to prosper at secondary school. Because literacy and numeracy are not just 2 subjects among many, they are the foundation on which all other subjects rest.

And to those who say we should let our children be creative, imaginative, and happy – of course I agree, both as a parent and as the Education Secretary. But I would ask them this – how creative can a child be if they struggle to understand the words on the page in front of them – they certainly can’t enjoy them? What are the limits placed on a child’s imagination, when they cannot write down their ideas for others to read?

That is why the campaign being led by some of those who do not think we should set high expectations, who want to ‘keep their children home for a day’ next week, is so damaging.

Keeping children home – even for a day – is harmful to their education and I think it undermines how hard you as heads are working. I urge those running these campaigns to reconsider their actions.

The case for every school as an academy

I realise some of you have concerns about our plan for every school in England to become an academy, so I want to take this opportunity to explain why I believe it’s the right step for our education system.

The autonomy academy status brings means putting power into the hands of school leaders, because we improve outcomes for young people by ensuring the teachers who teach them, and the heads who lead their schools, are given the freedom to make the right decisions in the interests of those children.

The status alone doesn’t raise standards, it’s the framework of collaboration and support it provides that does. Far from creating a system of survival of the fittest, we want to build the scaffolding that will make it easier for swift action to be taken to support struggling schools with a range of solutions, facilitating excellent leaders to have a positive impact where they are needed most.

Academies make it easier to spread the reach of the best leaders over several schools; recruit, train, develop and deploy better teachers, incentivising them to stay in the profession through new career opportunities; and ensure teachers can share best practice on what works in the classroom.

On current projections, around three-quarters of secondary and a third of primary schools would convert to academy status by 2020. Before the white paper was published I was constantly being asked, at events like this one, whether this government wanted all schools to become academies. So I wanted to give you all a clear sense of direction and a 6-year time frame, so that all schools including those who had not yet considered academy status, can make the right choices, planning effectively for a sustainable future in the model – standalone or multi-academy trust – that works for them, keeping in place local arrangements that work and looking at new arrangements aimed at driving up standards.

We believe that most schools will choose to work in local clusters, which will enable you, our most effective leaders, and your best teachers to extend your reach locally, in order to support one other to succeed, as many do already.

Rowanfield Junior School, which I visited just 2 days ago, is a great example of how local schools can group together. A single converter academy, Rowanfield has expanded to form a MAT cluster in the Cheltenham community. Through this partnership it extends professional development, career opportunities and provides school to school support. Children benefit as teachers develop best practice and model excellence to develop the skills of colleagues within the trust.

Most multi-academy trusts are small and 80% are entirely based in a single local authority area – because collaboration works well. But I should be absolutely clear that there is a place for successful, sustainable, standalone academies.

For local authorities we envision a new role, continuing to provide special educational needs services and acting as champions for SEND young people, making sure every child has a school place, and offering excellent local services, which academies can continue to purchase – as many do now.

I know there are concerns about the costs of this policy but it is fully funded, and we have set aside more than £500 million to build capacity in the system, including the development of strong local trusts, so that no school will be left behind.

And as I know this is a particular concern for some members here, I want to be clear that no good rural school will close as a result of this policy.

‘Educational excellence everywhere’ white paper

But actually, despite what you might see in the media, or hear from the opposition, every school gaining academy status is only one chapter of a much bigger story told in the ‘Educational excellence everywhere’ white paper. In fact, much of it addresses issues raised by the teaching profession itself.

Our white paper is about great leaders, great teachers, intelligent accountability, fair funding and targeted support in challenging parts of the country – it’s about building the framework of school-led working and collaboration that will allow all schools to succeed.

We know that NAHT believes in the impact collaboration can have. The Aspire project demonstrates the potential of what can be achieved when schools work together to share expertise and drive up standards, and as we move towards a more school-led system that collaboration will soon be commonplace across the country.

Great leaders

We know that the leaders in our education system have an enormous impact on educational outcomes, with effective leadership shown to raise achievement, in some cases by the equivalent of many months of learning in a single school year.

So we need to make sure there is a healthy pipeline of leaders, and schools will take the lead on this. And through the new Foundation for Leadership, led by NAHT, ASCL and the NGA, we will be working with the best leaders and other experts, to develop a new suite of voluntary national professional qualifications for every level of leadership.

Through our new Excellence in Leadership fund we will encourage the best providers and multi-academy trusts to look at innovative ways of developing leadership in system cold spots, and through the new National Teaching Service we will put the very best leaders and teachers into the schools where they are needed most.

We envisage a dynamic new approach to collaborative system leadership with up to 300 more teaching schools and 800 more national leaders in education, targeted so that no part of the country misses out. And with new achieving excellence areas we will focus intensively on driving up standards where they have been too low for too long.

We want to ensure that accountability does not discourage excellent leaders from working in the most challenging areas, so as I’ve already said we are putting more emphasis on progress in accountability, which is fairer to schools with lower attaining intakes.

And we are introducing improvement periods, during which schools won’t be inspected, where a new headteacher is brought into a challenging school, so they can be given enough time to turn a school around before being judged by Ofsted.

And we’re doing it because you told us that you had concerns about taking the leap to schools in challenging circumstances, without sufficient time to make your mark and the potential career implications.

Excellent teachers

The white paper outlines our plans to get excellent teachers into the profession, recognise their proficiency in the classroom, and deploy them where they are needed most.

You have made it clear that recruitment is a challenge, so we have taken steps to help, like putting in place bursaries and prestigious scholarships for the subjects most difficult to recruit for.

But now we must go further, so we will reform the National College for Teaching and Leadership to plan and execute targeted incentive programmes, teacher recruitment campaigns, and opportunities that will attract the best graduates and entice back those who have left the profession.

We are continuing to drive up quality in initial teacher training, giving schools a greater role in selecting and training great teachers, and ensuring that there continues to be a clear role for high-quality universities, recognising the strengths they can bring to teacher education.

Crucially, we are replacing the arrangements for awarding qualified teacher status with a stronger accreditation that recognises consistently high standards of practice in the classroom. It is vital that school leaders and parents have confidence in the quality of teachers so the new accreditation will only be given to those demonstrating real proficiency in the classroom.

And we want the people best placed – leaders like you – to decide what good teaching looks like, and when a teacher should be accredited. And we want you to have the freedom to bring in subject experts who can have a positive impact on the lives of young people, developing and supporting them so they too can achieve accreditation.

Workload review reports

This government wants to make the school-led system a reality and we need your input to do that, as we develop the policies outlined in the white paper, so we will continue engaging with the teaching profession, as we do on things like workload.

The teacher workload reviews carried out by 3 outstanding school leaders – one of whom, Dawn Copping, is here today – with input from teachers and unions – including the NAHT’s very own Kathy James. The reviews were launched because of the concerns you highlighted.

I am committed to rising to the challenges set for the government and I hope you will consider the impact the recommendations have on the way you work, because reducing workload is not about one single policy from Whitehall, it’s about us in government, you in schools and Ofsted delivering on the report’s recommendations.

As I said at the beginning of this speech, for everything on which we disagree, we continue to be united in our desire to do better, be better and achieve more for children and young people in this country.

So let me say thank you once again, for everything you do already to bring about excellence in our system, let me reassure you that my door is always open and I always want to hear your views on how together we can achieve educational excellence everywhere.

Thank you.

Below is the text of the speech made by Nicky Morgan, the Secretary of State for Education, at the ExCel Centre in London on 20 April 2016.

Thank you, Tom [Clark, Chair of Freedom and Autonomy for Schools – National Association (FASNA)], for that introduction.

It’s such a pleasure to be here with you today. I know my colleague, Lord Nash, has been a regular visitor to the show. It is with thanks to the incredible teaching profession that we now have 1.4 million more children in ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ schools. And you are the vanguard, leading the way and showing just what can be done with the autonomy offered by the academies programme. You have seized the opportunities to lead school improvement from the front, offering a world-class education and a bright future to more young people than ever before.

Why academies?

But I know that academy status doesn’t raise standards as a matter of course. What I believe is that academy status means that you have the vehicle by which we can achieve higher standards and that you – the excellent leaders in the system – are the drivers, using it to propel schools to success.

Academy status puts the power in your hands to innovate and try new things to get great results, you put in place local solutions and you can make long-term plans based on the needs of the children in your communities. This is a crucial rejection of the outdated, one-size-fits-all approach of the past, freeing your schools from the diktats of local and national governments.

Academies make it easier for you to recruit, train, develop and deploy better teachers and leaders in your schools and trusts; they allow you to recognise the expertise of any person who can have a positive impact for young people; pay them what you think they’re worth; and give them a clear path to career progression that will keep them engaged rather than looking for opportunities elsewhere.

We know there are lots of models for operating academies but we think many will choose – as many of you have already – to work in local clusters, supporting each other to succeed. But let me be absolutely clear that there is a place for successful and sustainable stand-alone academies and we will never put pressure on them to subscribe to a different model.

Right now 66% of secondary schools and 19% of primary schools are already enjoying the freedoms that come with academy status but there are schools, teachers and pupils that have been denied those freedoms and their associated opportunities for far too long.

New role for local authorities

So yes, we will ensure that – by 2022 – all schools become part of the dynamic academies system. The fact is that even if we didn’t, three-quarters of secondary and a third of primary schools would have converted to academy status by 2022 anyway.

That trajectory makes it impossible for local authorities to manage expensive bureaucracies with fewer and fewer schools. Resources are better focused in the classroom than on servicing inefficient bureaucratic structures. LAs themselves have expressed concerns about the sustainability of the situation and those concerns have been echoed by schools.

And yes, ‘good’ maintained schools will need to become academies too. So they can become sponsors and support those schools which are not meeting the high standards pupils need. But also because we do believe the freedoms that come with academy status will allow those ‘good’ schools to improve even further and achieve even more for their pupils.

We have deliberately given schools plenty of time – 6 years – to plan their transition so that they are in a position to make well thought out decisions in the best interests of their students and their local communities.

Many academies already work closely with their local authorities and we see no reason why that should change. LAs will continue to offer services which schools can pick and choose to purchase; they will continue to provide services for children with special educational needs; and they will continue to have a duty to provide school places for all children.

We believe this change in LAs’ relationship to schools will give them the opportunity to truly fulfil their role as advocates for parents and pupils. They will cease to be central service providers and will instead become champions of those in our schools.

Intervention

Many of the critical voices of our vision point to the fact that we have seen some academies fail. But that doesn’t take account of the swift intervention offered by the academy route – which will now become the norm – and the range of solutions which will be offered to schools in difficulties.

We have already shown that we can respond quickly in the few instances where academies do underperform. We have issued 154 formal notices to underperforming academies and free schools, changing their leadership in 129 cases. And the powers introduced by the Education and Adoption Act – recently passed by Parliament – mean we can do that more quickly, ensuring that schools cannot continue to fail or coast – putting the future success of young people at risk.

We want you to seize the opportunities, in a new system of supported autonomy, to re-mould schools that aren’t working in the image of the successful schools you are already leading.

Too many children are still denied the access to excellent education that I believe should be their birth right. It is a matter of social justice for every child to have access to a good education, regardless of their background. But we know – and the white paper showed – that in some parts of the country that just isn’t happening. And as I have made clear the “everywhere” in educational excellence everywhere is, for me, non-negotiable. So we need to make sure that what is already happening in the best of our schools spreads to the rest of our schools.

I know from my conversations with teachers up and down the country that you go into teaching because you want to have a positive impact on the lives of young people. We want you to be able to do that for as many of them as possible, particularly in those areas currently lagging behind. The young people in areas of particular challenge need you to build capacity in the system. Without it they won’t be able to access the type of education that can deliver them bright futures. For our part we will do all we can to remove the barriers that might otherwise discourage you from rising to those challenges.

Our white paper

The proposals put forward in our ‘Educational excellence everywhere’ white paper concentrate on building the framework that will allow you to succeed. If academies are the vehicle for success then I want you, as the drivers, to get in the driving seat safe in the knowledge that you are supported throughout the journey.

The white paper outlines our plans to put more power into the hands of the best leaders; expand teaching schools and NLEs and target their reach so no areas will be without access; ensure teaching schools co-ordinate and define high-quality ITT and CPD, as well as acting as brokerage hubs to facilitate school-to-school support; put in place a new fairer funding formula and target funding so the best leaders can build capacity for support; and create a growth fund for multi-academy trusts as well as an excellence in leadership fund to develop innovative new leadership ideas for challenged areas.

We are going to incentivise work in challenging areas by offering inspection holidays to give you enough time to truly make your mark on schools, and through accountability that focuses on progress – rather than simply attainment – as a measure of success; create achieving excellence areas so the schools in the most need can get better access to excellent teachers and leaders; and crucially we will create a national teaching service so we can recruit and retain the best teachers where they are needed most.

Far from being about academy status alone, our white paper is about nurturing great teachers, developing great leaders, tackling underperformance, targeting intervention, resourcing that’s fair and accountability that’s intelligent. Taken as a whole it represents a new era for the education system, one with opportunities and incentives for you to spread your reach so we really can realise excellence in every part of the country and in every school.

In closing let me take this opportunity to say: thank you – for everything you are already doing to change the lives of young people. And let me urge you to seize the opportunities in the new era of education outlined by our white paper. Let me encourage you to use your incredible expertise to ‘inspire success and excellence’ in every part of the system. Let me say as your Secretary of State, how honoured I feel to see you telling the story of your own success.

With you, the professionals, rightly at the helm of the education system I know we will make educational excellence everywhere a reality.

Thank you.

Below is the text of the speech made by Nicky Morgan, the Secretary of State for Education, on The Fashion Retail Academy in London on 29 March 2016.

Thank you, June [Sarpong, Britain Stronger in Europe Board Member] and Amber [Atherton, founder of My Flash Trash], for that kind introduction.

It’s a pleasure to be here today and thank you to the Fashion Retail Academy for hosting us.

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of visiting the academy with Sir Philip Green. Founded and led by giants of fashion and retail, the college is a great example of our vision for employers to play a key role in designing courses that give young people the skills they really need, and those that will help them succeed in the workplace.

Two weeks ago, I published an education white paper – ‘Educational excellence everywhere’ – setting out our plans for how we would continue the work to reform and improve our schools over the course of this Parliament.

From improving how teachers are trained, to tackling educational cold spots, to giving all schools the freedoms that come with academy status, our white paper was about making sure that the next generation are receiving the sort of high-quality education they need to succeed in adult life. To make sure they leave school able to compete, not just against their peers in the UK, but from across the world, in what is an increasingly globalised labour market.

And to do that we have to make sure that young people are able to engage with the world as global citizens, that they know about the world beyond our country’s borders. It’s also about ensuring that we give young people the opportunities that allow them to make the most of their education and the chance to realise their talents.

I passionately believe that our membership of the European Union supports all of those things.

It does so by not only making our country more prosperous, but also by offering young people opportunities, right across the continent, opportunities which leaving the EU would certainly put at risk.

It’s those opportunities and risks for young people that I want to talk about today.

In doing so, I also want to send out the message to young people, loud and clear, that this is a decision which, whatever way it is ultimately decided, will shape the rest of their lives.

My message to them is to make sure that they make their voice heard in that debate, and not to have the decision made for them by other people.

After all, the whole reason that this referendum is taking place is because David Cameron made a commitment to the British people to let them decide.

So it won’t be a decision taken by politicians in Westminster, it will be a decision taken by every single adult British citizen who chooses to take part, and that must include young adults.

Because it is young people who arguably have the most at stake.

Brexit risks a lost generation

One of the reasons that the Great Recession was so damaging was that it hit young people the hardest. Youth unemployment soared, entry level jobs were cut and graduate opportunities were closed off.

I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say that we risked seeing a lost generation in this country.

In fact you only have to look at Greece, Spain or Portugal, to see how easily that could have been the case, with scores of young people unable to fulfil their potential and display their talents because of economic turmoil.

That’s the simple reason why tackling youth employment and making sure young people have the education and skills to get a job has been at the heart of our long term economic plan.

It’s why we made the difficult decisions which were necessary to rebuild a strong economy, so we could offer the promise of a better future to the next generation.

Undeniably, there is still work to be done, but the outlook for young people entering adulthood in 2016 is a far cry from where it was in 2010.

There are now a third of a million fewer 16- to 24-year-olds unemployed with a 25% drop in the rate of young people who are not in education, training or employment and the lowest number of 16-to-18 NEETs on record.

This year graduate recruiters are expecting 8% more vacancies – a 10-year high.

It’s thanks to the growing economy that we are making good progress on delivering our pledge of 3 million apprenticeships, with a significant recent rise in the number of 16-to-19 apprentices.

That doesn’t leave us any room for complacency, but things are significantly brighter for a young person leaving school today than they were 5 years ago.

A vote to leave the European Union would put all of that progress, and young people’s future prospects at risk.

CBI analysis has shown that a vote to leave could cost 950,000 jobs, leaving the unemployment rate between 2 and 3% higher; a report from the LSE last week showed that the average household is likely to see a fall in income of between £850 and £1,700 and new research out today from Adzuna shows that firms are already cutting back on advertising jobs because of their fear of a Brexit.

And we know it’s young people who will face the brunt of the damage a vote to leave would bring.

Because the Great Recession demonstrated the stark reality that when we experience economic shocks, the likes of which we could suffer if we leave the EU, it’s young people who suffer. As we saw in that recession, the largest increases in the rate of unemployment were among these young people.

That shouldn’t be a surprise – when the economy struggles and firms stop hiring, it’s those at entry level who they stop recruiting for first.

Even those jobs that are advertised receive many more applicants from higher skilled, older workers and second earners, meaning young people, looking for their first big break, are crowded out.

I know of one student who was told his graduate offer was at risk if the UK didn’t stay in Europe, as that firm was considering moving jobs elsewhere. He certainly isn’t alone.

It’s clear, that if Britain leaves Europe it will be young people who suffer the most, left in limbo while we struggle to find and then negotiate an alternative mode. In doing so we risk that lost generation becoming a reality. And everyone who casts their vote must understand that.

If parents and grandparents vote to leave, they’ll be voting to gamble with their children and grandchildren’s future.

At a time when people are rightly concerned about inter-generational fairness, the most unfair decision that the older generation could make would be to take Britain out of Europe and damage the ability of young people to get on in life.

The opportunities for young people

But it’s not just the risks of leaving that mean young people should vote for us to remain.

The opportunities afforded by the ability to work, study and travel in Europe are particularly important and exciting to young people as they plan their adult lives.

Taking them in turn:

The EU offers young people the opportunity to work anywhere within its borders.

So they can start a career as an engineer for Volkswagen in Wolfsburg in Germany, or spend a year as an English language teacher in Nice or as we’re here at the British Fashion Retail Academy, take the opportunity to work in the fashion capitals of Paris, Milan and Barcelona.

And young people can do this all without the hassle and risk of employment visas and time limits – free to stay for as long as they want and travel back to Britain when they want.

In fact, estimates suggest that there are more than 1.2 million British citizens taking advantage of freedom of movement and living in Europe – over 180,000 in France, over 250,000 in Ireland and almost 310,000 in Spain. I myself spent time working in Amsterdam and that experience of working abroad was invaluable, giving me new experiences and broadening my horizons.

Young people also benefit from the fact that people come from the EU to work in the UK as well.

To take just one example, relevant to my own department, we currently have over 1,000 language assistants from the EU teaching in British schools. That means hundreds of thousands of pupils are having the opportunities to have their study of French, German and Spanish supported by native speakers.

Which leads me on to the opportunities that the EU offers young people to study in Europe.

Being in the EU means young people have the chance to study at any of the thousands of European Universities. They have the flexibility to do so for either part of their studies, for a summer language course or for their entire degree.

In fact in 2013 there were over 20,000 British students studying in the European Union.

That is no surprise given that language skills and international experience is regularly cited by employers as a key competency they look for in job applications.

And students from other EU countries who choose to study here generate around £2.27 billion for the UK economy, supporting around 19,000 jobs.

Then there are the opportunities to travel.

For many young people travelling around the continent is a rite of passage before they settle down into adult life.

Whether it’s inter-railing, backpacking or city hopping.

Being in the EU makes it easier and safer to travel around the countries of Europe.

Young people traveling in Europe don’t have to worry about a myriad of visas and entry requirements and they don’t have to worry about the cost of falling ill because the European Health Insurance Card means they’ll be treated for free or at a reduced cost no matter which country they are in, with students covered for the duration of their course or foreign assignment.

And perhaps most importantly for young people traveling on tight budgets, our EU membership makes it much cheaper to travel as well.

The cost of flights is down by 40% thanks to EU action and the cost of using a mobile phone in Europe down by almost three-quarters, with roaming charges due to be scrapped completely in the next year. Meaning there’s no excuse not to make that call home!

Britain as a nation

But I know for many young people, the main reason that they want Britain to remain in a reformed Europe, is about more than simply weighing up the risks of leaving and the benefits of staying.

The fundamental reason why many young people think it’s important that we stay in the EU is because of what our membership of that block of 28 nations, says about our country and our place in the world.

They want Britain to be an outward looking country that engages with the world, they want us to choose internationalism over isolation.

This is the generation of Instagram, Easy Jet and Ebay.

They don’t want to see a Britain cut off from the world, where not only their opportunities, but our influence as a country, ends at our shores.

These young people have grown up in a world where international cooperation, economic growth, technological advancements and social media, have seen barriers being torn down across the world.

They want that to continue, for their lives to become ever more open, not for us to put up walls and go the other way.

They’ve grown up in a Europe which hasn’t seen war or conflict within its borders in over 70 years, which they know is in no small part a product of multinational cooperation. And they’ve seen first-hand how the EU is able to face down emerging threats, like Russian aggression.

Young people want to see the UK working internationally to tackle the big problems and issues that they care about because they want to make their world a better place.

Whether it’s sexual and gender equality, tackling poverty or protecting the environment and tackling climate change, the young people like those I often speak to at Loughborough University in my constituency, want to see the UK leading the fight against these global ills, and they know that our voice and impact are magnified by playing a leading role through the EU as part of a group of 28 nations.

The EU provides development assistance to 150 countries and is the largest aid donor in the world. We exercise considerable influence to ensure that aid is maximised, and it’s thanks to our lobbying that the vast majority of that aid goes directly to low-income countries.

As Minister for Women and Equalities, I’ve witnessed first-hand the important work that the EU does, driven by the UK’s leadership, in tackling issues such as FGM, human trafficking and forced marriage, which blight the lives of women across the globe.

And I’ve seen the impact that EU funding has in supporting projects which make a real difference to women’s lives.

Projects ranging from giving counselling and support to women accused of witchcraft and excluded from their communities in Burkina Faso, to providing training to 2,000 former female soldiers in Indonesia to help them find new employment.

And it’s thanks to our influence that the EU development agency has become much more focused on the rights of women and girls, leading to the EU Council declaring in December that gender equality in development is now an EU priority.

At the same time as we seek to secure global equality for LGBT people, the fact that there is an EU wide commitment to eliminating discriminatory laws and policies against LGBT people makes a profound difference – and in particular the fact that the EU has made ending the death penalty for same-sex relationships a key priority in terms of its diplomatic efforts.

On these issues, issues which young people don’t just care about, but expect us to be making a difference on, our role in Europe allows us to achieve real change and improve the lives of vulnerable people and groups around the world.

In short being in the EU allows us to exercise even more clout on the world stage, while at the same time allowing us to keep our distinct national identity.

That’s what most young people want to see, they are rightly proud of our culture, heritage and everything that makes us British. But they want us to be a nation confident enough to realise that working through international organisations doesn’t mean we have to compromise on any of that.

So my view is that our membership of the European Union not only offers young people significant opportunities, it also ensures we’re the type of engaged and outward-facing nation that those young people want to live in.

And as I started this speech by saying, I want young people to make sure their voices are heard in this debate – whichever side of the debate they might be on – otherwise they risk having the decision made by other people, their future decided for them, not by them.

As political scientist Larry Sabato rightly says: “Elections are decided by the people who turn up.”

And the evidence from elections and referendums in the past is that young people are the least likely to do that – estimates suggest that 18- to 24-year-olds were almost half as likely to have voted in the 2015 election compared to over 65s.

So firstly I’d ask young people to make sure they’re registered to vote, and to register by the 18th of April so that they can vote in the local, mayoral and police and crime commissioner elections that are taking place across the country as well, but at the very latest by the week of the 6th of June. It takes no more than 5 minutes and can be done online.

Secondly, on June 23rd I hope young people make sure they have their say on the future of their country, to make the decision about the type of country they want to spend their adult life living in, by casting their vote.

Thirdly, to those young people, I want say this – don’t think you have to keep your opinion on the EU debate to yourself. Go out and make the case to others and in particular your older friends and relatives. Make sure they know what the vote means for you.

In the Irish gay marriage referendum, young people made a real difference to the outcome, not just through their own vote, but by calling their parents and grandparents to tell them why it was so important to vote in favour. And I’d encourage young people here in the UK to do the same – tell your grandparents why you want Britain to remain in the EU and why they should vote to do the same.

And finally to those of you like me, who even on a generous interpretation, no longer fall into the ‘young person’ category.

I’d simply ask this – when you cast your vote, remember that you’re making a decision on the future of this country and shaping our country for generations to come.

I’d ask you to think about the impact of that vote, not just on your lives, but on that of your children and grandchildren.

I’d ask you to ask yourselves – what the impact of that leap into the dark will mean for them and others in the next generation.

I want to spend the next few years making sure that we build on the opportunities now available to young people, not trying to repair the damage that a vote to leave would do to them.

I want us to use our position in a reformed Europe, to demand more for the next generation and I want that generation to grow up in a nation comfortable enough with its own identity to work with others and lead on the international stage.

That’s why I’ll be voting to remain and why I’d urge all of you to do the same.

Thank you.

Below is the text of the speech made by Nicky Morgan, the Secretary of State for Education, to the NASUWT Conference in Birmingham on 26 March 2016.

Thank you, Kathy [Kathy Wallis, NASUWT National President] for that introduction.

And thank you for inviting me here today. I know there are those who have expressed surprise – astonishment even – that I would ‘brave’ coming to this conference.

Well, let me be absolutely clear I will engage with any audience, with anyone who wants to participate in the conversation on how we make England’s education system the best system it possibly can be. That’s why I regularly hold Teacher Direct sessions across the country so that teachers can ask me questions and I can hear their views.

That’s my job as Education Secretary. It’s about listening to teachers, parents, anyone who has a role in our educations system and – based on those judgements – making decisions about what is best for young people. Unsurprisingly that’s what I want to talk about today.

Shared goals

I know there are things on which we disagree. And I will address some of them today but first I’d like to talk about those areas on which I think we do agree and about the significant progress we are making together.

I hope we agree that the education system can and should be a motor to drive social justice, helping to build a fairer society, where people are rewarded on the basis of their talents and the efforts they put in.

I hope we also agree that it can and should extend opportunity and serve to improve the life chances of every single young person in this country – no matter where they are, what their background is, or who their parents are.

I know we agree that we should strengthen the teaching profession by supporting it to become vibrantly diverse.

And we agree that the system should do all that while still valuing the amazing workforce we are so fortunate to have in this country.

None of us can – or should want to – deny that the education system is in much better shape than it was 5 years ago.

The evidence speaks for itself – compared with 2012 we now have 120,000 more 6-year-olds on track to become confident readers; we have 29,000 more 11-year-olds entering secondary school able to read, write and add up properly; and compared with 2010 we have 1.4 million more children in ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ schools.

And without you and your phenomenal efforts on behalf of the young people you care so passionately about, none of that would have been possible so let me say – thank you.

Focusing on what matters

We all know that the decisions made in government can make it easier or harder for you to do your job. And I’m not afraid to hold my hands up and say that sometimes we get it wrong. One area that governments of all stripes haven’t done enough to tackle is teacher workload.

As I said in my very first speech as Education Secretary to my party’s conference:

I don’t want my child to be taught by someone too tired, too stressed and too anxious to do the job well.

I don’t want any child to have to settle for that.

That’s why I launched the workload challenge, which received over 44,000 responses from the teaching profession on how we could cut down on their workload.

Off the back of that challenge we outlined a set of principles and a new workload protocol to ensure we gave schools and teachers a longer lead time before making significant changes to the curriculum, accountability or assessment and Ofsted committed to doing the same.

Ofsted have also issued a myth buster on inspections and we cut more than 21,000 pages of guidance to streamline the process.

Today, I am going further and publishing the results of the 3 workload review groups on marking, planning and data collection .

These groups were led by 3 outstanding female head teachers Lauren Costello, Kathryn Greenhalgh and Dawn Copping. The groups included representation from classroom teachers and union representatives – they are a great example of the profession taking charge of their own development. Thank you to all involved.

All 3 issues: marking, planning and data collection are important – no vital – to pupil outcomes. But too often they have become an end in of themselves detached from pupils. Green ink is added to school books because teachers think that’s what Ofsted wants to see, lesson plans are reinvented every year because school leaders think that’s what they should ask for and schools find themselves collecting ever more data, and even more frustratingly, sometimes the same data in different formats for different people.

The panels have come up with some clear recommendations for government, which I am now studying and looking at how to take forward. But importantly they also have clear recommendations for the profession as well – because as I’m sure you know, tackling workload requires much more than change from government, but culture change on the ground as well.

This isn’t the end of the process. We’re continuing to make decisions that will make your lives easier and clear the way for you to focus on teaching.

The proposals for Ofsted reform outlined in the white paper are designed to make sure you are not beholden to certain styles or methods of teaching. Removing the quality of teaching judgement means there will be less scrutiny on methods, and instead a focus on outcomes and pupil achievement.

Protecting Teachers

At the same time, I want to be absolutely clear, that no teacher should ever have to work in fear of violence or harassment, either in school, outside of school, or online.

Like the rest of the country, I was horrified last year to read of the case of Vincent Uzomah, the teacher attacked in his own school.

And I was appalled to read in January about the case of teaching assistant Lesley-Ann Noel, knocked unconscious by a parent for doing her job.

And I was disgusted when I read some of NASUWT’s research which shows the extent to which teachers are being trolled and abused on social media platforms. What is even more shocking is that this abuse doesn’t just come from pupils it can come from their parents as well.

It is unacceptable that this should happen to teachers.

Teachers are the pinnacle of the community, they are charged with the greatest of responsibilities, moulding the next generation, and that means we owe it to you to treat you with the greatest of respect.

Yes, I absolutely want parents to be involved in their children’s education and if they’re unhappy I want them to be able to demand more of schools. But if their actions spill over into abuse or violence, they should expect to be dealt with severely. Because there is never an excuse to threaten, harass or attack a teacher.

Your research suggests that these incidents are on the rise, and so I have asked my officials to start work on what more can be done to ensure we protect teachers, particularly online, and they will be using your research and engaging closely with the NASUWT and the police on how to do that.

Our reforms

Academisation

Let me turn to the wider reforms in the white paper, because every single one of those reforms are about what we can do to create better environments for teaching and for teachers.

And yes, I’m talking about every school becoming an academy.

I know NASUWT has voiced concerns about the academies programme right from the outset but let’s be clear that this is about creating a system that is school-led; one that puts trust in you – the professionals inside the system, giving you the freedom from government to do your jobs as you see fit, based on the evidence of what you know works.

It isn’t for me, or officials in Whitehall, or Ofsted to decide how best to teach or run schools – it’s for you: the teachers who know better than anyone what works in the classroom and what your pupils need.

Alongside all of the other reforms outlined in the white paper the autonomy that academy status brings is ultimately about giving you the opportunity to step up and make the decisions that will shape the future of schools.

Considering a lot of the press coverage of our Educational Excellence Everywhere white paper you could be forgiven for thinking that full academisation is the only thing it says.

But schools becoming academies is only one chapter of a much bigger story told in the white paper about how we create the infrastructure that allows a self-improving school-led system to flourish: what role government should play in that system, when we should offer you support and when we should get out of the way.

Because as we make clear in the white paper, autonomy is not the same as abdication, for that school-led system to succeed we need to make sure you have access to the best training, the broadest support and a fair share of resources that will allow you to do your jobs to the best of your abilities.

Initial teacher training

So let me start with training.

In the white paper we outline how we want to strengthen initial teacher training (ITT).

What we want to see is more rigorous ITT content with a greater focus on evidence based practice and subject knowledge.

So we have set up an independent working group chaired by Stephen Munday, a school leader with a proven track record, to develop a new ITT core content framework.

To guarantee quality we will create new quality criteria for providers and allocate training places on the basis of those criteria.

And so that the best providers can plan ahead with a greater degree of certainty we will explore ways to allocate training places for several years so we can move away from the short-term allocations system of the past.

Schools know what schools need so we are clear that the ITT system should be increasingly school-led if it is to genuinely prepare trainee teachers for the careers ahead of them and ensure that the education system is able to recruit great teachers in every part of the country. Particularly where they are needed most.

There is evidence, from the recently published ‘Good Teacher Guide’, that the move to a school-led system has been positive, with high-quality training available and a high conversion rate of trainees.

Qualified teacher status

Beyond ITT the white paper outlines how we intend to replace qualified teacher status (QTS) with a much stronger, more meaningful accreditation.

Our plan is to hand control of that accreditation to great schools and heads – creating a more robust system; that commands the confidence of parents and school teachers.

This reform to teacher accreditation will, I am sure, raise the status of teaching; allowing it to mature as a profession, gain control of its own destiny and take its rightful place alongside other great professions like law and medicine.

Continuing professional development

Like all professionals teachers need continuing professional development (CPD) which allows them to grow in their roles and adapt to meet the new challenges their jobs present them all the time.

We know that schools find it difficult to identify meaningful CPD opportunities which represent good value for money. I’m sure many of you have experiences of unproductive INSET days you could share with me.

So the white paper is clear that we will do more to support the provision of high-quality CPD by creating a new ‘Standard for Teachers’ Professional Development’.

We don’t want to author the standard ourselves. I’m sure the idea of CPD designed by the Department for Education fills you with dread, so we have set up an independent group of experts comprising classroom teachers, school leaders and academics to do it.

The standard they are developing, based on a robust assessment of the evidence, will represent a new benchmark for teachers’ professional development.

College of Teaching

And our white paper commits us to supporting the establishment of an independent College of Teaching.

The new College of Teaching will be a professional body like those in other high status professions like law and medicine. It will be a voluntary membership organisation, independent of government, run by teachers for teachers.

The College will lead the profession in taking responsibility for its own improvement, supporting its members’ development and – much like the medical colleges – promoting the use of evidence to improve professional practice.

It will be the embodiment of the school-led system we envisage for England.

National funding formula

Finally, the white paper outlines our plan for a new national funding formula for schools. We want to put an end to the antiquated system of school funding which saw so many young people miss out on resources because of an unfair postcode lottery.

So we are delivering on our commitment to put in a place a fairer formula for schools, and for allocating high needs funding to LAs for both special needs and alternative provision. We believe that this is central to achieving educational excellence everywhere.

Because it must be right that the same child, with the same costs and same characteristics attracts the same funding. That is just basic fairness.

The formula itself will contain a significant weighting of disadvantage funding, but on top of that, we are also committed to the pupil premium so that pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds can get the extra resources they need and we want schools to use evidence to advance its effectiveness.

Thanks to the additional funding that the government announced last week our aim is to move 90% of schools due to gain onto this new formula by the end of this Parliament, so that schools aren’t kept waiting for the funding they deserve.

Fundamentally our white paper is there to outline our vision about how we improve the education system in this country.

And while I welcome challenge, I welcome debate, feedback and discussion, and I’ve already received lots of it on the white paper, I want to be clear there will be no pulling back from that vision, there is no reverse gear when it comes to our education reforms. Because we were elected with a mandate to drive up standards, and with your help that’s exactly what we want to do.

Representatives of the profession

As I said earlier, we have a shared goal: creating a system that helps all young people to succeed and at the same time values excellent teachers.

Whatever my disagreements on issues of policy with Chris [Keates – NASUWT General Secretary] and Patrick [Roach – NASUWT Deputy General Secretary] I know that when they step up on behalf of their members they are doing it because they believe they can get a better deal for you – their members. That’s their job and I respect that.

And I hope that you can respect, that my job as Education Secretary is to make sure we get the best deal for young people.

But despite the job NASUWT and other unions do in representing teachers’ interests, I worry that sometimes the rhetoric risks straying into territory where it actually damages the reputation of the profession.

Let me take a case in point.

I visited the NASUWT website recently and found that of the last 20 press releases NASUWT has issued only 3 said anything positive.

Wouldn’t it be helpful if more of your press releases were actually positive about the teaching profession?

Because If I were a young person making decisions about my future career, and I saw some of the language coming out of NASUWT as well as some of the other unions, would I want to become a teacher? If I read about a profession standing on the precipice of crisis would I consider a life in teaching?

No I wouldn’t and it’s no surprise that TES research this week found that a third of teachers think that talk of a recruitment crisis was more likely to make them leave the profession. And ultimately those who talk of a crisis are being misleading. It doesn’t tell the whole story. Like the fact that 70% of vacancies advertised via TES are filled within 4 weeks of advertising.

Yes, recruitment is a challenge and we in government are stepping up, listening to school leaders, putting in place bursaries and schemes to encourage applicants for the subjects they tell us they find it difficult to recruit for.

I know NASUWT want to help – more so than other unions – and they already do good work boosting the teaching profession through the conferences and CPD sessions they run so why then talk it down so much?

Now I need NASUWT to do their bit. In an economy that is growing, with more graduate opportunities than ever before, why aren’t the teaching unions to do everything they can to help? Why aren’t they using the tools available to them to build up teachers, promote the profession and tell the story of what a rewarding job teaching really is?

That would be stepping up. Choosing to be part of the solution to the challenges we face in recruiting new teachers, rather than adding to the problem.

Just as I accept that this government hasn’t always got it right – and I wasn’t shy in saying that earlier – I want the teaching unions to accept that they haven’t always got it right either.

There isn’t another government just around the corner to be frank. I’m yet to hear concrete policy proposals on raising standards from our critics.

So teaching unions have a choice – spend the next 4 years doing battle with us and doing down the profession they represent in the process, or stepping up, seizing the opportunities and promise offered by the white paper and helping us to shape the future of the education system.

Working with you

The education system I see – in the schools I visit up and down the country, at every opportunity – is not in disarray or crisis. Quite the opposite.

It is a system of increasing confidence, innovation and success. When I see professionals like Colin Hegarty, a teacher nominated for the international Varkey Foundation Award for his ground breaking approach to teaching maths; and Luke Sparkes, Principal at Dixons Trinity Academy in Bradford whose focus is on seeking out what pupils don’t know rather than affirming what they do, I know that the teaching profession is fizzing with bright new ideas as well as passionate teachers and leaders who are committed to driving up educational outcomes.

If NASUWT’s leadership were being totally open, they wouldn’t tell you the system is in crisis either.

So let’s resolve to work together so that we can build the education system we agree we all want.

Ultimately it’s the young people up and down this country who will suffer if we don’t. They only get one shot at their time at school and they are counting on us – all of us – to give them the best possible start in life.

We all know how far we have come since 2010. And we have done it together.

Yes, we will continue to hold school leaders to account on behalf of children and parents. And where capacity is lacking, for whatever reason, we will make sure schools can get the support they need to improve. But we believe that educational excellence everywhere can only be achieved when the power rests in your hands.

You know how best to use it.

So I stand before you today to ask you to step up, decide to be a part of the exciting changes happening in the education system and seize all the opportunities that come with it.

Thank you.

Below is the text of the speech made by Nicky Morgan, the Secretary of State for Education, at King’s College School of Mathematics, London on 17 March 2016.

Thank you David [Laws, former Schools Minister].

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you so much for taking the time to be here today.

I’m thrilled we’re launching our vision for education in this white paper here at King’s College Maths School.

It’s a real pleasure to see how the school has progressed since I was last here in 2014 and its success really speaks for itself when more than 70% of students achieve AAB in their A levels.

And it’s no wonder because the approach they take is innovative, inclusive and inspiring. Its head, Dan Abramson, is exactly the kind of leader we need in the education system if we are to make that sort of approach a reality everywhere.

I have to applaud the whole school – students and teachers alike for what they have achieved here in such a short space of time.

Raising our sights

You’ll often hear politicians talking about the future.

In part that’s because we all like to see ourselves as visionaries plotting a path for the nation’s future. Because we want to change our country for the better. And the way to change our country is to have a clear plan for what the future looks like.

The administrations which have been most successful – from Asquith and Lloyd George overseeing the People’s Budget, to Attlee’s formation of the welfare state to Thatcher’s economic reforms – are those which didn’t let themselves get buried in the day-to-day busy-ness that fills up every Minister’s diary and red box; they worked out what was important and focused on the reforms which set our nation up to succeed for tomorrow. And their success is that we take those radical reforms for granted.

But a desire to look and build for the future runs deeper and wider than politics. If the history of human progress is bound by one common thread it is that most human of all instincts – the desire that the next generation should be happier, healthier, wealthier than we are. We want them to benefit from our work and effort, and to be ready to take the next step forward.

The Prime Minister made this point eloquently, in his life chances speech in January. Education is at the heart of this government’s mission – because a good education transforms a child’s future. I’m convinced that no aspect of public policy can be more focused on the future than our education system.

That’s why in a time of austerity, when public spending faces ongoing reductions, the Chancellor chose yesterday to invest more in our education system and put the next generation first. He did that, because he, like me, and like the whole of this government recognises that education is the best investment that we can make in the future of our country.

And we have to make this investment. Because the latest data from OECD showed us that in 2012 our children were no more literate or numerate than their grandparents’ generation. Because in other parts of the world from Germany to Hong Kong, we see our competitors in the global economy, surging ahead, demanding more of their children and reaping the rewards.

And so today’s white paper is about raising our sights – taking pride in the huge steps that schools, teachers and children have made over the last 5 years, but also setting our sights on the future. It is about:

– making the most of the fact that we have the best generation of teachers ever – giving them the same status as other professions such as those in law, medicine and science, and the freedom to drive forward the future of their own profession

– giving every school the freedoms that come with being an academy, and the support to make the most of those freedoms
putting an end to the inequality that means that there are some areas where parents – frankly – have no chance of getting their child into a good school – and making a reality of educational excellence everywhere

– equipping parents with the knowledge and influence to play an active, informed role in their child’s education

– A new model – and a new approach to change

My white paper isn’t just about a new set of ideas about the future – it is also a radical departure from the approaches to education policy of government’s past.

From Butler’s 1944 Act, to Baker’s national curriculum, to Blunkett’s national strategies, major interventions in education have always been top down.

All have seen the state asserting more control and management – right down to the level of individual classrooms.

That approach is understandable. After all, the concept of universal state education to 16 is actually a relatively new one to our country, and standardisation was necessary to guarantee every child received that core entitlement.

But such an approach can only take you so far. As Michael Barber and Joel Klein have said: “You can mandate adequacy but you cannot mandate greatness; it has to be unleashed.”

It is greatness that we want to see everywhere in our education system today.

That desire for greatness has underpinned all of our reforms since 2010 – and it is why we chose to free teachers and school leaders from the shackles of central government diktats, allowing them instead to innovate, challenge orthodoxies and tread new ground.

This is what has made our education reforms so transformational – they are devo-max in the truest sense of the world.

They were founded on the core belief that the future of our education system was best served in the hands of professionals on the frontline, not politicians and bureaucrats in Whitehall or town halls.

This white paper is the next stage on that journey.

It does not propose another big idea to be imposed on schools – instead it lays out how we will give schools, school leaders, and the education profession the power, incentives and accountability to give every child an excellent education. And it sets out the underpinning infrastructure that will equip schools to succeed and build an adaptive, dynamic school system, which rewards innovation, spreads excellence and is intolerant of failure.

The vision you will read in the white paper is the vision for a truly future-facing education system, based on learning from the best systems around the world, and designed not just to deal with the challenges of today but of years to come.

Autonomy not abdication

Reading the white paper should leave you with no doubt that we are strong proponents of school freedom. But let me be clear that giving every school autonomy does not mean the government will be abdicating its responsibilities. I am not so naïve as to believe that academy status in itself is a magic wand.

There is and always will be a role for government in education. The public rightly expects their elected government to hold schools to account for the outcomes young people achieve and the investment tax payers put in.

This white paper outlines a radically different role for government to play – my job is to create the conditions for autonomy to succeed right across the country.

The past 5 years have demonstrated incontrovertibly that autonomy and freedom in the hands of excellent leaders and outstanding teachers delivers excellence. We also know that excellence can be delivered in the most challenging of environments.

Just ask the pupils at Lowedges Junior Academy in Sheffield where 45% of pupils are eligible for free school meals. Aston Community Education Trust, an experienced sponsor with a track record in turning around primary schools became its sponsor in 2014. With the trust’s support the school has managed to bring about a 36% jump in pupils achieving level 4 in reading, writing and maths at key stage 2 from 45% when it took over to 81% now.

And it’s not just a few isolated examples. We have 1.4 million more pupils in ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ schools since 2010 because our reforms, translated into reality on the ground by the hard work of school leaders and teachers, really do work.

But, for all that we have unlocked excellence, as I have said many times before, we do not yet have that excellence everywhere and for me, the everywhere is non-negotiable.

Pockets of excellence are fantastic and act as trailblazers for the system, but their impact will be marginal if we cannot find a way for the rest of the system to learn from their success. Because we’re not asking schools to do any more than the best schools are already doing.

Our country can’t afford a 2-tier education system with London streaking ahead and areas like Knowsley and Medway lagging behind. It’s morally wrong and economically self-defeating.

Instead we have to enable every area to excel. And I do mean enable – we will not be directing and driving from Whitehall. But we will do more to ensure that autonomous leaders across the country have the tools they need to succeed. We know that schools improve fastest when they work together – and we will focus on helping that to happen, through MATs and teaching school alliances. And all the more so in areas that have seen entrenched educational failure for generations.

Dynamism

One of the first acts of the coalition government was to turbo-charge Lord Adonis’ academy programme.

We saw how autonomy gave strong sponsors the freedom and flexibility they needed to turn around failing schools, and we saw no reason why ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ school leaders shouldn’t have that freedom as well.

I’m talking about schools like Harris Academy in Peckham which runs a year round academic Saturday school for key stage 4 and key stage 5 pupils or King Solomon Academy which runs an extended school day for its students or Kings Leadership Academy in Warrington which teaches character through weekly public speaking, philosophy and ethics classes.

We now have well over 5,000 schools as academies, the majority of secondary schools and increasing numbers of primary schools.

Our Education and Adoption Act, which received royal assent yesterday takes that approach a step further, allowing us to turn around not just failing schools but those that have coasted over a period of time and failed to stretch pupils to reach their potential. It also gives us the same powers to intervene in those academies which have, for whatever reason, fallen behind.

And yesterday at the budget the Chancellor announced the next phase of the academies programme, which will see every school on the path to become an academy.

Why have we done this? Because it’s abundantly clear that academy status leads to a more dynamic, more responsive and ultimately higher-performing education system, it allows successful school leaders not just to consolidate success but to spread that excellence right across the country.

I can hear the howls of derision from opponents of academies – asking “what about this one or that one that struggled?”

It’s true some academies have been weaker than others, some haven’t met the high expectations that we’ve set for them. But here’s the crucial difference, when a local authority school failed, it was stuck with the local authority, end of story.

Under a system of academies and multi-academy trusts we have the power not just to intervene swiftly, but to actively move schools to new management to turn them around.

Rather than the perverse situation which persisted before in which schools were islands and stronger heads were unable to spread their reach and influence and weaker schools were left to languish under the monopoly of LA control. We now have a system where the best leaders can take control of those weaker schools, turn them around and in doing so transform the life chances of young people that attend them.

Outstanding sponsors, great heads, successful trusts aren’t constrained by geographical borders; they can extend their reach to wherever they’re needed, wherever they can make a difference.

For that reason, this white paper places a premium on the growth of multi-academy trusts – because they allow for strong governance, sharing of resources, true collaboration and better opportunities for staff development.

There will always be a role for schools which can make it on their own, but we want to see more schools embracing the benefits of partnership that only multi-academy trusts can offer.

And to ensure that the system remains responsive we will allow new entrants to come in where there is basic need, educational need or a demand for innovation.

That is what the free school programme gives us; it allows parents to demand more for their children and for pioneering visionaries to establish schools that bring in cutting edge ways of engaging and inspiring young people.

A system based on academies and free schools working dynamically together can’t stagnate, because where schools are struggling, they’ll be able to benefit from collaboration and support, and where they simply aren’t delivering the school can be re-brokered to a new MAT or parents and teachers will be free to set up new schools. This system of collaboration and competition which lies at the heart of a MAT-based system means that schools will continue to strive for excellence and be firmly focused on the future.

Supported autonomy

But before that system of collaboration and competition can really work, we need to tackle those areas where there has been entrenched failure and there simply isn’t the capacity to take advantage of the promise that autonomy offers.

Autonomy cannot be a recipe for allowing the highest performing areas of our country to grow in strength, while the weaker ones fall further behind.

That means we must take a smarter approach to autonomy with a clearly defined role for the government within an autonomous system and that is the second theme of this white paper – supported autonomy.

Let me be clear what that means. It means that the government fund schools fairly, and hold them to account by setting clear but ambitious expectations for outcomes.

Where schools are meeting those expectations and performing well, government will get out of the way, and let schools get on with delivering for young people.

But where capacity is lacking, for whatever reason, we will make sure that schools and trusts get the support they need to improve.

We’ll ensure the schools that need it most can draw on the support of other ‘outstanding’ schools and leaders by approving 800 more national leaders of education and 300 more teaching schools where they are needed, resulting in full coverage across the country.

We’ll ensure they can benefit from great leadership and challenge by developing sponsor capacity, from other schools, businesses and the third sector right across the country.

And we’ll ensure that they can attract and retain the great teachers and leaders they need through schemes like Teach First, the National Teaching Service, and Teaching Leaders and our forthcoming senior leadership development programmes in the areas that need them most.

Crucially all of these interventions are about making sure the best elements of our education system get to those schools that need them the most – ensuring that no school is an island.

It is not about the government itself doing improvement, it is certainly not about regional schools commissioners interfering in the day to day running of schools. Instead, RSCs will act to ensure that those with a proven track record of improvement can support those schools most in need.

When I spoke about educational excellence everywhere in November, I highlighted those areas where underperformance is most entrenched, where educational standards are not just low, but where a culture of aspiration is almost entirely lacking.

This white paper proposes new measures firstly to identify those areas, but secondly to create new achieving excellence areas, including coastal and rural areas where a history of chronic underperformance is coupled with a lack of capacity to improve.

We won’t be reasserting top-down bureaucratic control in these areas – but instead targeting and directing our programmes of support intensively on particular areas and making sure they have the great teachers, leaders, system leaders and sponsors the need to succeed.

Empowered leaders

The best schools that I have visited have leaders with a vision and ethos for their school which is evident in everything they do. They have a sense of purpose for their school and that is not about pleasing me or pleasing Ofsted. It’s about getting the best possible outcomes for the young people. These reforms are about giving more power and responsibility to those excellent school leaders. In fact the system I am outlining today depends entirely on strong school leaders, which is why we will place a premium on ensuring leaders have the tools that they need to succeed, and that we have a strong pipeline of future leaders to steward our schools for years to come.

Multi-academy trusts have a key role to play in this, because of the fast track opportunities and a clear pathway they create.

Within a MAT you can move from subject teacher, to head of that subject across 30 schools, to head of a school, but at the same time have the support of an executive head above you and a MAT CEO who takes responsibility for overall governance, letting school heads focus on the day to day management of their individual schools.

This is a total break from how we have viewed school leadership in the past, with a linear route that stopped at school head and often took many years. In the future we will see multiple pathways, better support and faster progression.

We’ll support MATs to develop strong leaders, by bringing the best educational leaders together to develop new professional leadership qualifications. To be clear these will not be mandatory, nor do we expect them to be the only qualifications, but rather they will act as a standard against which MATs, and others can benchmark against – ensuring school leaders receive world class preparation and support to run schools well.

And most crucially, we will give our backing to leaders who step forwards to help turn round a struggling school. We will remove the perverse incentives which stopped the best leaders from working in our most challenging schools. It is unacceptable that our accountability and inspection regime actively discourage school leaders from taking up a challenge – because they’ll be penalised for the prior attainment of the pupils they’ll teach, or because they’ll face inspection before they’ve had time to really make a difference.

The measures in this white paper will start to change that, introducing inspection holidays and reinforcing our commitment to holding schools accountable for pupil progress as well as attainment.

Outcomes focused

And because we trust professionals from school leaders to classroom teachers this white paper makes clear our focus will be on outcomes not methods.

What I care about, and what any government should care about are the outcomes that young people achieve. We want our schools to produce knowledgeable, skilled and confident young people and we should hold schools to account for getting them there.

But how can they do it?

That is for teachers as professionals to decide on the basis of evidence.

No matter how well intentioned it might be micromanaging classrooms from Westminster doesn’t work and at its very worst it can stamp out the very innovation that drives pedagogy forward.

And when I see the outputs of conferences like ResearchEd and read blogs by countless teachers it’s abundantly clear that this is not a profession that needs me to tell them how to do their job.

We have not only the best qualified workforce in history, but also a workforce that is increasingly focused on constant self-improvement, that is driven by the evidence and which like other professions is breaking new boundaries, sharing what works, challenging one another and unleashing greatness.

This white paper recognises this, and goes further than any government has done to recognise teachers as the professionals they are.

It reaffirms our commitment to support an independent College of Teaching.

But more fundamentally it also proposes a radical shake up of how we accredit excellent teachers. We will replace the outdated QTS mark, and instead introduce a more meaningful accreditation.

Rather than being an almost automatic award to staff who complete ITT and a year in the classroom, the new accreditation will be awarded when teachers have demonstrated deep subject knowledge, and the ability to teach well.

Most fundamentally of all – as in other mature professions like medicine and law – it will be for the teaching profession itself to decide when a teacher is ready to be accredited. This will ensure that the decision is made by those who know best what makes a great teacher: outstanding schools and heads.

And because we respect teachers as professionals, we’ll do all that we can to reduce the central prescription and bureaucracy and workload that distracts from their core job of teaching, engaging and inspiring young people.

Shortly our workload review groups will report on planning, marking and data collection. But in the meantime this white paper also proposes that Ofsted will consult on removing it’s judgement for quality of teaching – because we know it both drives workload and because, and I’ll repeat it again, it’s outcomes that matter. If pupils are achieving well and making sufficient progress they are being taught well, end of story.

So this white paper envisions an increasingly confident, highly-skilled workforce driving forward their own development.

I believe that this will make teaching an even more attractive profession for potential new entrants, who’ll see the opportunities that teaching offers and will know that they’ll enter a profession which is not only rewarding and engaging but where they’ll be respected and trusted to lead their own development.

Yes we will continue to do all we can to bolster recruitment, particularly as there are more graduate opportunities, and to keep the excellent teachers we have through our package of support ranging from bursaries to support for returners.

But ultimately we know that the best way to get more people into teaching is to make the career itself more attractive and ensure teachers are treated as the professionals they are

High expectations

And while we will not prescribe the methods, the outcomes we expect will be based on the highest of expectations.

That’s why our reforms to the curriculum and qualifications place these high expectations at the heart of what pupils learn:

– through a knowledge-based curriculum that ensures young people master the basics, and then introduces them to all of the very best that has been thought and said

– through a rigorous academic core, which see all young people who are able study the EBacc combination of maths, English, 2 sciences, a humanity and a language up until the age of 16

– through gold standard qualifications, that might not allow politicians to trumpet ever higher pass rates, but do command the respect of employers and academics and so set young people up to succeed in the global race

– and through a new grading system, that gives every child in primary school the chance to attempt more stretching questions, and distinguishes better between the most exceptional candidates at GCSE level

But ensuring high expectations, means ensuring them for all pupils and this white paper identifies 2 groups of pupils who have often been neglected by our current system.

Firstly the most able, who in some cases, were ignored because they weren’t a worry and were sure to bank that C grade. As a result their vast talents and promise were lost. This isn’t the approach they take in competitor countries in the Far East – in Shanghai and Singapore and South Korea, they make sure that every child is stretched to the very bounds of their ability.

So we will engage in a new programme of work, to fund new and innovative approaches to stretch the most able, ensuring our country benefits from the very brightest achieving their full potential.

At the same time we are determined to improve outcomes for young people who, for whatever reason have fallen out of mainstream education and ended up in alternative provision. By many objective measures, pupils who have spent time in alternative provision do considerably worse than their peers.

I will not tolerate a situation where we effectively give up on a whole group of young people and where alternative provision becomes a dumping ground.

So the white paper proposes a number of measures to transform AP – most fundamentally, changing accountability arrangements so that a pupil’s mainstream school will retain accountability for their educational outcomes, reversing the incentives, creating a drive towards high-quality provision and encouraging MATs to set up their own alternative provision.

Parents and pupils at the heart of everything we do
We know that parents have high expectations for their children and we believe they have a real role to play in realising them. But the truth is that for too long parents have been side lined in our education system.

Slots for parent governors gave a handful of informed parents the chance to express concerns, but that isn’t a real parental voice.

Parents I speak to often tell me the biggest barrier is to their involvement in their children’s education is that they don’t know what to expect, what to demand and what they can do to help.

For a self-improving, school-led system to work it needs to allow parents to challenge the system and ultimately to vote with their feet, and that means giving them the information they need. So far, we’ve helped parents to do that by expecting new academies to display important information about their curriculum and offer to students on their webpages, and reformed performance tables to allow parents to compare local schools.

Now we’ll go further, with the creation of a new parent portal. This portal will provide parents with everything they need to understand their children’s education, it will cut through the jargon we’re all guilty of using and explain what they should be able to expect and when, it will show them how to raise complaints and what the options are available to them.

At the same time we’ll create a new mechanism for parents to raise complaints, ultimately right up to the new Public Sector Ombudsman.

And empowering parents means a new role for local authorities as well. Rather than running schools, local authorities will instead play a role in ensuring the system works for parents, focused on ensuring there are enough places, overseeing admissions complaints and commissioning support for children with specific needs.

Alongside this, the opportunities provided by local devolution give local authorities the opportunities to act as champions and advocates for the education their community wants and deserves.

This white paper sets out our vision for schools, but it is just one strand of my department’s work to transform life chances for the next generation.

I am also publishing the department’s overall strategy, which sets out how we will work towards achieving our vision of world class education and care during this Parliament.

I’m occasionally accused of being a zealot when it comes to our education reforms.

Well to tell you the truth I am a zealot about our education reforms.

I’m a zealot because I believe in social justice, I’m a zealot because nothing makes me angrier than wasted potential, I’m a zealot because children get one shot at their education, and it’s my job to give them the best one possible.

And I can be a zealot about the reforms I’ve outlined today, because we know they work, we’ve seen them work across the country and around the world.

My promise to the hardworking professionals in schools up and down the country is this: like you, this government won’t shy away from seeking the best for every child, wherever they are.

But we do understand how hard it is to deliver the high standards that our children really need and deserve – especially in our toughest schools, colleges and communities. We’ll do more to offer support where it is most needed. And we’ll be disciplined in resisting the temptation to make changes from the centre.

Each part of the strategy I have outlined must work together. It relies on a number of actors playing their part: autonomy demands accountability; a system led by the front-line only works if there’s sufficient capacity where it’s needed.

But just think about the prize if we succeed – a fairer society, a more productive society, a society where reward is based on talent and effort, where potential is unleashed, where young people’s dreams can be realised.

All of us in education, from politicians and civil servants in Westminster to our phenomenal teaching workforce in classrooms across the country do what we do, because we believe in the potential of the next generation.

This white paper is about ensuring that all of us can play the role that we do best, it’s a blueprint for how we can work together, not just to improve standards, important though that is, but to create a fundamentally different education system – an education system fit for the 21st century, an education system which is truly focused on putting the next generation first.

Thank you.

Below is the text of the speech made by Nicky Morgan, the Secretary of State for Education, at the Churchill War Rooms in London on 8 March 2016.

Thank you Alison [Stephenson – Director, Head Office MOD and the MOD Civil Service Gender Champion] for that kind introduction and good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and happy International Women’s Day.

It’s such a pleasure to be at the Cabinet War Rooms to talk to you today, and I want to thank the Ministry of Defence and my friend and colleague Penny Mordaunt for hosting this event on this special day.

I should point out that Penny is the first woman ever to hold the ministerial portfolio for the armed forces – and I’m sure that she is the first of many talented women who will take on this and other MOD roles.

I’m delighted that we are here marking International Women’s Day – and right the way across Whitehall this is a day when we take the opportunity to celebrate just how far we have come on the road to gender equality.

But it’s also an opportunity to take stock of how far we still have to travel to create an equal and inclusive society for women and girls.

Every single government department has a role to play in the fight for gender equality – not just in the UK but around the world.

My colleague Justine Greening has been putting women’s rights to the top of the agenda in the developing world and beyond.

Her commitment to, and I quote, “breaking the chains of dependency” from men is such a powerful message, especially today.

And here at the Ministry of Defence there is fantastic work going on in terms of recruitment, outreach and leadership to ensure that more women have the opportunity to enter the armed forces.

And I fully support the Prime Minister and the Defence Secretary who are united in wanting to see all roles in the armed forces opened up to women so that they can serve and protect their country in any way that they choose.

I’m looking forward to seeing the contribution that women continue to make as they shape the defence agenda more than ever before.

And I can also announce today that the government will be extending the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women to the British overseas territories of Anguilla and the Cayman Islands.

This is a significant move with well over 35,000 women and girls expected to benefit from the standards and expectations of gender equality set out under the convention.

I’m a great believer that our responsibility for gender equality stretches beyond our own shores.

Put simply, we have a duty to protect and empower women.

The fact is, sexual violence is not about sex, it’s about power.

It’s a tactic of war, a weapon of terror used to destroy lives and fuel conflict.

Victims often find that there are no laws to protect them, no support system to help them recover, and no hope of justice.

All they have is stigma, humiliation and pain.

And we mustn’t shy away from talking about this.

As Angelina Jolie said so powerfully at the End Sexual Violence in Conflict Summit in 2014 “war zone rape is a crime that thrives on silence and denial”.

And so that’s why I welcome the government’s ongoing commitment to tackling sexual violence and in particular the commitment that by November 2016 all UK troops deployed overseas will receive training on the prevention of sexual violence.

We must continue to fight for gender equality and support women around the world, whether that’s at home in the UK or in conflict zones like Syria.

You will know better than anybody that we are fighting currently a global war against the evils of Daesh.

There is no more abhorrent an example of how some women are still treated as slaves, reduced to little more than property.

We know that women are raped and abused at will so we are right to take the fight to Daesh and to stand up for our values here and overseas of equality and justice for all.

But women and girls are not just survivors and victims of war; they are also leaders and peace builders.

Talking about gender equality and conflict isn’t simply about some idealistic notion that women want peace more than men do – far from it.

Statistics show us that the active and meaningful involvement of women in conflict settlement and peacebuilding leads to longer lasting agreements and better and more lasting outcomes for women and men.

Women are vital to the fulfilment of stability, security, and cooperation.

I firmly believe that conflict through a woman’s eyes brings a valuable perspective, one which has often been ignored in our history.

It’s this diversity of perspectives that ensures effective peacebuilding which takes into account the needs of the whole population.

Our overarching theme for this International Women’s Day is the importance of women’s representation and empowerment.

Someone who truly championed women’s empowerment was former foreign secretary Lord Hague who was absolutely right when he said that the “greatest strategic prize for our century is the full social, political and economic empowerment of women.”

And we need men and boys to be advocates for this.

An equal world won’t be one that improves just for women – it will improve for men and boys too.

That’s why I want to see more campaigns like HeForShe with men and women standing together, making the case passionately for equality in the best interests of humankind.

Now we are making progress here in the UK on women’s representation and empowerment with more women on FTSE 100 boards than ever before and almost a third of MPs and a third of the cabinet are women.

But we know that women remain badly underrepresented across many walks of life.

And as Minister for Women and Equalities but also Secretary of State for Education one of my key priorities is to ensure that young people have strong female role models – whether that’s in the armed forces, in politics, schools or the workplace.

We need our young people to view women who are running the show as the norm, not the exception!

That’s why women and girls like Malala Yousafzai are so important.

Despite being only 18, she is an absolute giant of global politics.

Her tireless campaign for female education reminds us that around the world some girls don’t even get to go to school – let alone choose which subjects they want to study.

But I’m not here to say to you that violence and discrimination against women only happens in far-flung countries around the world.

The sad fact is that in schools, in places of work, in homes, in every part of Britain, there are still women and girls who aren’t being treated with the respect that they deserve and who suffer physical and psychological violence.

Last year there were 1.4 million female victims of domestic abuse and over 300,000 victims of sexual violence in the UK.

This is simply unacceptable.

And so today I want to reiterate this government’s commitment to doing everything we possibly can to tackle all forms of violence against women and girls in the UK.

The Home Secretary has led on several important measures in tackling violence and abuse – allowing women for example to check their partner’s criminal history, introducing domestic violence protection orders and criminalising forced marriage.

And I’m delighted that today we are publishing a refreshed Violence Against Women and Girls strategy which sets out a package of awareness raising and support for victims.

And of course in my role as Education Secretary I want us to do everything we can to prevent violence occurring in the first place.

That’s why we are supporting fantastic charities like Freedom – which educates pupils about when someone might be at risk of barbaric practices like forced marriage and FGM.

Now we know that some progress has been made.

In 2014 to 2015 the Crime Survey gave the lowest estimate ever of victims of domestic abuse since questions on the topic were first asked 10 years ago.

We need to make sure that this trend continues and that this issue keeps getting the traction and the airtime that it desperately needs.

So today I want to celebrate how far we have come whilst recognising that we must all do more to build a truly inclusive society.

I’m a firm believer that actions speak louder than words and that’s why I’m passionate about driving this agenda forward. And why it’s such a pleasure to be here with you today.

As Emma Watson eloquently pointed out in her speech on equality to the UN in 2014, “we don’t just want to talk” about gender equality, we want to see meaningful change.

So I hope that you will join me in committing ourselves to reaching our destination – a place where women and men are truly equals.

Equals who walk side by side in pursuing the safer, freer and more prosperous world that we all want to live in – thank you.

Below is the text of the speech made by Nicky Morgan, the Secretary of State for Education, in Birmingham on 5 March 2016.

Thank you, Allan [Foulds, President of ASCL], for that kind introduction.

It’s fantastic to see so many of you here, and particularly to see those familiar faces from all the schools I’ve had the pleasure of visiting over the past 18 months.

Please do keep the invitations coming, because I can say, hand on heart, that the very best part of my job is when I’m able to leave Westminster and Whitehall, to see beyond the headlines, the statistics and the speeches, and to witness first-hand the fantastic work that you’re doing to change young lives in schools right across the country.

It truly is a privilege.

That leads me on to the first thing I want to say to you today, to acknowledge something which isn’t said enough, perhaps because it doesn’t make for good copy for journalists, or it doesn’t have the same appeal as eye-catching initiatives for politicians.

And that is this: the vast majority, more than 8 in 10 schools in this country, do a good or outstanding job; the vast majority of school leaders are tireless and passionate advocates for the young people they serve; and the vast majority of teachers are engaging and inspiring their pupils to achieve their all.

You don’t have to take my word for it, the figures speak for themselves. More children are joining secondary school with a better grasp of the 3Rs; there are record numbers of ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ schools; and fewer pupils are leaving school and ending up NEET.

These improvements are being driven from the ground – by confident, innovative leaders like you, who’ve embraced autonomy to achieve truly remarkable progress.

The truth is, and I know it might not always feel like this, we are in a golden age of education in this country.

Expectations are higher, standards have improved, and outcomes are better than at any time in our country’s history.

That is worth remembering, particularly as we engage in the debate on how to drive our education system forward further still, because we start from a very good base.

At the same time, all of us here recognise that in a globalised world, where the young people you teach are going to have to compete for jobs not just with young people from the same town, county or country, but with their peers from across the globe, we cannot afford to let our education system stand still. We can always do more and achieve better.

Educational excellence

Inevitably, my focus, and that of my department and Ofsted, must be on that minority of schools where the quality of education isn’t yet good enough.

After all, even if a single school isn’t performing as well as it could be, then hundreds of children aren’t getting the education they deserve and the chance to reach their full potential.

Children get just one shot at their education and we owe it to them to give them the best one.

It is, as I have said many times before, a matter of basic social justice – our duty and our obligation to the next generation.

As the Prime Minister has made clear, this is a one nation government – focused on unlocking real social justice and improving the life chances of those who so often have been left behind.

Education is at the heart of that agenda.

So yes, we need to do a better job; and by we I mean all of us – politicians, leaders and even the media – of recognising all that is excellent and inspiring about our schools today.

But we also need to be unapologetic about tackling failure where it occurs and be ready to give those schools who are struggling a helping hand.

In November in a speech to Policy Exchange, I made clear that my goal over the course of this Parliament is to spread educational excellence everywhere.

I don’t need to tell you that too many of those struggling schools are concentrated in certain parts of the country – many in our coastal towns and rural areas.

Simply hoping for improvement isn’t enough, because these areas are not only underperforming, but they also lack the capacity and support that they need to improve.

Quite simply that means that just by virtue of being born in one part of the country, a child is destined to receive a worse start in life.

Delivering educational excellence everywhere means ending the scandalous demography of destiny which has no place in 21st century Britain.

It means providing the means by which the innovation that has transformed educational outcomes in cities like London can spread across the country.

It means a zero tolerance approach to underachievement, no excuses for failure and bringing a culture of aspiration back to all our towns and communities.

Leaders at the heart of the system

And the only people who can make that vision a reality are you.

Sure enough, politicians can make things easier or harder for you to succeed: we can make sure that you have the resources you need and that the accountability system we design leads to the right incentives.

But ultimately there is no substitute for good leadership.

That’s why, as a government, we are such firm believers in a school-led system, with great leaders in the driving seat.

Why do we want all schools to become academies? Because we believe that the people best placed to lead schools are you – the heads.

Why do we believe in multi-academy trusts (MATs)? Because we want the best leaders to extend their reach to as many schools as possible.

Why have we stripped back the national curriculum? Because you know – better than we ever could – how best to inspire and engage your students.

All of our reforms are about bringing power, responsibility and accountability together in your hands, where it belongs.

Let’s dispense with this notion once and for all that somehow local authority control of schools led to democratic accountability.

Let me honestly ask you: how many local elections in your patch have been fought over the quality of education?

I don’t ever remember being on a doorstep and being quizzed on what my local authority was doing on local schools.

But that doesn’t and shouldn’t mean that the school-led system is about the government leaving schools to fend for themselves.

A school-led system does not mean creating a Wild West where schools compete in a survival of the fittest – far from it.

Instead, a genuine school-led system means the government getting out of the way and focusing on providing the scaffolding that helps those good schools to turn around weaker ones.

It means the government not meddling in schools or micromanaging the process but supporting improvement through schemes like the National Teaching Service, helping to build sponsor capacity and discharging our duty to hold schools to account on behalf of parents.

Having read the blueprint numerous times, I know we share a vision that is broadly aligned, where government provides a helping hand, but where improvement and innovation are driven from the sector itself.

Of course, devolving power from politicians to school leaders inevitably means more demands on leaders. If we’re to have a truly self-improving school system, then that means leadership itself must adapt and improve as well.

Already we see models of leadership adapting and evolving to meet the challenge of running a school-led system, ranging from the potential offered by MATs for young teachers to quickly accelerate to leadership positions, right through to the opportunities to become a CEO of a large MAT responsible for 30 to 40 schools.

And I’m genuinely excited by the potential offered by the work you, NAHT and the National Governors’ Association are doing on the Foundation for Leadership, which in time will see ever more leadership development driven directly by those who know what it takes to make a great leader.

For my part, I want to do all I can to remove the barriers to your success.

The heads I met before this speech talked to me about our accountability system. I want to be clear – I never want our inspection system to be a barrier to talented leaders taking on and supporting new schools. And I want to reiterate that just like every other commitment in our manifesto, when we said we will reduce the burdens of inspection, we meant it.

But there are other challenges as well, and I want to focus on just a couple.

Teacher recruitment

The first, it won’t surprise you to hear, is teacher recruitment.

We know that recruitment is a challenge.

We hear your concerns, and we know that while headline data shows a sustained low national vacancy rate, the reality on the ground for many heads is that they are struggling to attract the brightest and the best.

Let me level with you. We have a growing economy and leading employers intending to recruit 7.5% more graduates than last year from a smaller overall graduate pool, so even with all other things being equal, we would face a challenge.

So we are doing all we can to drive recruitment and improve retention. And we’re getting more returners coming back into the profession.

Tomorrow I’ll be talking more about measures we’re taking to support part-time teachers and particularly women, so that our schools don’t lose out on their talent.

And later this spring, 3 workload review groups will be reporting to me on how to tackle the issues which have seen some great teachers leave the profession.

But I need your help to tackle this challenge.

By all means, lobby me about what more the government can do to improve recruitment and retention.

But let’s not inadvertently create a vicious cycle where talk of a crisis actively puts people off entering the profession. Let’s focus on communicating to the outside world what a great profession teaching is, how rewarding it can be, and what good teachers have the power to do.

Funding

I know that for some of you, funding is also a challenge, and here again I want to be as frank as I can. Compared to the rest of the public sector, the schools budget secured a relatively generous funding settlement. There simply isn’t, in a time of austerity, a magic money tree from which government can find more.

But I know there are pressures and it is indisputable that we are expecting you to do more with the budgets you have.

Those pressures make the introduction of a national fair funding formula even more urgent, and we remain committed to beginning the transition from next year – because it must be right that the same pupil, with the same characteristics attracts the same amount of funding.

We also want to help schools to reduce unnecessary costs. I know many of you have already used our school efficiency metric, and in the coming months we’ll be doing much more to help schools get the best value for money from their budgets. And there are many more areas I could discuss. I’m sure you’ll challenge me on some of them during the Q and A.

The prize

The long and short of it is this: achieving what we all want to see – a world class education system – won’t be easy. Striving for excellence means stretching ourselves.

For me, this is why I came into politics. Nothing makes me angrier than the thought of potential lost through lack of a decent education, which is why I want to play my part in building a system that delivers true excellence for all.

I know from speaking to you, that for many of you, your motivations for being teachers are very similar. We are all here because we want the same thing: to offer the best education we possibly can – one which values each and every teacher and extends opportunity to each and every child.

Your generation of school leaders has already achieved so much, and as I said before, this is very much a golden age for education standards in this country.

I can’t pretend your jobs will ever be easy and you know that, but my commitment is to ensure that government supports you as much as we can but doesn’t get in the way – so you can set about improving our school system further.

I’d urge you to seize that opportunity. Don’t be afraid to be bold, don’t wait for permission, and don’t be held back by fear of inspection.

Because every time you are able to open a young mind to a new concept, every time you succeed in teaching them something new, you are helping to build a piece of their future.

If we are able to make a reality of the school-led system, then the prize will be great.

We’ll be able to build something that no country has yet achieved: a truly fair and meritocratic society, where life chances are determined by talent and effort, not the circumstances of birth – an end to demography as destiny.

Thank you for everything you do.

Below is the text of the speech made by Nicky Morgan, the Secretary of State for Education, at Church House in Dean’s Yard, London on 24 February 2016.

Thank you, Carole [Stott, Association of Colleges], for that kind introduction.

It’s a pleasure to be speaking here to college principals, senior leaders and governors at this Association of Colleges event today.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to extend my personal thanks to Martin Doel as he prepares to leave his role at the Association of Colleges.

Martin, you have done a fantastic job of leading the sector through a period of substantial change, and I am grateful for the determined way in which you have represented your members’ interests while engaging constructively with the government.

Although you will be missed, I look forward with interest to seeing your research as the Professor for Further Education and Skills at UCL’s Institute of Education.

Our nation’s discussion on education is very often focused on schools.

This discussion can sometimes sidestep the important role that further education and sixth-form colleges play in the education of our young people.

The importance of your role is very clear.

But before I discuss the importance of your role I would like to set out my position on something everyone is talking about right now and that’s Britain’s membership of the European Union.

Like the Prime Minister I have made my position very clear: that Britain is stronger, safer and better off in a reformed European Union. I don’t believe that Britain would fail outside the EU but I don’t want Britain to be cut off from its partners in Europe either.

I don’t want children growing up in Britain today to have their ambitions limited. They should have the freedom to study elsewhere in the EU, and be enriched by the thousands of students who choose to come here to study too.

Our world is changing around us very quickly and we cannot allow ourselves to be cut off from our neighbours and partners in Europe if we want to realise Britain’s true potential.

Realising potential is what further education and sixth-form colleges are all about. And that’s something I know as a constituency MP. Loughborough College plays a significant role in my local area. It has been inspiring to be a member of the steering group of their Bridge to Work programme which won an Association of Colleges Beacon award in 2013.

Nearly half of all our young people choose to attend an FE college or sixth-form college after finishing their GCSEs, and alongside the rest of the school system, there have been some tremendous successes since 2010. Earlier this month, I was pleased to see the Association of Colleges host an event in Parliament to celebrate student success.

And it was no surprise that there were many inspiring stories.

Stories that showed the power of colleges in transforming the lives of young people.

Students such as Hannah Cooper, from Amersham College, whose experience at college improved her confidence so much that she eventually led an award-winning young enterprise team.

Or students such as young entrepreneur Callum Coles, from Cirencester College, who has developed an approach aimed at reducing drink-driving. In this case, the sector has provided the foundation for him to transform the lives of others.

These are just 2 examples of the many successes that take place across the whole of the country. They serve to demonstrate the central role the sector must play in preparing our young people for adult life.

Spending Review settlement

That role in preparing our young people for adult life underpinned the strong Spending Review settlement secured for the sector. A settlement that saw:

– the base rate protected for 16- to 19-year-olds

– the core adult skills budget protected throughout this Parliament

– sixth-form colleges given the option to become academies

As a government we recognise that this settlement was important given the key role of colleges in driving economic prosperity, improving skills and raising productivity.

Technical and professional routes

However, we believe that the purpose of education is much wider than just making our young people economically productive.

What does that mean for the sector?

It means that a core academic grounding in maths and English remains crucial to the education of our young people irrespective of their post-16 choices.

The huge increase in the numbers of young people who didn’t secure English and maths A* to C at GCSE at 16 who are continuing study is a triumph for the sector, and thousands more young people are now securing those good passes which will unlock movement to a range of skilled occupations.

This increase is down to the hard work and dedication of teachers who work in this sector who work tirelessly to ensure these students don’t have their options narrowed later in life due to a lack of core skills. I want to say thank you to the whole sector for all their work in delivering this.

And we want to encourage colleges to continue to enrich the experience of their students to give them the cultural capital to succeed.

But, we always need to be honest with our young people.

Focusing on developing the skills, knowledge and character traits that make them employable are important. It serves as a basis for securing a lifetime of sustained employment – which will support their own ambitions and their future family.

That is why technical and professional education is so important.

Over the last few years we have made great steps forward following the trailblazing Wolf Review. However, whilst standards are improving, the system remains confusing and unnecessarily complex.

There are over 13,000 qualifications available to 16- to 18-year-olds.

So I ask you:

How can a student know what the best route is for their chosen career?

How can a student know which qualifications will be most relevant?

How can a student know what will be valued by potential employers?

Simply put: it is very difficult.

That is why we will be simplifying the over-complex skills system by creating up to 20 new technical and professional routes to skilled employment. Helping students to make the transition from compulsory schooling to employment with the right skills for their chosen industry.

And we will do this in direct partnership with employers and want colleges to be involved. Ensuring the new system provides the skills valued by employers and the 21st-century economy.

The routes will lead young people from compulsory schooling into employment and the highest level of technical competence. Routes will include apprenticeships, and for many an apprenticeship will be the best option, providing an opportunity to train directly in the workplace.

I am grateful that Lord Sainsbury has agreed to lead an expert panel to make recommendations to government in this area. We are fortunate to have Bev Robinson from Blackpool and The Fylde College on the panel, and I know the panel and officials have been speaking with AoC members directly about their views.

Engagement with employers and character

This is the right approach for students, colleges and employers.

But it won’t work without engagement by colleges with local employers and local enterprise partnerships. And many colleges do work with employers – for example Furness College in Cumbria and BAE Systems or Bridgewater College in Somerset with Mulberry. Household name employers want to work with colleges to access our best students and equip them for work in their industry.

Students want to know that their college is working with potential employers in their region and that their curriculum is aligned with local enterprise priorities.

Employer engagement will help students secure employment and they will be able to take their skills and use them in their local area to support productivity and growth.

We know we lag behind our international peers – that’s why we launched the productivity plan in July, right after we returned to government.

In a recent report on skills and employment in the UK economy, it was highlighted that this government has an excellent record on job creation, but there is room for further productivity improvements by developing the skills of our young people.

One of the most interesting aspects of this report for me personally was that 2 types of skills need to be improved.

The first are the technical and professional skills that will be addressed through our strategy on new technical and professional routes and requirements for English and maths.

But the second are the softer skills – those that are often associated with the development of good character. The ability for students to get up and get on in the working world.

I want our colleges to be places that develop the character of their students to prepare them for life in modern Britain. Character traits like:

– self-improvement

– determination

– self-discipline

And these are just 3 of the character traits associated with success.

That is why we are committed to over 1 billion pounds of funding over this Parliament for the National Citizen Service to serve over 300,000 15- to 17-year-old students by 2020 after finishing their GCSE exams.

Giving young people the chance to be informed and active citizens – understanding their responsibilities as well as their rights.

We must work in partnership to deliver on the development of knowledge and skills but also on character education.

And let me be clear: this is not a ‘nice to have’, it is a must have for students to succeed and realise their full potential irrespective of their background.

I therefore have 2 challenges I want to put to you all as college chairs and principals:

– work even more with employers to deliver the right skills for your students and local community

– and develop the character of your students even more so they can succeed in the working world and be fully prepared for adult life
Apprenticeships

And, we can’t talk about technical and professional education routes without the discussing the critical importance of work placements and apprenticeships.

Learning in the workplace is crucial for our young people – it provides them with hands-on experience and helps them develop the character traits needed for success in adult life.

That is why this government is committed to a 3-million-apprenticeship-starts target by 2020. I want to see our 16- to 18-year-olds choosing apprenticeships and to help meet that ambitious target because apprenticeships are an option on par with higher qualifications.

And I want to stress this now – we must make sure students are aware of all the options open to them. For some, it will be the academic route that leads to university. But for others, the technical and professional education provided through an apprenticeship or via classroom based provision with a work placement.

The apprenticeships of today cover industries from across the whole economy. From engineering and construction through to digital marketing and fashion.

There is no room for the outdated snobbery that apprenticeship and technical routes are somehow lesser.

They are not.

Colleges have always recognised that we need to cater for these students and with this commitment combined with our skills reform package we will continue to make great strides forward.

And our skills reform package will be anchored in quality as supported by the Institute for Apprenticeships who will ensure the standards match the requirements of employers in every sector.

However, when I look at the data right now – I see that only 37% of apprenticeship funding is going toward colleges, compared to 60% to independent training providers.

Of course, competition is healthy for this sector. But, it is time for it to step up to the plate and forge lasting links with employers to be the ‘go to’ provider of apprentices in their local community.

The apprenticeship levy shows this government’s commitment – and it opens opportunities for you to work with each other and engage with employers to offer the right apprenticeships for your local areas.

I want to see this sector secure a larger share of that apprenticeship revenue stream and remain confident you can do it.

Area reviews

Part of that confidence is built on the constructive engagement we have had across the sector on area reviews. You all understand that we must have a further education and sixth-form college sector that is of high quality and are financially resilient and sustainable.

And getting there will mean some difficult decisions.

For some it will involve mergers to take account of scale economies or the ability to rationalise your estate. For others, it will be ensuring the curriculum is mapped with student and employer demands.

We want to support you as you go through this process but we rightly recognise that this must be locally-led.

High-quality leadership teams in financially resilient institutions will be able to deliver on our shared commitment to improve the skills and life chances of our young people. And I am pleased to see that the first wave of reviews are starting to produce those kinds of outcomes that will help meet these aims.

Conclusion

Further education and sixth-form colleges are central institutions to the education of young people: preparing them for adult life and developing the skills for a more prosperous nation.

This government’s commitment to the sector through the Spending Review settlement, reform to technical and professional routes and target of 3 million apprentices; alongside your staff’s dedication and shared commitment to transforming the lives of young people is a partnership that will truly prepare our young people for adult life.

Thank you.

Below is the text of the speech made by Nicky Morgan, the Secretary of State for Education, at the Guildhall in London on 23 February 2016.

My Lord Mayor Locum Tenens (The Lord Mayor Locum Tenens, Alderman Sir David Wootton), ladies and gentlemen.

It’s such a pleasure for me to be back in the City [of London], where I worked from 1994 to 2010, and with Sir David who is a partner at one of my previous firms, Allen and Overy.

We live in an ever-changing world. Globalisation means that we are competing with economies old and new.

Emerging economies continue to grow and developed economies continue to be adaptive and productive. Despite the fact that Britain was the fastest growing economy in the G7 in 2014 to 2015, it is still sadly true that the productivity gap between the UK and the other G7 countries is currently 17%.

We have to make sure that we are harnessing all our talent because, in 21st-century London, our children compete for jobs with the best and brightest from across the world.

The smartest European graduates work for British banks. Talented coders come from American universities to Aldgate, to work for Über. And if we are going to prepare the next generation to succeed in that global race we need to give them a great education.

But before I go on to talk about the education system we are trying to build, I also want to talk about another major issue that will, I believe, define the opportunities available to the young people of today when they reach adulthood.

And that is Britain’s membership of the European Union.

One of the key reasons I will be campaigning for a remain vote, is that I believe the next generation will be stronger, safer and better off in a reformed Europe.

I want our next generation to be able to take advantage of the opportunities access to the single trade free market brings: jobs, investment, lower prices and financial security.

The alternative is to take a leap in the dark – risking our economic security with years of damaging uncertainty when our young people are looking to take their first steps in life, but also, a Britain cut off from the world, where the next generation’s prospects are limited and their opportunities end at our shores.

Of course, we could survive outside of the EU, but given the benefits it brings for businesses and employers and the security and safety it offers, why would we risk the years of uncertainty that would follow a vote to leave?

Now, ultimately, the decision won’t be taken by me or any other politician, because the Prime Minister has delivered on his commitment to hold an in/out referendum, where the British people will decide whether to remain or to leave.

But there is no doubt that the result will clearly have significant consequences for the City of London and I would urge you to make sure your voice is heard on 23 June.

But even more important than our role in Europe – and I know with the 24-hour rolling media coverage it’s hard to imagine there could be anything else going on in our country – is how we prepare the next generation to compete with their peers from across the world.

And I’m afraid to say that our record as a country was, until very recently, simply not good enough.

When we entered government 6 years ago the gap between our highest and lowest performing pupils was substantial compared to other countries; our secondary school leavers performed poorly in internationally benchmarked tests; and performance in England was more strongly associated with pupil background than in many other countries.

What is more, according to the 2013 OECD survey of adult skills, England was the only country in the developed world where the literacy and numeracy levels of 16- to 24-year-olds were no better than amongst 55- to 65-year-olds.

In all other nations, the basic education of the general population had improved between the generations – but not ours.

To put it bluntly: we just weren’t keeping up. And we knew why.

In 2010, we inherited an education system which was more concerned with league tables than times tables; which offered low-quality vocational qualifications that didn’t lead to a job simply because they boosted performance on poorly designed measures; where an ‘all must have prizes’ culture prevented the pursuit of excellence; and where the centralised structure and bureaucratic control of schooling stifled the sort of leadership and classroom innovation necessary to drive improvement.

That’s why when we came to office in 2010 we embarked on one of the boldest and most radical reforms of the education system in our history.

Because we owed it to our young people to tackle the soft bigotry of low expectations, and to give them the education they deserve – an education that would help them to realise every ounce of their potential.

For years, the proportion of pupils taking core academic subjects to GCSE had been in decline. To combat this, we introduced the English Baccalaureate measure in 2010, which shows the proportion of pupils in a school being entered for a combination of GCSEs in English, mathematics, science, history or geography, and a foreign language.

The proportion of pupils entering this EBacc combination of subjects nationwide has risen from 23% in 2012 to 39% in 2015 and we are now setting an ambition to get that number to 90% – not because other subjects aren’t important, far from it – but because we think that every child who is able should benefit from studying that rigorous academic core that will help them succeed in further study or the world of work.

For me this is a matter of social justice.

I don’t want to hear about young people for whom certain careers were taken off the table because they were never offered the subject options they should have been.

Just imagine the talent we could be missing out on if we limit the capacity of our young people to succeed in what they are good at.

At the same time we stripped 3,000 low-value qualifications from the performance tables and replaced them with new courses which have been designed in conjunction with employers – the people who know what young people really need when they leave education.

And London has led the way on rigour from the very start, with its schools adapting their curriculums faster than nearly all other regions.

By 2014 London was the top region in England for take up, with almost 50% of students taking all the EBacc subjects – what a fantastic achievement that is!

Of course we know that exam success and qualifications alone are not enough.

Business leaders – big and small – told us time and time again that they wanted young people to enter the world of work with the character traits that were an essential component to success.

So we have encouraged schools to develop pupils who are confident, motivated and resilient, and who will get on better in both education and employment.

Many schools already work to develop character among their pupils.

Schools like School 21 in Newham which is developing the attributes of grit, spark and eloquence in its pupils through an intense focus on speaking skills and coaching.

And the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School in Islington which has partnered with the Hogan Lovells law firm and Crossrail to develop a programme of character-building challenges from years 7 to 9.

To support other schools to follow their example we have invested £5 million in character education and supported projects to help build resilience and grit, from competitive sport to work experience and links with local business.

We have developed the Character Awards to celebrate those schools which excel in moulding confident and self-assured young people.

But perhaps the most important ingredient of our school reforms hasn’t come from government at all, it’s come from the heads and teachers on the frontline – the people who know best how to run their schools.

That’s why at the heart of our reforms has been a determination to liberate schools to innovate and deliver what really works.

The hugely successful academies programme has freed schools from the bureaucratic one-size-fits-all approach of the past.

And schools have embraced the freedom and trust that we have given them with extraordinary results.

Were I to ask you where you would find the best non-selective state secondary school in the country today, according to the 5 A* to C GCSE measure, you may assume the answer would lie in a middle class suburb, or a pleasant rural town.

But you would be wrong.

According to this measure, the best school in England is situated in one of the most disadvantaged London wards for child poverty where 41% of the school’s pupils are eligible for free school meals – almost 3 times the national average.

Yet at this school, King Solomon Academy, 95% of pupils gained 5 good GCSEs in 2015, and 77% of pupils passed the EBacc, an achievement which would have been branded impossible at the time of their opening in 2009.

The school was founded by a 28-year-old head named Max Haimendorf, and from its inception he has used academy freedoms to break from the standard practices of English state schooling.

The behaviour and ethos of King Solomon Academy is modelled on the ‘no excuses’ approach of American charter schools, and this is coupled with a deep concern for the well-being of the pupils.

As our free school and academy reforms mature, I am certain that we will see, and in fact we are already seeing, more brave and free-thinking school leaders, like Max, whose pupils achieve previously inconceivable feats under their charge.

In turn, these schools act as beacons to others – providing a model of improvement that they can follow.

I am delighted that we now have 5,500 academies in this country – with 65% of secondary schools and 18% of primary schools having the freedom that academy status brings – able to shape education in their own vision in line with what their parents want and their pupils need.

That’s why we have committed to ending the role of the local authority in our schools.

And because we wanted to empower parents even further to demand more for their children – and to give brilliant teachers and local communities to open their own schools, we have introduced the free schools programme – not only to address the shortfall of places we inherited, but also to drive up standards and unlock innovation.

And we know they work.

Despite half of all the 304 open free schools being located in the most deprived communities in our country, 25% of those inspected are rated outstanding by Ofsted, compared to 19% of all inspected state schools.

That’s why the Prime Minister and I have committed to creating 500 more free schools by 2020.

And I am excited to see that the City of London Corporation will be contributing to this number with Galleywall Primary set to open in Southwark in September, closely followed by the City of London Primary in Islington in 2017.

Two more schools to add to add to their current 4 – all of which are rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted.

To date, there are now 1.4 million more children in good or outstanding schools compared with 2010, but we aren’t complacent about what is left to do.

With our mandate in government we want to spread educational excellence everywhere.

We believe passionately that if our education system is to succeed as a whole, then the features that currently define the best of our schools must become the norm in the rest of our schools.

London has made truly astounding leaps and bounds in the quality of its education in recent years – but our belief in social justice must drive us to make sure every child gets access to an excellent education, no matter where they are or where they come from.

We have to harness every ounce of talent that our children have if we want to compete on the global stage, whether they come from Hackney or Hartlepool, Battersea or Bradford.

Other countries won’t be leaving their talent to flounder, simply because of where a child happens to be born, and neither should we.

We have done more than any government before us to bring the best from the outside world into our education system.

Inspiring charities, great British institutions and successful businesses are all rolling up their sleeves to get involved in this national mission.

You can play an important role in shaping, leading and focusing our schools and colleges, and in helping young people to enter the world of work with the knowledge, skills and character traits that allow them to prosper.

I know that many of you here today are already involved and I can’t thank you enough – but we need more of you and your friends and colleagues to come forward.

We already have great headteachers in the system, but what we need is the skill that comes from running a successful organisation: clear mission and purpose, strong governance, innovation, sharp accountability and excellent finance and risk management.

This is what Sir Clive Bourne brought to Hackney when he decided to sponsor one of the first city academies back in 2004.

Clive, an Eastender who left school at 15 and built up a successful overnight parcels business, desperately wanted to bring educational opportunity to the area in which he grew up.

As a magistrate in Newham, he often saw the dire consequences of there being so little.

This combination of moral purpose and business acumen led to the creation of a school which would combat the low expectations, poor behaviour and dumbing down that had so long been synonymous with inner-city schools.

Named after Clive’s father Moss, Mossbourne is now one of the best schools in the country, sending a steady stream of pupils every year from east London to Oxbridge and other Russell Group Universities.

Sadly, Clive Bourne died before he was able to see the full flowering of his efforts, but what a wonderful legacy to have left London.

Speak to others involved in the academies programme, and they will all tell you of the immense fulfilment that comes from taking the skills and knowledge gained in other walks of life, and applying them to improving our schools system.

There are two clear ways that I am asking you to come forward and play a role in the renewal of England’s education system:

– As a fully-fledged sponsor directly involved in the running of schools following the example set by organisations like Dixons, BAE and Rolls Royce or Lord Harris of Peckham and Ian Livingstone of Games Workshop.

– Or, as a non-exec director on the board of a multi-academy trust through our Academy Ambassadors programme.

As an non-exec you will push existing trusts to succeed and give them vital advice and support. We’ve already placed 150 business leaders on boards in this way but the team are ready to place hundreds more.

Ladies and gentlemen we now have a system with academic rigour at its core; with the freedom for teachers and school leaders to innovate; with new qualifications that are pegged to the highest-performing nations in the world; and with higher levels of numeracy and literacy than ever before.

With exceptional heads and principals, excellent teaching practice and business leaders and British institutions doing their bit – we cannot fail.

When our education system is able to unlock the true potential of every child, Britain will realise its true potential as a nation.

So let’s – all of us – commit to making that a reality.

Thank you.

Below is the text of the speech made by Nicky Morgan, the Secretary of State for Education, on 8 February 2016.

Thank you David for that very kind introduction and can I say on behalf of everyone, thank you Deloitte for hosting this event this evening. In particular Denis Woulfe, a member of the Women’s Business Council, who I know was instrumental in making this all possible. Thank you for everything you do on this agenda.

I’m delighted to be here during such an important time for gender equality. Around the world, business leaders, politicians and even Hollywood celebrities are talking about the gender pay gap (GPG).

I think you all have a copy of the report which is fantastic and I encourage you all to read it.

And the Prime Minister couldn’t have been clearer when he said at our Party Conference “You can’t have true opportunity without real equality”. And that’s why one of the first things he announced after the general election was a pledge to eliminate the gender pay gap in a generation.

This is not only the right thing to do but it’s also important for our country. The UK economy is dependent on us harnessing the talent of women, capitalising on the wealth of skill that they bring to our workplaces.

McKinsey estimate that the UK could add £0.6 trillion of additional annual GDP in 2025 by fully bridging the gender gap.

As Ann Francke, who you’re going to hear from shortly puts it so well in the report being launched today “What business leader in their right mind would turn away returns like this?”

The business case is clear, and that’s why I’m so pleased to see so many companies from so many different sectors here today – I know that by working together, we can achieve great things.

The Lord Davies Review is an excellent example of what we can achieve through partnership. Over the last five years, we have more than doubled the number of women on our FTSE 100 boards.

And importantly, we announced only yesterday that Sir Philip Hampton, the Chair of GlaxoSmithKline, will take forward a new review on women on boards which will specifically look at gender diversity and the executive pipeline.

Sir Philip is one of the world’s most influential business leaders and chair of one of the world’s most powerful companies. And when I spoke to him just last week, he told me what a huge privilege it was to work on this agenda.

We need more men to have that attitude. Women’s equality is important for everyone – for women, men, for business and for the next generation.

I don’t believe that it is only incumbent on women to speak out for women’s equality, and I don’t believe that it is for women alone to fight for this – we all have a responsibility. So I’m delighted to see such a diverse audience here tonight.

Sir Philip will be working alongside Dame Helen Alexander, chair of UBM, along with a steering group of inspirational business leaders from all walks of life. This work is crucial to tackling the gender pay gap and I look forward to working with Sir Philip as his review takes shape.

And we mustn’t forget that already Think, Act, Report has created a vast community of best practice on maximising female talent. Around 300 businesses are signed up, collectively employing over 2.5 million people. If you haven’t signed-up yet, I’d urge you to do so and benefit from the advice and support offered.

Together we can continue to drive change and dispel the myths that have often stalled progress.

One of the biggest myths – and often a source of confusion – is around what we even mean by the gender pay gap. Too many still conflate this with equal pay.

Now, the principle of equal pay was won in Dagenham over forty years ago (although that doesn’t mean it still doesn’t need to be enforced), whereas the gender pay gap is something far more complex – something we must all work together to crack – marking the average difference between men and women’s hourly earnings.

Progress

Sometimes we can be too hard on ourselves. We have made significant progress in recent years with the current gender pay gap being the lowest on record. We’ve virtually eliminated the gap for full-time workers under 40 and the gap for the over-40s is shrinking too.

We also have more women in work than ever before: one million more since 2010, women’s salaries are rising, and there are now around over one million women-led SME businesses – more than ever before.

But let me be clear, we cannot be complacent. I want to say something very simple: in our society, which places principles like fairness and opportunity at its heart – ANY gap is still too great.

I know that if we are to end the gender pay gap in a generation we need to do much more. And that’s why one of the first announcements following the election, was the commitment to act on our manifesto pledge to require companies with more than 250 employees to publish the difference between the average pay of their male and female employees.

With over £40 billion paid in bonuses in the UK in 2014-15 and a gender bonus gap of 57%, I welcomed the Prime Minister’s announcement last year that bonuses would also be part of the reporting requirements.

Since then, as you’ve just heard from David at Deloitte, more and more companies are already publishing gender pay information.

We have been learning from those who have already published. Like Tesco, who publish a median gender pay gap, Deloitte who publish a mean gender pay gap and Mitie who publish the numbers of men and women working at different pay bands.

And we have been testing what works using real employee data – because we want this to work in the interests of employers as well as employees.

And we are not alone. Around the world countries like ours are using transparency to drive and accelerate change so that we all have a fair chance at success in the workplace.

Just last week President Obama announced new pay transparency rules for US companies arguing that “women are not getting the fair shot that we believe every single American deserves”.

I expect that every company here today will be aware of these regulations and many of you have provided useful feedback to the first consultation document, which received over 700 responses. Thank you if you took the time to take part.

We will be outlining the full details of these regulations very shortly in the form of a second consultation on the draft regulations themselves where we will ask again for your input.

We are determined to get this right, to ensure that the regulations are fit for purpose and workable for business.

Why transparency is important

However, many people might question what difference these regulations will actually make, if pay transparency will really overturn years of ingrained cultural practices and decades of gender imbalance in business.

The fact is, transparency is one of the most powerful tools that we have for shaping behaviour and driving change.

Transparency will cast a light on the challenges of progressing in the workplace and create the pressure we need to drive change. This will enable the impact of workplace policies and practices to be monitored and discussed.

And don’t just take it from me; take it from the businesses who have already started to benefit from this increased transparency:

Easyjet have said that “being transparent and reporting on gender is helping them to focus on how they can continue to make progress”.
BHP Billiton, who you will hear from shortly, said “experience shows that those items that get measured and disclosed are better understood and acted upon”.

And PWC have said that their “reputation and brand has benefited from gender pay disclosure”.

That’s why events like today are so important – they are about showing what can be achieved through increased transparency.

We have to celebrate this change in business culture and share best practice – and I’m so pleased to see so many of our important trailblazers in the audience today including my former ministerial colleague Jo Swinson. I believe that your determination and achievements will inspire others to follow suit.

And I’m delighted that the Government Equalities Office, alongside Business in the Community will be once again holding the Think, Act, Report Transparency Award later this year.

This is another fantastic opportunity to showcase the range of information already being published. I know Deloitte, BHP Billiton and Sodexo are shortlisted for this year’s award and I’d like to wish them the very best of luck.

I’m also clear that what we expect of business we should expect of ourselves and that’s why I welcomed the Prime Minister’s announcement last year that the gender pay gap regulations will be extended to the public sector.

The public sector pay gap is currently 18.5%, only just below the national average, and although some public bodies already publish pay gap data, I want to ensure that this good practice spreads across all larger public authorities.

Tackling the causes of the Gender Pay Gap and transforming the workplace

So as I’ve said, transparency is one of the greatest tools we have for eliminating the gap, but we must also tackle the root causes. Women working in the UK still earn on average less than men because too few women get to the top and too many are concentrated in lower pay sectors.

To tackle this we must deliver a workplace fit for the 21st century and that’s why we are breaking down the barriers preventing women from progressing to the top:

More than 20 million employees can now request flexible working, providing more choice for working parents;

– we’ve introduced shared parental leave because we know childcare is an issue that affects both mothers and fathers, and;

– we’ve committed to double the free hours of childcare provided for working parents of 3- and 4-year-olds, from 15 hours to 30 hours a week – and we are moving closer to realising this manifesto commitment as our Childcare Bill makes its way through Parliament.

Now many of the businesses in this room have already introduced policies aimed at modernising the workplace and ensuring that their female employees are able to reach their full potential:

So our host Deloitte have introduced a ‘Return-to-work programme’ – the first of its kind in professional services in the UK, to help senior women who have had time away reconnect with the company.
Ford has introduced on-site childcare and dedicated Maternity Advisers for pregnant female employees.

And last week I was at KPMG in Canary Wharf where I heard about the fantastic work being done on diversity, including through the well-established KPMG Network of Women.

Occupational segregation

But as many of the companies in the audience will know, occupational segregation is also a significant contributing factor to the gender pay gap.

Many of the highest paying sectors are disproportionately made up of men while women remain concentrated in lower paid occupations. For instance, women make up 92% of secretaries but only 9% of engineers.

Research shows that those working in science or technological careers are paid, on average, 19% more than other professions.

That’s why we are breaking down the traditional belief that some careers are only ‘for the boys’ through initiatives like the Your Life campaign and the Your Daughter’s Future programme.

We are making good progress with a record 12,000 more STEM A-level entries from girls since 2010.

But if we truly want to close the gender pay gap then we must do more.

We have had some powerful female role models in the past like Ada Lovelace whose passion and vision for technology, have made her a powerful symbol for modern women in the sector. Building on her legacy are women like Roma Agrawal, whose childhood love of Lego inspired her to create iconic buildings like The Shard and inspire today’s women and girls to study STEM subjects.

And I’m delighted that the report published here today highlights some of the excellent work which is already being done to improve female representation in STEM.

Conclusion

I’m a firm believer that actions speak louder than words and that’s why I’m passionate about driving this agenda forward, starting with our drive for pay transparency.

But government cannot do this alone, and that’s why events like today and your commitment are so important. We need you, the businesses of Britain, to seize this opportunity so that together we can make the changes we want to see in our society.

I want to thank you all for the work you have done so far and for your continuing commitment.

Your achievements demonstrate what business can do and how important it is in hiring and retaining the best talent. Every business should commit to ending the gender pay gap because in today’s competitive global market, women who don’t feel truly valued will simply look elsewhere. And who can blame them?

Thank you.