Tag: Press Release

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 23 March 2011.

The Department for Education has welcomed Chancellor George Osborne’s commitment in the Budget for an additional 12 new Technical Academies such as University Technical Colleges (UTCs).

These Academies will offer high quality vocational and technical education to give secondary pupils the skills they need and employers want.

The new money will mean at least 24 new Technical Academies will be set up across England by 2014.

These Academies will be sponsored by local businesses and local further or higher education institutions which would help set the ethos and curriculum of each Academy and provide support and work experience for students. They will have the freedom to employ lecturers and instructors working in relevant industries. Pupils will continue to study core academic subjects but will spend additional time on specialist vocational and technical training in areas such as engineering or construction. They can extend the working day for students and teachers and organise work experience with local firms.

Michael Gove MP said:

Professor Alison Wolf showed in her independent report on vocational education that thousands have been let down. There is an urgent need for more specialist Academies giving high quality technical and vocational education. The announcement today will mean many more children will have this opportunity.

Lord Kenneth Baker, co-founder of the Baker Dearing Educational Trust (BDET), said:

We are delighted that we have the backing of the Government on what we see as one of the most radical changes in education for a generation.

Mike Wright, Executive Director of Jaguar Land Rover, said:

Jaguar Land Rover welcomes the announcement by the Chancellor regarding the expansion of University Technical Colleges. It is essential for economic growth that we increase the number of young people prepared to work in engineering and manufacturing.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 21 March 2011.

The School Teachers’ Review Body’s (STRB) recommendations on pay for those unqualified teachers who earn a full-time equivalent salary of £21,000 or less are being published today. The recommendations cover the first of two matters which were referred to the STRB in October 2010. I am grateful for the careful consideration which the STRB has given to this matter.

Copies of the STRB’s analysis and recommendations are available in the Vote Office, the Printed Paper Office and the Libraries of the House and from the Office of Manpower Economics.

The STRB has recommended that a non-consolidated payment of £250 should be made to those unqualified teachers who earn £21,000 or less; that the £250 is pro-rated for part-time unqualified teachers; and that consultation should seek to identify a simple and cost-effective method of payment.

I am grateful to the STRB for these recommendations which will apply to those unqualified teachers on scale points 1 to 3 and subject to consultees’ views, I intend to accept these recommendations.

My detailed response contains further information on these issues.

Annex to Written Ministerial Statement of 21 March 2011:

School Teachers’ Review Body’s (STRB’s) recommendations on pay for those unqualified teachers who earn a full-time equivalent salary of £21,000 or less and response from the Secretary of State for Education (Michael Gove).

The Secretary of State for Education (Michael Gove): The STRB’s analysis and recommendations on pay for those unqualified teachers who earn a full-time equivalent salary of £21,000 or less are being published today. The recommendations cover the first matter which was referred to the STRB in October 2010. Copies of the analysis and recommendations are available in the Vote Office, the Printed Paper Office and the Libraries of the House and from the Office of Manpower Economics.

In making its recommendations, the STRB was required to have regard to items a-e set out in the remit letter of 27 October 2010. The recommendations apply to those unqualified teachers earning £21,000 or less in the context of the two-year public sector pay freeze that will affect teachers from September 2011; and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury’s instruction that there should be a minimum award of £250 in each of these two years. I am grateful for the careful attention the STRB has given to this matter.

The STRB is due to submit its 20th Report, which will include the recommendations set out below as well as recommendations on whether there should be a limit on the value of discretions that can be applied to head teachers’ pay, by 30 March. I propose, therefore, that the statutory consultation on the STRB’s recommendations (below) should wait until the 20th Report and my response to that report are published in due course. I will, however, accept comments in the meantime on the pay recommendations for unqualified teachers earning £21,000 or less.

Recommendations on pay for unqualified teachers earning £21,000 or less

The STRB has recommended that:

• A non-consolidated payment of £250 be made in both years to all full-time teachers on spine points 1-3 of the Unqualified Teachers’ scale;
• The £250 payment be pro-rated according to their working hours for part-time teachers on points 1-3 of the Unqualified Teachers’ scale;
• The Department consult, with a view to identifying a simple and cost-effective method of payment, and issue guidance as appropriate.

I am grateful to the STRB for its consideration of this issue and, subject to consultees’ views, I intend to implement the payment from September 2011. I also intend, subject to consultees’ views, for the school’s relevant body to decide how the £250 payment should be implemented.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 17 March 2011.

More than 79,000 children have missed out on a place at their first-choice secondary school for this September, official statistics figures reveal today.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said too many pupils – nearly one in six – would be going to a secondary school that was not their top choice.

The statistics break down the secondary school offers made to more than 512,000 children by 151 local authorities in England on 1 March.

They show that nationally:

• 84.6% of children received an offer at their first-choice school. This is up 1.4 percentage points on last year.
• 95.6% were offered a place at one of their top three preferred schools. This is a 0.7 percentage point increase on 2010.

This year there were far fewer children applying for a similar number of secondary school places. The number of children decreased by 17,500 on 2010 while there were 1,200 fewer places available.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said:

More than 79,000 children missed out on their first choice of secondary school, nearly one in six of the entire year group, and more than 22,000 do not even get into any of their top three schools.

These figures expose the fact that there simply aren’t enough good schools.

Too many parents are forced to choose between schools which don’t deliver the academic standards and good behaviour they demand.

Yesterday’s OECD report underlined the serious problems in our school system and showed how far we have fallen behind other leading countries over the past decade. That is why we are restoring the integrity of the curriculum and exams, and giving more powers to teachers.

Our reforms to education, with a focus on raising standards of behaviour, trusting teachers and encouraging new schools to be established, are designed to deliver higher standards and genuine choice for parents.

Only when every school is regarded by parents as a good school will we be able to remove the anxiety parents suffer when choosing a school for their children.

Regional headlines

• The North East had the highest percentage of first preference offers at 94.3%
• Greater London had the lowest percentage at 66.2%.

Specific local authorities

• the Isle of Wight had the highest percentage of first preference offers, at 100%, followed by Cornwall and North East Lincolnshire with 99% and Central Bedfordshire with 98.6%
• apart from City of London (where there are no secondary schools), Slough had the lowest percentage of first preference offers at 46.2%, followed by Southwark (52.5%) and Wandsworth (55.5%)
• the biggest increase in first-choice preferences being met was in Trafford (11.5 percentage points), then North East Lincolnshire (11.4 percentage points)
• the biggest decrease in a first-choices preferences being met was Westminster (down 7.7 percentage points), followed by Kensington and Chelsea (6.6 per cent) and Camden (6.5 percentage points).

London headlines

Bexley had the highest percentage of first preference offers at 81.1%, followed by Newham at 79.9%. Apart from City of London (where there are no secondary schools), Southwark had the lowest percentage at 52.5%, followed by Wandsworth (55.5%).

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 15 March 2011.

Kingsford was one of the first schools in the country to introduce the study of Chinese into their curriculum and it now has one of the largest and most successful Chinese departments in the state sector. It was one of the first 5 Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) Confucius Classrooms in England. There are now 34.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said:

“Getting more young people to study a foreign language is vital to the social and economic future of our country. The introduction of the English Baccalaureate will encourage more pupils to take GCSEs in a broad range of academic subjects, including a language.

Schools like Kingsford are leading the way in language teaching. China is at the centre of the global economy, which is why it is important that our young people understand its culture and language.”

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 14 March 2011.

In response to the letter in the Guardian on Saturday 12 March 2011 about the SEN Green Paper:

Dear Sir

I was very disappointed to read the misrepresentation of the government’s green paper on special educational needs and disabilities (letters p.41 Saturday 12 March 2011).

The suggestion that government is trying to make children with complex needs ‘earn’ a place in a mainstream school is both offensive and inaccurate. At the heart of the green paper is the importance of parental choice. Parents know what type of education they want for their child and they should be allowed to decide if that is a mainstream or special school, academy or free school.

At no point do we suggest that one form of schooling is better or preferable for children with additional or complex needs – this is about parental choice, not the ideologically driven idea that the state knows best.

Sarah Teather MP, Children’s Minister

Department for Education

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 13 March 2011.

In response to the publication of Ofsted’s report entitled ‘History for All’, Schools Minister Nick Gibb said:

“It is worrying that Ofsted finds that many pupils lack a chronological understanding of history and are unable to make links between events. It is also a concern that secondary schools are squeezing history out of the curriculum or into general humanities courses. The facts, dates and narrative of history cannot be learnt in disparate chunks – without them we cannot compare, interpret or evaluate the past or draw lessons from them.

We are carrying out a root and branch reform of the national curriculum to set out the essential knowledge that children need, while leaving schools free to decide how to teach it. We are toughening up recruitment and training, attracting the brightest graduates, increasing the number of specialists, building a network of top class training schools, and transforming professional development throughout teachers’ careers. We have also introduced the English Baccalaureate so more pupils study the core academic GCSEs which we expect will lead to an increase in uptake of subjects like history.”