Tag: Nicky Morgan

Below is the text of the speech made by Nicky Morgan, the Secretary of State for Education,held at  Leicestershire Academies Group Spring Conference held at Stamford Court, Leicester University on 4 February 2016.

Thank you, Maxine [Adams, Chair – Leicestershire Academies Group].

It’s a real pleasure to be here today at the Leicestershire Academies Spring Conference and let me wish you a happy anniversary on a year of collaboration!

It’s great to be here as a member of the government – as Secretary of State for Education. And as MP for Loughborough too.

But actually I’m also just a local resident – a local mum, the wife of a school governor, and I feel privileged to be addressing you this morning.

This government has been very clear about its priorities for education in this Parliament, building on the work of the coalition government in the last. Putting it simply, we want to see excellence in education everywhere.

Our reforms have sought to unleash the potential in our schools and give them the freedom to operate in the best interests of their students and their communities.

The academies programme has been at the forefront of that work and under this government we expect to see it grow and expand until all schools become academies. And that isn’t because of some ideological slavishness to the idea of the academies programme.

As you all know – academies really work. We now have 5,500 academies with 65% of all secondary schools as academies and 18% of primaries.

We know that unfortunately too close to home there are authorities and unions who oppose conversion to academy status – the city council tried hard to block the conversion of Rushey Mead, meaning pupils stayed in an under-performing school for over 2 years.

They were prepared to put children’s education to the background by calling strike action at Uplands School and orchestrating the mass resignation of staff.

I think it is wholly wrong to play politics with children’s education.

It shows the importance of our Education and Adoption Bill, which will allow us to intervene swiftly where schools are failing, to bring in new sponsors and I’ll be saying more about the bill in a few moments.

If we are to be a truly world-class education system then we need to make sure that academies performing well are able to share their knowledge and collaborate with each other.

I’m talking about schools like Humberstone Juniors. An academy converter in 2013 that has seen standards rise year on year with pupil attainment moving from 77% of pupils achieving level 4+ at key stage 2 in English and maths in 2012 to 95% achieving it last year.

That’s a massive increase and something to be celebrated but what’s even more impressive is that Humberstone Juniors is taking its approach to driving up standards and now helping other schools to do the same.

If academies are driving excellence in our schools then partnerships are the way to make sure it spreads.

I want to see all our young people – no matter where they are or what their background – accessing high-quality education which helps set them up for their futures.

I think the best way to improve the education system is through school-to-school support and it has become increasingly clear that the best way to do that, the most sustainable, the most accountable, the most efficient way to do that is through multi-academy trusts.

MATs have so many benefits. These range from sharing best teaching practice to the economies of scale. Then of course there are staffing arrangements which can be more flexible, allowing MATs to develop and retain the best teachers who have well defined careers paths which lead them to school leadership roles much sooner.

These benefits are already being seen here in Leicestershire.

I mentioned Humberstone Junior School a few moments ago and I am pleased to say that the Humberstone Multi-Academy Trust was approved as a sponsor last year and Humberstone Infant School is planned to join the trust this year.

New MATs are forming all the time.

Another example in Leicestershire is Wigston Academies Trust, formed less than a year ago when Abington Academy merged with Bushloe High School and took on sponsorship of Guthlaxton College. It had been judged as ‘requires improvement’ by Ofsted in 2014 with 2014 attainment results below expected standards. Wigston Academies Trust was able to implement an improvement plan which included staffing, leadership and the curriculum. Now called Wigston College, it is already showing impressive signs of improvement and what an exciting time it must be for the school.

That is the power MATs can have and we are offering various incentives to join them including the primary academy chain grants and the sponsor capacity fund which gave out over £11 million to 155 sponsors in the last year.

What is required is the vision for a grouping of schools collaborating in the pursuit of high performance and the leadership to make that vision a reality.

Leadership is so important in our schools and in our schools system. It is something DfE is very focused on. It is the impetus that keeps our schools on the path to success. We know that brilliant leadership teams can turn schools around at pace.

That’s why we are investing in the Future Leaders MAT CEO Course; in governors for schools; and Inspiring the future – an active programme to recruit more governors.

School governors are so important because of the skill, expertise and wisdom they bring to running schools.

We believe that the best run schools are those with highly skilled governors who can hold schools to account; play an active role in the path the school takes; and support heads and system leaders to create and sustain excellent educational outcomes.

We want those governors to have access to specific training too, so we have invested, through the National College of Teaching and Leadership, in governor training to help them understand key areas – like data.

If interpreted correctly it can have a huge impact on the success of a school or MAT.

We have local examples of fantastic leadership like the chief executive and head of Kibworth Church of England Primary, Paul Stone – a national leader of education.

Kibworth is a national support school and the lead school in the Affinity Teaching School Alliance. The alliance of 69 schools directly employs 6 national leaders of education, 8 local leaders of education and 40 specialist leaders of education.

Kibworth is part of the Discovery Schools Academy Trust – a strategic partner with the Flying High Trust and Candleby Lane Teaching School Alliance in Nottinghamshire.

Together they have formed, Inspiring Leaders, a not-for-profit partnership company which holds a licence to deliver National College of Leadership programmes, including the national professional qualifications for middle and senior leadership and for headship.

There’s no denying the wealth of talent that is being so widely shared and how amazing to think it is in our county.

Our Education and Adoption Bill, currently making its final passage through Parliament, seeks to create new powers to tackle failing and coasting schools – be they maintained schools or academies.

And that’s because our young people shouldn’t have to accept an education which doesn’t give them access to the kind of future they really want.

Should we stand by and allow any school to fail young people? Absolutely not.

The Education and Adoption Bill puts a duty on me, and my successor secretary of states, to make an academy order for all inadequate maintained schools, ensuring that swift action will always be taken where a maintained school has failed.

Crucially, the Education and Adoption Bill removes the requirement for consultation on whether a school should become an academy – to prevent the unnecessary, prolonged debates that have often prevented a school from being transformed quickly.

We have sought, however, to place a duty on sponsors to communicate with parents about their plans to improve the school, ensuring that – in all cases – parents are given the opportunity to understand just how a sponsor plans to transform their child’s school.

The Education and Adoption Bill, if passed by Parliament, will create a clearer path for all failing schools to be brought under new leadership and ensure that coasting schools are challenged to improve.

It is simply unacceptable that any young person should be held back from fulfilling their potential because their school was unable to provide them with the tools they needed to succeed.

We fully expect the Education and Adoption Bill to become law this year and we are excited about how it will feed into our priorities for the education system. We envisage a school-led system where schools voluntarily convert to become academies, form or join MATs, learn from teaching schools through teaching alliances and – where possible – join collaborative groups like yours.

We are all working towards the same goal and I believe government’s role is to support you in building that collaboration and capacity – because we know how difficult this is.

But where performance is unacceptably low we will use new powers to intervene to change leadership in schools.

We owe it to our young people – whose futures depend on it.

It really has been a pleasure to be here today. Conferences like this are in the spirit of collaboration we see as the future of our education system.

The Leicestershire Academies Group and others like it are crucial to realising that by sharing ideas and bringing together best practice on what really works for young people. This government believes that it is through partnerships like yours that our education system can become truly school-led and truly world-class.

Below is the text of the speech made by Nicky Morgan, the Secretary of State for Education, at King’s College in London on 2 February 2016.

Thank you Professor Byrne [Professor Edward Byrne, President and Principal, King’s College] for that warm welcome and to King’s College too for hosting us today.

My lords, ladies and gentlemen, what a pleasure it is to be here at the Lord Glenamara Memorial Prize giving, to honour amazing young people from the north-east of England.

Honouring them for their excellent academic achievement and outstanding contributions to their schools and communities – things really embodied by the man for whom this prize is named – Edward Short, the Lord Glenamara – one of my predecessors as Secretary of State for Education.

And I am so pleased that we have with us this afternoon Lord MacGregor and Baroness Williams – two former Secretaries of State for Education; and we are also joined by Lord Beecham, another famous son of the north-east and friend to the Short family.

It was in the north-east that Lord Glenamara was a student at the Venerable Bede College, Durham University; a teacher and head at Blyth; a councillor on Newcastle City Council; a Member of Parliament for Newcastle Central; and later named a Member of the House of Lords, taking Glenamara of Glenridding in the county of Durham, as his title.

I think it is fair to say that the prize is awarded in the very spirit of a man who loved the north-east and worked tirelessly throughout his life on behalf of the region.

As Lord MacGregor, Baroness Williams and I can tell you, being the Secretary of State for Education is a huge honour but an enormous responsibility too.

Lord Glenamara was the first former headteacher to take up the role and is said to have regarded leading the Department for Education as his greatest achievement.

He displayed a high regard for academic rigour and early years provision as well as a commitment to education as a tool to achieve social justice – all things on which we agreed, despite hailing from different political traditions.

He was a deft politician, helping to steer his party through times of tribulation and was, at one time, regarded as a potential leadership candidate.

That wasn’t to be, but as a parliamentarian he gave us Short Money and the Register of Members’ Interests – 2 things which are now ingrained in our modern legislature.

I think it is fair to say that he was one of the north-east’s most famous sons and a true giant of British politics.

His commitment to academia, his contribution to the region and his huge presence in the mainstream of British public life are undeniable.

When he passed away in 2012 at the age of 99 this memorial prize was established to celebrate his achievements and to ensure that his legacy inspires younger generations to come.

Now in its fourth year, the number of high-quality candidates this time made it really tough for the judging panel to pick a winner.

The nominees’ hard work and commitment to their communities make them shining examples to their peers and they should all be congratulated.

And I believe there is something that sets these young people apart.

During my tenure as Secretary of State for Education I’ve talked a lot about character.

I think there are many attributes that make up great character, including perseverance, determination and having a strong sense of community – to name just a few.

These traits so often set apart the people who succeed in life from those who don’t.

I believe it is vital that our young people are helped to grow and develop their character and I think Lord Glenamara would have agreed with me on that.

What is obvious is that the young people here today have character in bucket loads.

I’m talking, of course, about the school councillors, the charity volunteers and fundraisers, the prefects, the head girls and head boys, the Members of the Youth Parliament, the mentors and coaches, the youth group leaders and so much more.

It takes great character to offer so much to your community knowing that often there will be little thanks or praise for it.

It’s clear that all the nominees have exciting futures ahead of them and that the north-east will be enriched by the many things they will no doubt go on to achieve.

And our winner – George Hunter – President of his school, elected by his peers and his teachers from a strong field of candidates.

A volunteer, willing to give up his free time, not just to 1 but 2 charities.

A campaigner, taking on one of society’s most taboo subjects, mental health, and encouraging people to engage with it.

An academic, so committed to learning that he has not only won awards himself but tutored other students too.

So it comes as no surprise that despite his heavy workloads both in and out of school, he was able to achieve As and A*s across the board in his GCSEs.

What an exciting future he has ahead of him.

I look forward to welcoming him to my department for his work experience placement very soon.

It has been a delight to be here today – to celebrate these amazing young people from across the north-east.

I would like to thank all of the schools who nominated their students and I really look forward to next year’s prize.

Professor Byrne will now read out the runners-up in alphabetical order and I will present them with their certificates.

Then we will ask the winner to come up so I can present the Lord Glenamara trophy.

Below is the text of the speech made by Nicky Morgan, the Secretary of State for Education, at Floreat School in Wandsworth, London on 21 January 2016.

Thank you for that kind introduction. It is a pleasure to be here.

And it is a pleasure to be hosting the Department for Education’s first character symposium, alongside Floreat Education and Lord O’Shaughnessy – pioneers of what excellent character education looks like.

It’s inspiring to see so many people debating this issue so passionately.

I know that Major Tim Peake has tweeted about this symposium all the way from the International Space Station – so that’s definitely a badge of honour!

As the Prime Minister said in his life chances speech just last week, our aim in politics should be: “To give every child the chance to dream big dreams, and the tools – the character, the knowledge and the confidence that will let their potential shine brightly.”

So this government has made it clear that character matters.

And, as many of you will know, the development of character and mental wellbeing are personal priorities of mine.

As a backbench MP I called for a debate on mental health in the main House of Commons chamber for the very first time and was privileged to lead that debate in 2012.

I was the first Secretary of State to give a minister specific responsibility for mental health – a role Sam Gyimah is carrying out with distinction.

And let me thank Edward Timpson, the minister in my department responsible for character, for his considerable work on this – I know you will hear from him later.

Good character is welcomed by schools, by businesses and by parents alike. It impacts both on educational outcomes and life chances, and I have seen first hand the impact it can have.

Just last week I attended an event being held by the Transformation Trust which gives disadvantaged young people the chance to participate in character-building activities which they otherwise wouldn’t have access to.

I heard from 2 young women, Camila and Rihanna, both only 18 years old, who were articulate, ambitious and accomplished.

They were the embodiment of the impact character education can have on young people.

For too long, character has been seen as ‘soft’ and ‘a nice thing to do’.

I am pleased to say that the debate is shifting and there is greater awareness than ever before of just how important this is.

I firmly believe character education prepares our young people for life in modern Britain, regardless of their background or where they grew up.

A truly one-nation government cannot accept that only some people deserve the opportunities that will help them to get on in life.

Every single child deserves that chance.

And we’re not promoting character on a whim.

Evidence clearly shows that character matters.

Carole Dweck’s work at Stanford, Angela Duckworth’s work on Character Lab, as well as the evidence collected by the Early Intervention Foundation, all point to success being closely linked with character.

This is evidence showing that developing excellent character traits in young people can help them to realise their true potential.

People often ask what we mean when we talk about character.

For me character traits are those qualities that enhance us as people: persistence, the ability to work with others, to show humility in the joy of success and resilience in the face of failure.

Character is about being self-aware, playing an active role within communities. It’s about selflessness and self-discipline as well as playing a full role in society.

It’s fair to say that’s a long list of traits!

But that goes to the very heart of this debate – there is no one clear definition of character.

There is no one easy list of boxes to tick.

We don’t want to set down rigid guidelines on this because character isn’t a one-size-fits-all concept.

It isn’t just one thing.

It’s a combination of the traits that set people apart so they can achieve their dreams.

Business leaders – big and small – tell us time and time again that character is a key component to success.

And we welcome a diverse approach to teaching character.

Our reforms over the last 6 years in education have been about liberating schools to innovate and have the freedom to deliver what really works.

We want schools to choose how best to deliver character education in ways that suit their pupils, their teachers and their communities.

We’ve heard this morning from Janet, and the inspiring work done here in Floreat to instil these traits in their pupils.

We’ve also heard from Ali about the difference the ReachOut mentoring programme has had on his life, and from Danielle – who spoke about the determination that has helped her achieve her goals both academically and in sport.

One of the other myths I’m keen to dispel is that character education, and academic attainment are mutually exclusive. Far from it.

For me, they are 2 sides of the same coin.

Consider for a moment the student who reads aloud for the first time and gets tongue tied – will they rush to do it again without encouragement?

What about another who is asked to recite times tables in front of their class and gets stuck – will they fall over themselves to repeat the exercise?

Probably not.

But with character comes the confidence and determination not to be beaten.

It’s that attitude that says “dust yourself off and try again”.

We know that some of the best schools are already prioritising good character education.

Whenever I go to visit schools – and I’ve visited my fair share – I always make a point of asking what they do to promote character, mental health and wellbeing.

And at the Department for Education my officials talk to those schools doing it well – to understand the key to their success. And the one thing I’ve heard over and over again is that the best schools embed character in everything they do – from their ethos, to their curriculum, to the extra-curricular activities they offer.

Oakthorpe Primary School in Derbyshire has developed an ethos that’s focused around reciprocity, reflection, resourcefulness and resilience.

Haywood Academy in Stoke-on-Trent offers a range of character-building activities through motivational speakers, army cadet units and theatre programmes.

I have had the pleasure of visiting the Birmingham University Free School where character education runs through everything they do, as well the Goldbeaters Primary School in London, where we launched the On the Front Foot programme with elite rugby coaches.

And also Redhill School in Stourbridge where students are encouraged to play a positive role in the life of the school and the wider community through fundraising, work experience and sports.

Pupils were invited to speak at the Conservative Party Conference and talk about why character education matters to them – and let me tell you, they received one of the biggest standing ovations of the day.

I want every single pupil to benefit from that kind of character education.

That’s why we are building the evidence base so we can develop the best approaches and make sure all schools have access to this information.

That’s why we will provide an online digital platform where teachers can share best practice about character education, evaluate new ideas and find online professional development materials – as well as sharing their own data to build a proper evidence base.

And we will look to the Character Awards as a gold standard as to what works in character education.

Today is a celebration of the excellent work already being done. To those schools whose efforts are to be applauded – thank you.

But also to the businesses who are building lasting partnerships with schools and doing their bit to further the building of character in our young people – thank you, too.

I think it’s vitally important that businesses take a role here because the character traits we instil in young people should reflect the type of workforce our modern economy wants and needs.

That includes companies like Barclays, which has developed a Life Skills programme to develop the skills young people need to increase employability, and British Gas, which is supporting the fantastic Duke of Edinburgh scheme.

We have sought, like no government before us, to bring business people into the education system.

That’s why we now have businesses sponsoring schools, becoming governors and offering work experience.

We want this relationship between business and education to continue to go from strength to strength.

That is why we will be launching, as the Prime Minister set out, a new business mentoring programme, led by the Careers and Enterprise Company.

I know their chief executive, Claudia Harris, is here today and will be leading the conversation on how we can make sure all young people develop the skills they need to thrive in the workplace.

And that’s just one of the many conversations happening today.

We want to give you the opportunity to influence our thinking on character and, ultimately, our policies.

So we’ll be asking for your views on how we can work with voluntary and charitable sector organisations to really expand this agenda.

And there are plenty of avenues for our young people to go down in the pursuit of character building.

For example, the National Citizen Service, which gives children the chance to benefit from character education no matter their background, and no matter where in the country they live.

We want every child to be able to access this, and that’s why the Prime Minister announced we’ll be expanding funding to the programme by more than a billion pounds so that 60% of 16 and 17 year olds will be able to take part.

We are keen to work with as many partners as possible and make sure that schools can access the best evidence possible.

Because, as I have said, I want excellent character education to be the norm across schools – so that every single child in every single school knows that they are getting the education they deserve and so that when they leave school, they are truly prepared for the next steps they take.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your afternoon and I look forward to seeing how we can work together to put character education to the top of the agenda and make sure it benefits all young people.

Every single child deserves the best education possible, and we owe it to children everywhere to make sure that character is at the heart of that.

Thank you.

Below is the text of the speech made by Nicky Morgan, the Secretary of State for Education, at the BETT trade show held at ExCel, London, on 20 January 2016.

I spoke 2 days ago at the Education World Forum and in opening this session of BETT I officially close the forum until 2017.

I hope ministers from around the world found it as constructive as I – and my ministers – did and I’m sure we are all looking forward to sharing our ideas again next year.

It is such a treat to be here at BETT again.

This showcase of education technology continues to go from strength to strength. There is no doubt that British exports of ICT products are stronger than ever with a more than 5% increase last year alone.

It’s brilliant to have the best minds from Britain and around the world here and I’m really keen to see some of the stalls when I get the chance to have a walk round.

Broadband in schools

I’m excited by the possibilities for the education profession opened up by technology. The creativity and passion of so many in this sector is irresistible.

But it’s the inevitable nature of it that some ideas will flourish while others fall by the wayside. So whilst we’re not in the business of picking winners we do want to make sure every young innovator in this country has the access to the sector they need.

That’s why, as part of our long-term economic plan, we’re backing broadband to the tune of £1.3 billion. So that it doesn’t matter where our children are – at home or at school, inner-city academies or countryside schoolhouses – they will have that access.

Big brains are big brains no matter where they come from.

I’m concerned much more with where they’re going and if we are serious about being a world leader then we have to nurture all our talent. And this drives to the heart of our mission to spread educational excellence everywhere. Because a one nation government must open doors to all students, of all talents.

Computing in the curriculum

I want our next generation to have the skills to compete in the global jobs market. That’s why we have put in place a computing curriculum that gives them the basic building blocks but also seeks to give them specialist knowledge too.

So we are championing the teaching of coding throughout each key stage. Last month I had the pleasure of attending an Hour of Code initiative at Downing Street where the Prime Minister and I had a tutorial alongside children from Eastlea.

I won’t say which one of us picked it up quicker! But I will say that getting these foundations in place early on is vital.

I’ve just had a look at the BBC’s codeable micro:bit computers I saw at Downing Street that day. They are a fantastic way to spark an initial interest in technology in our young people.

We are committed to world-class computer science qualifications to give our students, as well as employers, the confidence they really need. That’s why computer science is at the heart of the new computing curriculum and I’m pleased to say that our reformed Computer Science GCSE and A level are on a par with the best in the world.

But I must stress that equipping the future workforce is not a mission for government alone. Employers have a role to play too.

Last week I visited the Fashion Retail Academy – a vocational college founded and led by giants of fashion retail. They offer courses designed to give students the skills employers really want, including a suite of digital qualifications to complement their more traditional ones.

It is these kinds of partnerships that will lead Britain to be the very best at vocational training because they are focused on what the economy needs.

Technology not a substitute

We have made it clear over the last 6 years in government that knowledge is the key to excellent educational outcomes. A rigorous curriculum, putting the right foundations in place, alongside high quality assessments are the embodiment of that.

Probably the worst attitude we can take is that access to search engines is somehow a substitute for knowledge.

It isn’t.

That’s why we have put in place the EBacc – a core set of qualifications – to ensure that all our children are getting a firm basis of knowledge on which to grow their skills. A set of qualifications that – let’s not forget – include Computer Science as an option.

The best teachers

And we’ve made it clear that teachers are our greatest resource because you can’t have an excellent education system without the highest quality teachers at its frontline. Which is why we have committed to bringing the very best candidates into the teaching of Computer Science as well as developing the talent already there.

The Computing At School Network of Excellence has provided over 56,000 instances of professional development to teachers since the autumn of 2012, in part due to DfE funding and with thanks to funding from our partners in the private sector, such as Microsoft. This includes formal training events, mentoring, coaching, peer observation, peer partnering to develop resources and co-teaching.

What’s more, with 10 universities now providing regional coordination for the network, the level of support to teachers has doubled year on year. We also know that the professional development teachers receive has a tremendous impact in the classroom.

Technology as an aid to running schools

So we see teachers as our greatest resource but there are plenty of ways in which we see technology as an aid. As a starting point there are things that ease the smooth running of school days like capturing data for class registers, attainment and pupil progress. The paper trails that create work for teachers already rushed off their feet and we are keen to see what innovations the sector can come up with on this. Then there is the use of data to better plan technology strategies in schools.

I know that the British Educational Suppliers Association and Naace have done a really interesting piece of work on this in their ‘Leadership briefing paper’ which seeks to guide system leaders on how to make the best use of the technology they have and make smarter use of other technology, allowing them to plan ahead using previously unavailable evidence and research.

This advice is being given out for free here at BETT and I hope schools make good use of it.

Open Standards principles

While we’re talking about data I should mention our Open Standards principles. Too often it is difficult to get data out of systems used in education without considerable effort.

As a consequence people re-key information or send similar data to different people using different systems. This wastes money and constrains the power of data. Put simply, systems need to be able to talk to each other better.

Within our daily lives system integration allows information to flow seamlessly behind the scenes to benefit users. It requires 2 things: a will to improve, and commitment to implementing common standards.

Common data standards will help us overcome this.

My department intends to begin prototyping new systems for data collection – data exchange – in 2016. It will implement common data standards and work with the Access 4 Learning Community who have achieved great things locally and internationally.

This will make it easier for schools to share data with us. It will reduce our data burden on the sector and provide, and enhance both what we know, and how quickly we know it.

Better system integration should allow education technology firms to enable easier data movement within and between schools.

Adaptive assessments

So where do we see technology impacting teaching outcomes?

One exciting area is assessments. The instant nature of online and computerised testing has obvious potential to lighten teacher workloads as well as collect data. The analysis of that data can be invaluable to teachers and system leaders in their pursuit of excellent educational outcomes. Informing them which parts of the curriculum they are teaching well and signalling where there is room for improvement.

What’s more is that these assessments are becoming more intelligent, allowing the tests to grow with the students. This is really exciting because it means assessments can be tailored in real time to the needs of students. Benefiting high-performing students by stretching them to the very top of their abilities. And, for lower-performing students, tailoring assessments to shepherd them away from misapprehensions toward more accurate understanding of a given subject.

There are established market leaders in this area such as GL Assessment and the Centre for Evaluation Monitoring but there are exciting new prospects, too.

Just last week, the Minister of State for Schools, Nick Gibb, met with a new player in this field.

Colin Hegarty, an award winning teacher, has created a website which combines maths tutorials and formative assessments. Constantly growing, his website currently has 1000 tutorials and 400,000 questions covering every area of the national curriculum at key stages 2, 3 and 4. The website is already being trialled in 70 schools and Colin Hegarty expects to be able to market it later this year. And this is just one example of the exciting education technology prospects in Britain right now.

Security and cyber bullying

So there are plenty of ways in which we see access to technology improving the running of schools as well as educational outcomes. But it isn’t just access our children need. They need that access to be safe and appropriate too.

And we want parents to have confidence in the way their children are using technology. There are excellent examples at the moment such as the Family First app by Group Call. It uses GPS in mobile phones to help parents keep track of their children’s whereabouts, allowing them to check that they have arrived safely to school, alerting them if they stray from their usual schedule.

As a parent I think Family First is fantastic example of how we can take technology we are already using and combine it with clever software to make something that really works.

But we know of the dangers technology poses to our children too. That’s why we announced a consultation in December on measures requiring schools to take the strongest possible action to protect children from harm online – including cyber bullying, pornography and the risk of radicalisation – and teach them about safeguarding too.

Government is doing all it can to harness technology in this area, including just yesterday launching the Educate Against Hate website. The site offers advice based on our own resources and the work of charities who seek to protect our young people from the influence of radicalism.

And it isn’t just our children who need to be kept safe online. Anyone who shops or banks online needs to be protected too.

In Britain cyber security contributes over £17 billion to the economy with a 39% increase in the years 2013 to 2014.

In November the Chancellor announced a Cyber Security Programme for schools.

Utilising our homegrown experts, it will use classroom as well as extracurricular activities to instruct and mentor our best young minds to become the cyber security professionals our country really needs and ensure Britain is leading the way in this vital sector.

It is so inspiring to see the many wonderful innovations on show here today and I hope you all enjoy the rest of BETT 2016.

This government is excited about education technology and wants to see the sector grow but we are also thoughtful about how it should be used. We see education technology as an aid to excellent schools and excellent teachers, not a replacement for them.

We believe that in, line with our long term economic plan, education technology must represent good value for money in our education system. Where technology is evidence based and outcome driven – where it really works – we will back it all the way.

And we believe that all our children can benefit from innovations in technology that will help them develop both the knowledge and the skills they need to succeed in modern Britain and the modern world.

Thank you.

Below is the text of the speech made by Nicky Morgan, the Secretary of State for Education, at Bethnal Green Academy in London on 19 January 2016.

It really is a pleasure to speak here at Bethnal Green Academy

A school that as we’ve just heard, knows all too well the devastating impact that extremist ideology can have on young people, schools and whole communities.

I know that this has been an immensely difficult time for everyone involved here, but I want to commend Mark [Keary – Principal of Bethnal Green Academy and CEO of Green Spring Education Trust] and his staff for the leadership that they’ve shown in the face of this tragedy.

I spoke to Mark shortly after the girls fled and was impressed then by his determination to ensure that other students’ education was not interrupted.

And for the whole school’s commitment, as he outlined to me at the time, to ensure that pupils here continue to thrive in a safe, tolerant environment where the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance are enshrined in everything you do. Thank you to Mark, and all of your staff and leadership team.

If you’d been drawing up the job description for Secretary of State for Education, just 5 years ago, I’d doubt that tackling extremism would have featured at all. How different things are today.

In fact, my first task as Education Secretary was to respond in Parliament to Peter Clarke’s report on the Trojan Horse affair in Birmingham.

Since then I have led a department which has found itself at the forefront of the fight to protect and safeguard young people from the threat of extreme and fundamentalist ideologies.

And that threat is like no enemy we have faced before – an enemy not defined by physical geography, but by a shared set of warped beliefs.

An enemy that thanks to new technology has a potential channel from camps in Syria to homes right here in the United Kingdom – an enemy determined to take away our future by focusing their efforts to target the next generation.

Defeating such an enemy requires a co-ordinated response. Not just from the police, intelligence and security services, but from civil society – from schools and from parents.

Because left unchecked those that seek to destroy our way of life start to do so, by, as the Prime Minister said at the Conservative Party Conference last year, putting poison in the minds and hatred in the hearts of impressionable young people.

It’s hard to comprehend that promising, bright girls from this school took the decision to leave their homes, families and country to join a brutal terrorist group.

But I do know this, they didn’t take that decision alone – instead they were systematically targeted and groomed.

Daesh has developed sophisticated social media strategies to allow them to spread their lies and propaganda on an unprecedented scale.

They prey on and exploit young people’s vulnerabilities – claiming to offer them an identity and a sense of belonging, which is nothing more than a fiction built on lies and manipulation.

That’s why, just as we so proactively take steps to safeguard children from sexual exploitation, the threat of gangs, drugs or FGM [female genital mutilation], we must all of us here today stand together as government, parents, teachers, heads, charities and civil society groups.

All of us must work to protect children from the threat that Daesh poses.

Doing that isn’t easy.

Far from it. I absolutely understand the concerns of teachers and school staff who’ve said to me, this isn’t our role, this isn’t why I came into the profession, it’s not what schooling should be about.

But to those teachers and staff I say this – the most powerful thing that you can do to keep young people safe, are the things that you do every single day:

engaging, broadening horizons and challenging young minds
ensuring young people leave school as well-rounded young people – ready to be active citizens, able to participate in society, with an understanding of the responsibility that brings
That is why our work to tackle extremism – and specifically the Prevent duty are absolutely not about shutting down debate in schools – in fact they’re about reinvigorating it.

Because what defines every extremist organisation throughout history is that more than anything else their mission is to close and narrow young minds – to indoctrinate, instruct and inspire hatred.

That’s what we saw in the Birmingham schools at the heart of the Trojan Horse Affair: a concerted attempt to limit young people’s world view and spread poisonous views which had no place in our education system.

That’s why we are taking action to remove those responsible from our classrooms and have put robust measures in place to prevent anyone else from being able to do the same again.

But that action alone will not be enough to keep young people safe. Alongside tackling extremists directly, we must also ensure that young people understand British values – that they have the tools and arguments they need to challenge extremism and to deconstruct the false claims of groups like Daesh.

It means that schools and universities need to be able to recognise the difference between a debate involving an academic controversialists like Germaine Greer and some of the events hosted by groups like CAGE, which have no place on our campuses and certainly not in our schools.

That isn’t easy, there’s no hard and fast rule, age appropriateness matters, as do the motivations of the speakers.

It requires judgement – but just as we must be absolutely clear that we should never give those who peddle extremist ideologies entry in to our schools or colleges, so too we must guard against inadvertently hiding young people from views which we simply think are wrong and disagree with.

We will not do young people any favours by wrapping them in cotton wool or subscribing to a definition of safe spaces that makes young people more fragile, and that seeks to protect young people from offence rather than from extremism.

The difference matters.

I hold no truck with the move on some campuses to limit debate and ban those with offensive rather than extremist views.

Far better, I think, to tackle Germaine Greer’s wrong-headed views about gender identity in open debate.

Because it’s the resilience that young people develop through that challenge and debate which will be their best defence should they ever then find themselves confronted by the truly hateful views of extremist groups.

I hope that all of you as educators will agree with me that our approach to protecting young people must be twofold.

We must continue to root out those who peddle extremism in our schools, but at the same time we must equip young people with the mental agility, arguments and insight to see through and overcome the propaganda of extremist groups, be it the Islamist extremism of Daesh or the fundamentalism of the far right.

As a government we are determined, and I am determined, to provide schools with the support they need to do this.

That is why I am delighted to be launching the Educate Against Hate website today alongside the Minister for Security [John Hayes MP].

The site brings together the best advice, support and resources available for parents, teachers and school leaders who want to learn how to protect young people from extremism and radicalisation, and that really is the result of successful collaboration between the Department for Education, the Home Office, the NSPCC, Internet Matters, Childnet, ParentZone, UK Internet Safety Centre, and the many other organisations who have contributed resources.

What’s so important about this resource is that it doesn’t just offer information for teachers and schools – but parents as well.

While schools may be able to spot the signs of radicalisation, the truth is much of it takes place beyond the school gates, in families or friendship groups, in communities and increasingly online.

That means parents must be equipped to help protect their children from extremism.

They need to understand the threat that extremist organisations pose, how radicalisation happens, what the warning signs look like and who to turn to for support if they are ever worried.

The information and advice available on Educate Against Hate will be an invaluable resource in helping them to do that and I encourage all parents to visit the site and familiarise themselves with the information it provides.

But as I said, schools also play a key role in spotting the signs of radicalisation – just as they do when young people experience other threats or difficulties, such as CSE [child sexual exploitation], eating disorders, mental health problems or drugs.

Schools can pick up those behavioural changes which may signal that a student is being radicalised before their peers or even their parents have spotted those signs.

That is why it is so important that schools see protecting children from radicalisation as part of their safeguarding duties. I know that the vast majority of staff in schools do this already and want to play their part.

And I want Educate Against Hate to become a tool that helps them do that.

It provides up-to-date, practical advice that will help heads and governors understand the procedures their school should have in place to robustly tackle the threat, and will help teachers facing these issues in the classroom to understand radicalisation, its warning signs, and crucially where they can get further support.

Further resources, particularly those that help teachers to build children’s critical thinking skills, will be added over the coming months.

And as the threat evolves, as we know it will, the site will be updated so that it continues to be a live and relevant source of support.

Alongside this, I want to make sure that wherever children are being educated they are safe. I have said before, and I reiterate today, I fundamentally support the right of parents to decide where and how to educate their children.

Our duty as the government is to make sure that those children are safe from harm. So when children are taken out of school and taken off the register, we must know where they end up to ensure they are safe not just from radicalisation, but also from female genital mutilation, forced marriage and child sexual exploitation.

That is why, today I am also launching a consultation on improving communication and co-ordination between schools and local authorities to help them quickly and effectively identify children who are missing from education.

By strengthening regulations and allowing local authorities to obtain the information they need, we will ensure that they don’t waste time filling information gaps, but instead focus efforts and resources on children who are at risk.

Finally, alongside protecting children who are missing in education, we will take action to tackle those institutions where children are being educated in illegally operating unregistered schools.

And let me be clear what I mean by an unregistered school, I mean an institution that is operating and educating young people full time and therefore should be subject to the same requirements as any other school.

These unregistered schools often fail to meet even basic safety and educational requirements – putting young people at risk, and in some cases evidence suggests subjecting them to extreme and intolerant views.

For too long these illegal schools have been operating under the radar. No more.

Let me be clear if you operate an unregistered school, you are committing a criminal offence and will face the consequences.

We have been working closely with Ofsted and local authorities to identify and tackle these schools, and the Chief Inspector has powers to make unannounced visits to any institution that he suspects is operating unlawfully as an independent school.

Indeed, these powers have already allowed Ofsted to work with the local authority to secure the closure of several unregistered schools operating in Birmingham.

But we must do more to take tough action against those who disregard the law in this area, and so I have agreed to give Ofsted additional resources so that they can go out on the ground to locate and investigate unregistered schools.

I have also instructed Ofsted to start preparing prosecutions against the proprietors of these schools.

Britain’s classrooms have for centuries shaped great minds, who in turn have gone on to shape the course of history.

That is why it is so important that we do everything we can to ensure they remain places of enquiry and engagement, not breeding grounds for intolerance and indoctrination.

There will be no single knockout blow against those who seek to corrupt young people, but the action we are taking, to protect children inform parents and support teachers will put us firmly on the front foot.

It demonstrates our total commitment towards ensuring that we prevail in the battle against hateful extremist ideologies.

Because we want to ensure that every single child is where they should be – receiving a great education that will help them to build a bright future.

Thank you.

Below is the text of the speech made by Nicky Morgan, the Secretary of State for Education, to the Education World Forum at Westminster Hall, in London, on 19 January 2016.

What a pleasure it is to be here at the Education World Forum again.

It has become a unique meeting of education ministers from around the world and I am personally very proud to be here.

It’s so good to see so many of you, not only willing, but eager to share with us what is happening in education in your countries.

I know that ministers in my department have hugely enjoyed recent meetings with ministers from France, Pakistan, the Netherlands, Uruguay, Brazil, Turkey, Canada and others.

To discuss and witness first-hand, areas as diverse as early years, the curriculum, attendance, teacher recruitment and vocational education. Last month I met with the Japanese education minister, Hiroshie Hase, to discuss values and citizenship. This sharing of ideas and knowledge makes so much sense because of the globalised world in which we live.

Our neighbours may be our competitors, and I make no secret of wanting England to be a world leader in education, but they are also our partners. The truth is that educational performance isn’t a zero-sum game.

I hope that as a result of this forum each of us will feel that what we have learned will strengthen and improve our approach to education policy, which ultimately enables all of us to better extend opportunity for the next generation.

I know there is so much for us to share here and that particular strides forward are being made worldwide on school inspections, curriculums, assessments and performance tables.

PISA

The truth is that nobody has perfected every aspect of education policy. And international benchmarking tells us much about what we need to improve.

For instance here in England we know – from the OECD’s library of PISA data alongside their comprehensive ‘Education at a Glance’ and other studies that the gap between our highest and our lowest-performing pupils is substantial compared to other countries.

We know that pupils approaching the end of secondary education do not perform as well as their peers from a number of countries worldwide and that, as a result, they are not as well prepared for the next phase of their life as their international colleagues.

From the same sources we know that other countries achieve incredible levels of performance in different areas and I want us to learn from those jurisdictions: Shanghai and Singapore have quite literally ‘mastered’ the teaching of maths, and we are beginning to unpick how through our successful exchange programmes in the last year.

In Germany only 2.9% of 15- to 19-year-olds are neither in education, employment or training (NEET). In Macao, Hong Kong and Estonia, pupil performance is much less strongly associated with pupil backgrounds than is the case in other countries, including England.

But there are also many exciting things happening here in England and I would like to share some key themes from what is happening here, framed within our conference theme: a new start for learning and skills through the prism of the sustainable development goals.

Sustainable development goals

How appropriate that the sustainable development goals should be our theme this year considering education not only forms one of the 17 goals but informs the targets on many others.

Unlike the millennium development goals that preceded them, the sustainable development goals are outward-focusing; they are not confined either in letter or in spirit to developing nations but – quite rightly – are goals to which all nations should aspire.

And I am so very pleased and proud the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, was so involved in shaping this agenda.

Education as a sustainable development goal

The millennium development goals did much for education – for example, a near 50% decrease in the number of children not in school – but the focus needed to be widened beyond access to education in general. I think sustainable development goal 4 does exactly that.

It calls for us to:

“Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning for all.”

There are 10 targets attached to it and the first of these is about ensuring all children complete free, quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes.

I think this is crucial for 2 reasons. The first key component is quality. That is to say it isn’t enough simply to have access to education but the provision must be excellent too.

Here in England we have made it our mission to spread educational excellence everywhere.

As I said last year at this forum, all children deserve excellent teachers. Countries like Korea and Japan have demonstrated that this is possible.

Here in England we are introducing a national teaching service to deploy our best teachers and best school leaders to areas that have struggled to recruit and have the most need of new teachers. Our Prime Minister, David Cameron, said just last week that we should give all young people the opportunity to dream big.

To do that our young people need an excellent grounding in education and so we have sought to raise standards at every tier of education and every level of ability.

This time last year we declared our determination to tackle illiteracy and innumeracy for primary school students.

Additionally, in our manifesto last year we committed to matching the standards of reading of the best readers in Europe.

It is a high bar but we want the very best for our young people. Because we know that maths and English are non-negotiable for future success.

And let me say something about knowledge. There are those who say that a knowledge based education system is outdated. They claim that our young people need only creativity, imagination and critical thinking skills to get on in life.

Don’t get me wrong – they do need those. But my view is that these skills cannot be acquired without an excellent knowledge base.

Renowned cognitive psychologists like Daniel T. Willingham have produced compelling research to suggest that knowledge is crucial to educational success.

We have therefore focussed on a rigorous, quality curriculum that accepts knowledge as a necessity in the pursuit of skills.

The second key component is the call for education to lead to relevant and effective learning outcomes. For me this means that the education we are offering to young people should prepare them for their future.

One of the ministers in my department visited an innovative project in Norway recently. The Jåttå School offers 6 vocational routes which are the basis for around 100 individual occupations.

The minister was impressed by the school’s approach to building partnerships with other vocational schools, community leaders and employers – noting that its focus on achieving excellent career outcomes for its pupils. Its success is marked by the fact that it is highly oversubscribed.

Here in England we have stripped away outdated vocational training courses that failed to give young people any advantage in the jobs market and have overseen the opening of university technical colleges.

These are specialist colleges for 14- to 19-year-olds, sponsored by universities; they teach the national curriculum alongside high-quality vocational courses.

They are designed to give their students the skills employers really want.

They are focused on knowledge as well as outcomes.

We have done more than any government before us to bring business leaders – both big business and small and medium-size enterprises – into the process of education as well as its governance.

We now have business sponsoring schools, acting as non-executive directors, shaping school mission statements, informing curriculums and driving careers advice.

This is because we take the view that business knows what business needs and with their expertise, complementing the work of excellent schools, we can truly deliver a truly excellent education system. One that ensures our school leavers are workforce ready.

Character and resilience

We believe there is another component that is vital if our young people are to succeed in life and that is character.

I’m talking about the grit, resilience and determination: the ability to work with others, to be humble in the face of success, to bounce back from life’s disappointments.

We are convinced that where character education can complement excellent academic study our students can become the well-rounded citizens we really want them to be.

We are looking at innovative ways of bringing character education into schools which includes input from our sports people, first-aiders, social enterprises – with trials happening up and down the country.

Just this week I am meeting a former England Rugby Captain and World Cup winner to discuss character education. He knows what it’s like to be under pressure, win or lose.

The mentality of an elite sports team is built around the idea of pursuing success collectively – working together, complementing each other’s skills and having clear measures of what success should look like.

This is the mentality any company, whether it’s a small business or a large corporation, expects from its workforce.

We want to give our young people as much opportunity as possible to build their character and we have directed funding towards this important educational tool.

Over the coming years we are confident that we can become a world leader in character education.

Conclusion

As ever, it is a real pleasure to come to this forum and I look forward to seeing many of you at the BETT fair on Wednesday too.

I think the sustainable development goals give us an excellent opportunity to refocus education policy and truly have a new start for learning and skills.

We need to ensure that it isn’t just access to education we offer but access to quality education. That our education systems are designed to lead to the outcomes our students and our economies need and want.

And that our school leavers are workforce ready through the character and resilience building they need to get on in life.

Education can be truly life transforming and is the most powerful tool we have to respond to this challenging world. And our challenges are many – economic change, climate change, inequality and extremism to name but a few.

Let’s resolve to continue to work together, to share knowledge of what works and what doesn’t, and to pursue the sustainable development goals for the good of our global community.

Thank you.

Below is the text of the speech made by Nicky Morgan, the Secretary of State for Education, at Kensington Town Hall in London on 14 January 2016.

Thank you Andrew [Christie, Director of Children’s Services for the Tri-borough, who will shortly be Children’s Services Commissioner in Birmingham] for that kind introduction. It is a pleasure to be here in Kensington and Chelsea – one of our most innovative local authorities.

I am delighted that you’ll be joining us as one of our partners in practice, and I look forward to my department working very closely with you over the coming years to achieve something truly remarkable.

Social workers change lives. They have the ability not just to improve the circumstances of vulnerable children but to change them, and therefore their futures, entirely.

That is why supporting social workers, and giving them the tools they need, is a priority for this government and a personal priority for me as Secretary of State.

In my role as Education Secretary I often say that everyone has an opinion on education. Each one of us went to school and the majority of us have at least one family member or friend who is a teacher. From my own family I get plenty of advice!

Yet most of us have never had any real engagement with social services. We’ve never been through the care system and we’ve never seen first-hand those heart wrenching situations social workers see on a daily basis.

The importance of social work

Social workers are, indeed, our country’s unsung heroes. There can be no doubt that social work is one of the most demanding professions in the world.

It is a difficult, often thankless task where the stakes are high, and the credit is low.

So let me first say a heartfelt thank you to the thousands of social workers supporting our most vulnerable children and families, day in and day out. I’ve heard about cases like:

– a 15 year old boy, repeatedly abused by an older man, who eventually made a full disclosure to the police with the specialist support of a social worker

– and the foster carers at breaking point, thinking they may have to give up the care of 2 brothers, who with the support of highly skilled social workers developed the skills and confidence to carry on

And we have outstanding practitioners like Isabelle Trowler, the Chief Social Worker for Children and Families, who has been working tirelessly with government for the past 2 years.
And experts like Sir Martin Narey and Alan Wood, who have been asked to lead reviews on children’s residential care and multi-agency working.

And of course, Edward Timpson, from my own ministerial team, who has been passionately championing this agenda for years, and who sadly cannot be here today because his mother Alex passed away last week after a long illness.

The Timpson family have fostered around 90 children over the years, as well as adopting two boys. They are a shining example of the selfless love and support that is so desperately needed by the children we serve.

The challenge ahead

While there can be no doubt that we have many deeply committed and truly inspirational social workers, we don’t have excellent children’s social services everywhere.

And we know that when there are mistakes, or when people aren’t given the support they need – the consequences can be heart-breaking. Cases like Baby Peter Connelly, Daniel Pelka or Hamzah Khan.

Cases which show that this work can literally be a matter of life and death.

As the Prime Minister has made clear, we must give every child the best start in life and make sure that every child can fulfil their potential – regardless of the circumstances they were born into.

And we must make sure our support for the most vulnerable is at the heart of that commitment.

Reforming the system

We have a huge task at hand:

– last year, over 630,000 children were referred to children’s social care

– over 400,000 children were in need of support, with a significant proportion of these children having suffered abuse or neglect
and we now know more about challenges like online grooming, child sexual exploitation and child trafficking – all abhorrent crimes

Eileen Munro’s 2011 landmark review of child protection showed that politicians in the past had created a system that was too often concerned with the process of social work rather than its outcomes; one which left social workers confused and demoralised and prevented them doing what they do best – changing the lives of children and families.

We inherited a system where:

– practitioners have been made to follow rigid processes instead of being allowed to do ‘what works’

– an overwhelming weight of bureaucratic burden, where the need to tick boxes, degraded professional autonomy and distorted our focus on what vulnerable children needed

– inflexible working meant children’s needs were not always at the centre of decision making

Progress has been made

Over the course of the last Parliament we made significant moves towards reforming the children’s social care system.

Colleagues in the Home Office, local government and in my own department have worked hard to address the challenges we have faced.

We have made real progress in stripping back bureaucracy, securing crucial additional support for children in care, and reforming adoption.

Recent announcements – such as our plans to intervene more decisively in failing authorities, Alan Wood’s review of local safeguarding children boards, and the Narey review of residential care will take this forward.

And today I am announcing that we will invest more in adoption services and change the law to make sure adoption is always pursued where it is in a child’s best interest, so no child misses out on a loving and stable home.

But I also recognise that successive governments have neglected this area.

Because children’s social care doesn’t have the same ‘universal appeal’ as schools or hospitals.

And because it serves some of society’s most disempowered people, who don’t have the same sharp elbows – clamouring for more to be done.

I stand here today to tell you – we have not yet done enough.

That is why one of my first priorities on returning to my role in May was to revolutionise children’s social work.

In fact, only this week, the Prime Minister said that he believed our reforms to child protection would be the ‘landmark reforms of the next 5 years’.

It is time to inject the same ambition we injected into our education system, into children’s social care.

That same intolerance of failure, that same passion for high standards. It is time to say ‘ok’ is not good enough for these children, and that where there is failure – we can no longer sit by and watch.

As a country we should feel ashamed that more than 20 local authorities today are failing, and some have been doing so for years.

That is why I want to make a serious of commitments over the next 5 years:

– to make sure children’s social care is led by the best, and that we give those excellent leaders the freedom to innovate

– to get the best and brightest graduates into the profession, and to make sure they have the training they need

– to strip back the red tape that stifles innovation; and instead, introduce a system of checks and balances that holds the system to account in the right way
– and as the Prime Minister pledged just a few weeks ago – to intervene in any local authority found to be failing, and where this failure is persistent or systemic, take services away

My department will set out over the coming months exactly how we plan to achieve this from the front door of children’s social care right through to services for care leavers, and everything in between.

Getting the best social work workforce possible

Just as we know that we can’t have great schools without great teachers – our child protection system needs excellent people at its heart. It is on the shoulders of social workers that the success of the system rests.

Just 5 years ago, social workers had no clear statement of the knowledge and skills they needed to work effectively with children.

Under the old system there were literally hundreds of pages of guidance.

Social workers do not need that kind of prescription, but they do need to know what is expected of them and what professional standard they need to meet.

Put simply, we needed to establish the core knowledge and skills every practitioner needed to do their job well.

That is why, just over a year ago, at the NCAS Conference, I announced that we would set out new social work knowledge and skills statements at three levels – front line practitioner, practice supervisor and practice leader.

Thanks to this government, social workers now have that clarity for the first time ever.

Working with Isabelle Trowler, a frontline practitioner and expert in her field, we have developed the clearest statements ever on the skills and knowledge social workers need.

But it is not enough just to state what is expected. We need to now use these statements to assess and accredit social workers so we can have confidence in every frontline practitioner.

There are currently over 20 local authorities across the country trialling this, involving over 1,000 social workers, and I have been delighted by the enthusiasm with which local authorities have come forward to help us.

I want every children’s social worker to have accredited status.

That’s why I am delighted to be able to announce today that we will be rolling out this programme nationwide so that children’s social workers across the country, at every level, will be fully assessed and accredited by 2020.

Improving leadership

Strong leadership is also vital to our reforms.

Just as teachers deserve the support of great headteachers, I want the next generation of social workers to have excellent leadership. Someone with experience who knows what it’s like to make tough decisions; balance complex workloads and still stay grounded.

That is why we are putting in place a system of assessment and accreditation for practice leaders as well as for front line practitioners and supervisors.

And this year we will have our first cohort of talented social workers training to become the country’s future leaders in social work. These expert and experienced social workers will make sure we have the pipeline of talent we need throughout the workforce.

Improving the quality of entrants to social work

I also want to see the best people becoming social workers.

Schemes like Teach First have helped transform teaching into one of the most prestigious and high status professions in the country, and we must now do the same for social work.

Frontline mirrors that approach by attracting the brightest and the best graduates into social work – giving them fast-track, top quality training in children’s social work.   It’s no surprise then that there are more than 10 applicants for every place on a Frontline course, and 9 applicants per place for the Step Up to Social Work programme. The majority of local authorities now benefit from these schemes.

Don’t just take it from me. Take it from the local authorities working with these programmes, who have told us the quality of students is consistently very high.

That’s why I want to see an extra 750 qualified social workers coming from fast-track programmes in the next year alone, and why I can announce today we will be investing a further £100 million into Frontline, and into our specialist course – Step Up.

Step Up will make 550 places available next year and Frontline will expand to the North East of England.

We’ll also be extending our Teaching Partnerships scheme – building stronger links between universities and employers, so trainees can be confident they are getting the skills they will need in the job.

Setting the right standards for social work

But I also want us to be confident that every new social worker joining the workforce has received high quality initial training, whether that’s through new graduate entry routes or through the more traditional undergraduate courses.

I want that to be true of every newly qualified social worker, whether they go on to specialise in children’s or adult’s services.

Not enough of the courses available in higher education are currently good enough, as Sir Martin Narey’s review told us.

Whilst some courses are excellent, too many don’t give trainees the skills and knowledge they need.

This lets down social work trainees, and moreover, it lets down the children they are working to support.

That’s why we need a new approach to the regulation of social work which makes sure only the best courses are available.

And so I am delighted to announce today that in partnership with the Secretary of State for Health, it is our intention to set up a new body charged with driving up standards in social work and raising the status of social workers.

The new body will have a relentless focus on raising the quality of social work education, training and practice in both children’s and adults’ services.

It will set standards for training as well as overseeing the roll out of the new assessment and accreditation system for children and family social workers. This will happen as soon as possible.

And let me be clear, we don’t need more quangos, or more bureaucracy – we need a body that will genuinely uphold rigorous professional standards.

More innovation and support

It is clear we have an ambitious programme ahead that will deliver a truly first class workforce in social work.

But our problems are not just within the social work profession.

The system we expect social workers to work in does not create conditions for excellence and innovation.

Even when they have all the requisite knowledge and skills, social workers are still constrained by a system that doesn’t give them the freedom to innovate and excel.

So, as well as transforming the social work profession, we need working environments that support excellent practice and development, overseen by outstanding leaders.

This ambition is already being supported by investments of £100 million through our Innovation Programme.

This is funding projects such as the Right Home project in Calderdale, which offers young people at the edge of care a single person to go to when they need help, and a range of supported housing accommodation when they cannot live at home, including a respite children’s home, boarding school accommodation, and support for young people leaving residential care.

But projects like this are only the beginning – we need to go further.

This is why we will establish an independent What Works Centre, with up to £20 million of additional funding, working alongside the new regulatory body and the Chief Social Worker for Children and Families.

The What Works Centre will be an evidence based resource to support social work practice like never before. Its mission will be to bring together everything we learn from practice at home and abroad, including our own Innovation Programme, cutting edge practice in local authorities, and evidence from serious case reviews.

This centre will make sure social workers get the support they need – so they can learn lessons from the past and make sure they have access to the best research in the world.

And it is also why we are committed to ensuring that the very best leaders and practitioners are given the freedom to push boundaries; that outdated regulations, laws, guidance and processes do not stand in the way of the best local leaders innovating in the best interests of children and families.

That is the spirit behind our Innovation Programme, and also behind our new push to develop Partners in Practice.

The Partners in Practice programme represents an exciting new partnership with the country’s best performing local leaders.

Together they are redefining what a children’s services department looks like, with the only design principle being what works for children.

We announced six of these partner authorities in December and I am delighted to announce a second wave today with the additions of Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire and Islington.

These local authorities will provide a blueprint for excellence that the whole system will be able to learn from.

In social work children’s lives are at stake.

Our reforms are big and bold because we need the best people on the front line, armed with the knowledge and skills to change lives.

I stand before you today to say to all those social workers out there: I fully support you.

This government wants to invest in your profession and enable you to bring about the change I know you so desperately want to see.

Until we hear children and families consistently say, ‘We got what we really needed’ – none of us should stop trying to make this system better.

These reforms are about getting it right for social workers so that social workers can get it right for children and families.

Because we owe it to them to get it right.

Below is the text of the speech made by Nicky Morgan, the Secretary of State for Education, on 12 January 2016.

What a pleasure it is to be here with the Holocaust Educational Trust again.

I had the pleasure, too, of speaking at HET’s summer reception last year and my colleague Sajid Javid, the Business Secretary, spoke at HET’s annual dinner in the autumn.

British politicians – on all sides – take the work of HET very seriously because we believe that what happened during the Holocaust must never be forgotten.

I was thrilled to see that 10 Holocaust survivors were recognised in this year’s New Year’s Honours list and that 3 of them, Agnes, Renee and Susan, are here with us this evening.

Let me also say how honoured we all are to have Eva Clarke here.

I won’t say too much about her story because you will hear more about it during the conversation coming up but let me pay a brief tribute to her.

Eva was born at the gates of a concentration camp in 1945 in the final days of World War 2.

Her mother, Anka, suffered not just at one concentration camp but several.

Eva was truly a miracle baby, and she is a survivor who is keeping the memories of what happened during the Holocaust alive by going into schools – on a totally voluntary basis – and educating the next generation.

To Eva and to all the survivors among us tonight – you are truly inspirational. Thank you for sharing your stories over and over again to ensure that future generations never forget what you – and millions of others endured.

I am pleased that the Department for Education funds HET’s Lessons from Auschwitz project, which has sent more than 28,000 students to visit the site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

I visited Auschwitz in 2012 with a group of young people from a school in my constituency.

Talk to anyone who has been and they will all tell you the same thing: once you have visited Auschwitz it never leaves you.

I can’t stress enough just how important it is that every generation of young people not only knows what happened at Auschwitz – and other concentration camps – but also understands the horror of what happened so that their generation can be steadfast in preventing it ever happening again.

This is particularly pressing as the torch passes from survivors to the next generation to tell the story of the Holocaust.

Those young people who visit Auschwitz become ambassadors for the Holocaust Education Trust.

By taking the time to discuss it not only with their peers but also their wider communities they are at the front line of the battle against intolerance.

I know that some of HET’s ambassadors are here tonight so please join me in thanking them for their work and giving them a round of applause.

There is no room for complacency on Holocaust education and HET have rightly highlighted their concerns.

These have focussed on gaps in knowledge, specialist teaching and how teaching about the Holocaust is prioritised.

For our part, we recognise the vital importance of maintaining Holocaust education as a key part of the key stage 3 curriculum and we will continue to do all we can to promote, support and fund teaching of the Holocaust.

As many of you will already know, Holocaust Memorial Day will be marked on 27 January – the day of Auschwitz’s liberation.

Its theme this year is ‘Don’t stand by’, and we are prompted to remember those people who refused to stand by and watch as the horror of the Holocaust unfolded around them.

People like Jane Haining, a Scottish missionary in a Jewish orphanage in Hungary who refused to evacuate but chose instead to stay with the children.

Jane was later killed in a gas chamber.

People like Frank Foley, Head of the British Passport Control Office in Berlin who used his position to forge passports and grant visas for those who would have found themselves inside concentration camps. Frank saved many thousands of lives.

To the Members of the House of Commons and House of Lords here tonight please be aware that HET are placing a ‘book of commitment’ in each House – as they do every year – and I would encourage every member to sign it; to publicly affirm their commitment to remembering the Holocaust as well as take part in debates taking place in both Houses in the lead up to Holocaust Memorial Day itself.

I’d also like to pay tribute to the work of the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation and everything they are doing to take forward the recommendations of the Prime Minister’s Holocaust Commission to build a proper national memorial to the Holocaust and to record the testimony of British Holocaust survivors and camp liberators before it is too late.

I know the Prime Minister will have more to say on this later this month.

As a nation it is vitally important that we remember the Holocaust, to remember those who suffered as well as those who refused to stand by as the suffering occurred.

As a nation Britain is not prone to inaction but that doesn’t mean we don’t have a responsibility to keep what happened fresh in our minds.

We must remember collectively so that not a single one of us can ever forget.

The Holocaust didn’t begin in the gas chambers. It began in the minds of a hateful, ignorant, dangerous few.

That’s why my department has been so active in leading the fight against extremism in education and attempts to radicalise young people.

Now more than ever we feel the threat of those who want to put poison in the minds and hatred in the hearts of our children and we must help them develop the resilience to resist their propaganda.

Learning about the Holocaust helps to do just that – not just informing young people’s history but helping them to understand the dangers of prejudice, bigotry and intolerance and in doing so making them more tolerant, more confident and more resilient as citizens too.

Let’s make sure that in Britain we continue to educate everyone about the Holocaust so that the evil it represents can never be allowed to flourish again.

Thank you.

Below is the text of the speech made by Nicky Morgan, the Financial Secretary, on 15th May 2014.

Introduction

Good afternoon.

I’m sure I won’t be the first – or the last – speaker at this conference to talk about Stephen Sutton…

Who sadly succumbed to bowel cancer yesterday.

And – with no disrespect intended to any of the other speakers – if I want you to look back in a month or a year’s time…

And remember one speech from today…

Now, in that speech, which I can’t recommend highly enough…

Stephen tells his story…

From his childhood…

Through his diagnosis…

And into his – if you will – campaign…

And the part of it that has stuck with me most is when he says… and I quote…

I do not know how long I’ve got left to live…

But one of the reasons for that is because I haven’t asked.

And that’s because I don’t see the point in measuring life in terms of time anymore…

I would rather measure it in terms of what I actually achieve.

I’d rather measure it in terms of making a difference…

Which I think is a much more valid and pragmatic measure.

And I’m sure that anybody that has seen the papers this morning…

And read about everything he did achieve…

And the difference he did make…

Would agree that – in his nineteen years…

Stephen touched more lives, and bought more hope and more joy to more people than many of us will in a lifetime.

He attempted a world record.

He trended on twitter.

He skydived.

He drummed at the Champions League final.

And perhaps most famously – and some would say most importantly – he raised over £3 million for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

And the reason I wanted to talk about Stephen is this:

I’m sure that he – having given up all those hours to do all that fundraising…

And I’m sure that everyone who was touched by his story, and inspired to give up their time or their money to charity…

Would expect those charities to make sure their money went as far as possible.

And they would certainly expect the tax system to make sure their money went as far as possible.

And it’s the latter of those that – as a Treasury Minister – I want to talk to you about today.

Of course, I recognise that in an ideal world…

Wherever possible, charities wouldn’t pay any taxes on income or expenditure.

But realistically that isn’t possible…

And – as such I want to use my time at the Treasury…

To ensure that we all use the tax system as well as we can…

Both to reduce the burden for charities…

And to increase incentives for givers.

I’d like to believe that we are making sure that happens.

Tax reliefs for the sector were worth over £4.4 billion last year…

Gift Aid alone was worth over £1bn…

But I’d like to spend my time with you this morning to:

first – look back on some of the progress the government has made on helping charities to date

second – talk you through some of the announcements that the Chancellor made in his most recent budget…

and finally – to discuss some of the work that we hope to take forward between

Progress

So first, what progress have we made to date?

You’ll all – no doubt – be familiar with a lot of this, but…

We’ve launched the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme…

Which allows charities to benefit from a Gift Aid style top up payment on small cash donations.

We’re clarifying the rules for Community Amateur Sports Clubs…

And we’re introducing corporate Gift Aid to encourage companies to support their local sports clubs.

We’ve launched Charities Online to make claiming Gift Aid quicker and easier…

…and acted on feedback from charities that needed help in understanding the new online platform.

And we’ve also:

– reduced inheritance tax for those who donate to charity

– increased the Gift Aid benefit limit for donors

– introduced the Cultural Gifts Scheme

– and introduced the Employment Allowance to reduce NICs bills by up to £2,000 a year – which could help 35 000 charities

So – in four years – we’ve made a lot of very positive changes to the system.

But – as you’ll all know – launching or unveiling or announcing schemes is one thing…

But making sure they’re taken up is quite another.

And of course we – as government – have got a part to play here.

The new HMRC Outreach programme that the Chancellor announced in last month’s budget…

Will play a key role in raising awareness of all these schemes.

They will be a 15 strong team tasked with:

– identifying – and contacting – charities that need help making Gift Aid claims…

– simplifying HMRC guidance and forms…

– and – most importantly –multiplying the number of people who know about – and take advantage of – these schemes

But while we’ve recognised that government can – and that Government will – do more to raise awareness…

You have just as crucial a role to play.

First, we need you to use your networks and your contacts…

To make sure that as many people as possible are aware of these schemes and these reliefs.

And secondly – and most importantly – we need you to take advantage of them…

Because as each future fiscal event comes around…

Be it a budget or a spending review or an Autumn Statement…

Ministers and opposition leaders and journalists will go through our entire tax system with a very fine toothed comb…

And it’s crucial that we’re able to prove that these measures are being used…

And that they are making the difference we intended.

Budget

Of course, we had a big fiscal event just two months ago…

And – again – I hope it contained measures that will support what you do.

We reiterated our support for Gift Aid…

…and our intention to help people donate through modern, digital channels.

We announced a programme of work with donor researchers…

To clarify the wording of the Gift Aid declaration…

And – on top of that – we announced a review and update of the Gift Aid guidance for charities and donors…

Again, so people can understand it more easily…

And access it more easily as part of the GOV.UK site.

The Chancellor also announced…

that we’ll set the rate of income tax relief for the Social investment tax relief at 30%…

that we’ll be developing a joint HMRC/Charity Commission portal…

…to make administration – particularly for smaller charities – easier

And this was an announcement I was particularly pleased to see happen…

We’ll increase the Cultural Gifts Scheme limit…

To allow even more pre-eminent works of art and historical objects to be donated to public collections across the entire nation.

Future work

So – again – the budget built on our progress with further announcements.

And there will be – I hope – a few more announcements to come.

Because wherever you alert us to issues or blockages or problems…

I will do my best to fix them.

Some of you may know that I spoke to the Charity Tax Group at the end of last month.

It was quite clear to me at that conference, that the biggest issue on your mind is tax avoidance.

The first thing I’d say on that, is that we are using the powers we already have to clamp down on those who are abusing the system

Just last week – in fact – HMRC scored its fifth victory against schemes promoted by Matthew Jenner and NT Advisors…

The same Matthew Jenner behind the Cup trust scheme…

Bringing the total tax protected to more than £750 million.

This was in a case against an individual who used a ‘bluebox’ charity tax relief scheme to avoid £200 000 in tax.

And as a result of that decision, about £21 million of tax is likely to be paid by users of the scheme.

So there are measures in place to clamp down on this behaviour…

We did add measures last month, in the form of our accelerated payments change…

And wherever we do see disreputable companies – or individuals – using those reliefs…

Which were set up with the best intentions…

To support the worst kind of behaviour…

We will continue to take action.

As I’m sure all you’ll know, our recent consultation on tax avoidance and the charitable sector has closed…

And officials back at Treasury and HMRC are working through the responses.

Now, while I can’t yet share the outcome of that consultation…

What I can share is the intent – which I’ve always made very clear.

I want to protect innocent charities – and their reputations – from unscrupulous avoiders…

And I will make sure that our response doesn’t harm those reputable charities devoted to making the world a healthier and a happier and – let’s be honest – a better place.

I also know from that conference that there is concern in the sector about take up of the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme…

So the HMRC outreach team that I mentioned earlier, will have raising its profile as a key activity.

I’m also hopeful that our new and improved guidance will clarify just how easy it is for charities to claim that relief.

And I also was reminded that morning that there are some concerns about donor benefits…

So I went straight back from that conference to the Treasury…

And made sure that our officials are hard at work consulting with charities and rep bodies on areas where we could simplify the process.

In fact, one such official – Cerys Morgan – is on one of the panels later this afternoon…

And if I can’t answer any of your more detailed questions in a moment…

I’m sure that Cerys will be able to expand on my answers further.

Conclusion

In fact, I’m very keen to get to that Q&A as soon as possible…

Because – presuming I stay in this post

If I want to look back in a years’ time…

And if I want to judge what I’ve done not in political terms, but in Stephen Sutton’s terms.

By what I’ve achieved…

And – by helping charities wring every last penny of every last donation – how many lives I’ve helped you to touch…

Then we as the Treasury – and you as the sector – need to have as honest and as open a dialogue as possible.

So that we can make sure that the schemes already in place work.

That the schemes recently announced are introduced smoothly.

And that ultimately…

And this is the point of all this…

We can make sure that all the money that you raise…

Helps as many people as it possibly can.

Thank you for listening.

Below is the text of a speech made by Nicky Morgan, the Secretary of State for Education, made at City Hall in London on 27 November 2015.

Thank you, Munira [Mirza, Deputy Mayor of London] for that introduction. And thank you, Boris [Johnson, Mayor of London], for organising and hosting this fantastic conference.

It really is a pleasure to be here at a conference with such a sense of energy and purpose – and such a sense of pride in the work you do and the difference you make.

I want to talk about educational excellence. About how London schools are already giving thousands of children an excellent education.

About what we need to do if we’re serious about excellence everywhere. And I want to speak directly to you – the current and future leaders of education in London and beyond – about the opportunity for, and the importance of, leadership.

I want to make a reality of educational excellence everywhere. This is more than an easy phrase. We spent a lot of the last 5 years talking about what we mean by and how we realise educational excellence. For the next 5 years, my focus is on what it takes to make this happen everywhere, across the country from Barking to Blackburn, and from Westminster to Wiltshire.

The reforms of the last Parliament re-introduced rigour to our education system and placed high expectations back at the heart of our all schools.

We removed qualifications from the performance tables that weren’t respected by employers and universities and instead began the process of introducing gold-standard qualifications that would equip young people to succeed in the modern world, and on the world stage.

We introduced the EBacc to encourage more schools to offer pupils a rigorous academic core – and I’m struck and impressed that London secondary schools are leading the way.

Because as your pupils grow up, they will need to stand their own with their peers from Shenzen and Chennai. And from Kraków, and from Frankfurt. And more.

For some people, this is a scary prospect – but it’s also an exciting one, and I have confidence and pride in the talent and potential of our young people.

And education is just as much about instilling those virtues and values, and allowing young people to develop their own unique talents, as it is about the grades they receive at the end of school.

A well-educated child or young person should be well rounded, with a range of interests, a real sense of character and grit, equipped for adult life.

Since I took up this role, I’ve visited almost 80 schools and met over 1,000 teachers – and I know that this is something we all agree on.

Sally [Coates] dedicates a whole chapter of her book [‘Headstrong: 11 lessons of school leadership’ (2015)] to the importance of developing the whole child. She describes how “our pursuit of academic excellence can never be extricated from the challenge of developing responsible, mature, compassionate citizens who are able to channel their talents towards healthy, productive ends”. I entirely agree with her.

So I’ve taken every opportunity to champion this broader education, through awards and grants for schools and projects that help to develop character; by promoting cadets in schools and the National Citizen Service.

And I’m pleased and proud to make a point of celebrating and backing the work that schools do – such as at Goldbeaters Primary School, School 21 or Mulberry School for Girls and many other schools I’ve visited. These schools debunk completely the notion that there is somehow any tension between academic success and character education – in fact they demonstrate that the 2 are mutually dependent and inextricably intertwined.

So, after 5 years of reform and challenge, we know what educational excellence looks like and how it can be unlocked. Our challenge is to make a reality of excellent education everywhere. And London schools show what can be done – including in some of the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods and communities in the country.

Schools across London prove that there is no place for the old excuses about ‘kids like these’. And you make that point more powerfully than any politician could. We all know about schools like King Solomon Academy and Mossbourne – they’re famous nationally for the quality of the education they offer.

But I’m sure that each of you will know other schools that achieve just as much. You show working hard not only gives children from every background the best possible start in life, but also power to transform whole communities, leading the way in instilling a culture of aspiration, ambition and refusing to settle for second best.

London’s academies and chains of schools demonstrate this transformative power of this approach in everything they do.

Groups of schools like the Ark and Harris academies are spreading excellence, and at the same time providing the structures so that teachers and heads can focus on the core of their jobs, allowing us to open new career paths and opportunities for great teachers, and for great school leaders.

Just as there isn’t a ‘one-size-fits-all’ school, so there shouldn’t be a ‘one-size-fits-all’ career path for teachers. And, again, Sally – your career is a great example of some of the opportunities that being a teacher opens.

And, of course, the London Challenge model and legacy lives on. Education in London has been transformed over the last 15 to 20 years. Important networks and ideas are now owned by schools yourselves, like the Challenge Partners.

And the core elements are now the basis for the self-improving school-led system we want to spread across the rest of the country – with the expansion of Teach First, and the networks of teaching schools and of national and local leaders of education.

But a strong school system requires sound funding. We know that there can be no better investment in the future of our country than a good education.

That’s why, thanks to the difficult decisions we’ve taken elsewhere, the Chancellor was able to confirm in the Spending Review that we would meet our manifesto commitments to protect core spending per pupil and to maintain the pupil premium at current rates – and that the core school budget will be protected in real terms to 2019-2020.

We have been able to go beyond that, and similarly protect the base-rate funding received for every 16-to-19 student, at its current level, to the end of this Parliament.

None of this is to say that schools will not have to find efficiencies. Despite being more generously protected than most of the public sector, you as school leaders will be challenged to make your budgets go further. We will help you to do that – supporting smarter procurement and better sharing of best practice.

The introduction of a national funding formula will also mean change. It is clearly unfair that a school in one part of the country can attract over 50% more funding than an identical school, with pupils who have identical characteristics but in another part of the country. We need to rectify that.

This is about transparency, and about fairness – and so schools in London which have very high levels of deprivation or other additional needs will be funded to meet those needs.

Let me be clear, that while we will consult on the exact formula, we will keep a very close watch to make sure that we are earmarking the right level of funding for deprivation, to ensure that those needs can continue to be met. And, of course, there will also be a geographical element to the formula that will recognise the higher wage costs that London faces.

Before I finish, I want to say a few words to you as school leaders.

You do a phenomenal job. Your work is important and inspiring. Although I’m sure there are days – and weeks – when everything feels like a grind, you lead schools that transform lives. In your schools, children grow up. You are their teachers and their role models, and you guide and support them through towards adulthood. You have a lot to be proud about.

I am delighted that this month’s data shows teacher recruitment starting to rise with over 1,000 more post-graduates starting training this year, compared to last.

There’s a lot more to do to make sure we’re recruiting, training and retaining the teachers that we need, especially in key subjects and in some areas of the country. But I take these figures as a good sign, and I hope that they reflect a greater recognition that teaching is a fantastic profession and an exciting career to join.

You will know that I recently announced the National Teaching Service – it’s a new programme to recruit and deploy our best teachers and middle leaders into underperforming schools in areas where they are needed most.

The programme will launch next September, with a pilot of 100 teachers and middle leaders in the North West of England. By 2020 it will have deployed 1,500 outstanding teachers and middle leaders to underperforming schools in areas of the country that struggle to attract, recruit and retain high quality teachers.

And I want to encourage each of you to think about the leadership role that you play with pride and with ambition. I know you want the best for your own school and pupils, and that you work hard to make a reality of your goals.

If you haven’t already done so, I’d encourage each of you to think about the opportunities to share more widely and take a lead in the school-led system. You could form a partnership with one or more other schools. You might take a leading role within your existing chain. Or you might think about how you could share what works here with schools and emerging chains beyond London.

Deputy heads – your heads won’t thank me for this – but you too should be thinking about when and how you want to take the next step.

In addition to those of you here at this fantastic conference, I also want us all to do more to nurture and develop the leaders of the future. I want to encourage talented teachers – and especially those from under-represented groups – to take this step, and to tackle the real or perceived barriers that hold them back.

This is the right thing to do for individuals, and for the profession as a whole. And, more importantly, it’s essential if we want to make a reality of educational excellence everywhere.

I know that these aren’t easy jobs. I see and hear the challenges you face when I visit schools, talk to school leaders, and when I respond to emails and letters from teachers and heads. We shouldn’t pretend that leadership like yours is easy, because it isn’t. But it is important, valuable and rewarding.

I will continue to challenge schools to do better. It’s what parents rightly expect of me. I will challenge you to give more pupils an excellent start – and especially to do so for those pupils who we currently fail. I simply wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t.

But I can promise you that I will do it with respect, and with a recognition that it isn’t an easy thing to ask. And I’ll do it because we all share a fundamental belief that every child deserves an excellent education.

As London schools show – great teachers, great heads and great groups of schools can achieve phenomenal things. Thank you, for all that you do.