Tag: Press Release

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

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

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

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Careers Profession Task Force has today published its report, Towards a Strong Careers Profession, setting out its vision for high-quality careers education, information, advice and guidance.

The report’s recommendations are designed to uphold common professional standards and help raise the status and integrity of career guidance in this country. The report calls on careers professionals to work together to provide a strong and unified voice, to show professional leadership and to take responsibility for transforming careers advice for young people and their parents, who rightly expect excellence in the services they receive.

The task force was chaired by Dame Ruth Silver, DBE FCGI MA Dip Ed, Chair, the Learning and Skills Improvement Service, who said today:

I was delighted to be asked to chair the Task Force on the Careers Profession. This is a subject close to my heart, having devoted my own career to supporting young people and adults to make the most of their talents. I saw first hand as Principal at Lewisham College, where a professional culture pervaded everything we did, the critical role of career guidance in helping all members of the local community to succeed.

We owe it to all young people to give them the best possible support in making decisions about their future learning and work.

John Hayes, Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning, said:

This report highlights the importance of maintaining and strengthening a motivated, quality careers profession. We know that high-quality careers advice is crucial in helping young people make the right choices about their future careers and supporting vulnerable young people to overcome barriers to entering employment, training or higher education. This was also highlighted by Lord Browne this week in his report.

I welcome the Careers Profession Task Force report. Its findings and recommendations will inform the plans we are making to bring together guidance for young people and adults in an all-age careers service. I will take the opportunity to reflect further on the report when I speak on the future of careers advice at the Institute for Careers Guidance conference in November.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 29 September 2010.

Mr Hayes outlined the changes to apprenticeships in a speech to the Group Training Association (GTA) England in London.

He said:

“The truest measure of the success or failure of this Government’s commitment to apprenticeships will be found in how well-equipped today’s young people will be in future years to face the shifting challenges of life and work.

“To be successful in that, we must create a radically new model for workplace training with Apprenticeships at its heart and with partnership between Government, employers and individuals as its motive force.”

Mr Hayes said the Government would reform the apprenticeships system by:

• Expanding the number of apprenticeships on offer
• Taking a firm approach in establishing what the employer contribution to Apprenticeship programmes should be
• Making it easier for businesses to access apprenticeships.

The Government announced in May that £150 million from the Train to Gain budget would be redeployed to provide an extra 50,000 apprenticeship places.

Another £50 million from Train to Gain has been allocated for college building projects.

Consultations

Mr Hayes reminded the sector to have their say via the two consultations launched in July. They include:

• Skills for Sustainable Growth
• Skills funding system

UKSkills merged

Mr Hayes also announced in the speech that UKSkills, an independent charity which promotes skills, is to become part of the Skills Funding Agency. Activities and staff will be transferred across to the Agency as part of the merger.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 24 September 2010.

All young people should have the chance to learn an instrument, read music and receive top quality music education, Education Secretary Michael Gove said today.

Launching an independent review of music education, which will be led by Darren Henley, Managing Director of Classic FM, Mr Gove said broadening the access and opportunities young people have to experience and understand music is central to raising standards.

Research shows that quality music education improves behaviour, attention and concentration, and has a hugely positive effect on numeracy and language skills. Giving all young people the best possible music education will help the Government achieve its twin aims of driving up standards and reducing the attainment gap.

The review will look at

• how to make sure music funding benefits more young people
• improving the music opportunities young people receive both in and out of school
• improving the teacher training and professional development offered to music teachers
• how to attract more music professionals into schools
• how best to offer quality live music experiences to all young people.

Michael Gove said:

It’s a sad fact that too many children in state schools are denied the opportunity to learn to play a musical instrument. Evidence suggests that learning an instrument can improve numeracy, literacy and behaviour. But more than that, it is simply unfair that the joy of musical discovery should be the preserve of those whose parents can afford it.

Mr Henley issued a public call for evidence today, seeking the views of parents, schools and music specialists. He said:

Having worked closely with leading music educators and thinkers over the past few years, I know how much of a positive difference high quality music education makes to children’s lives. I am looking forward to delivering to ministers a report which outlines how we can ensure that every child in England benefits from a world-beating music education system.

Minister for the Creative Industries, Ed Vaizey, said:

Young people are the lifeblood of creativity in the UK. We produce some of the greatest musical talent in the world but there is so much more that can be done to harness the passion and enthusiasm that children have for music.

Young people need to be given greater and more equal opportunities to benefit from formal music education. We need to encourage them to see the link between learning an instrument, and the artists they hear on the radio and the songs they download.

As well as it being important to learn skills in music for its own sake, the benefits don’t stop there. Immersion in music can lead to improved social skills and educational success, with behaviour, wellbeing, confidence, team-working and concentration skills all proven to improve with good music provision. I look forward to supporting the review and seeing its results.

The review is expected to make its recommendations before the end of the year.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 23 September 2010.

Education Secretary Michael Gove today announced another step in the lifting of the bureaucratic burden on heads and teachers. The school Self Evaluation Form (SEF) process takes days out of heads’ time and can cost schools tens of thousands of pounds. The Secretary of State has asked Ofsted to ditch it. It is the next stage in a rolling programme of reducing bureaucracy for teachers and trusting them to get on with their jobs.

The SEF asks teachers and heads to collect and verify facts and figures about their school in preparation for their Ofsted inspection. Headteachers say it can take many long hours to fill in and take teachers out of the classroom for extended periods. It can run to over a 100 pages once it has been filled in.

The Coalition Government has already taken several steps to reduce bureaucracy including:

freeing schools from local authority and national government control by allowing them to gain academy-style freedoms
abolishing three quangos that created vast additional bureaucracy for schools without proven benefit
reducing the burden on teachers and improving the quality of inspection by asking Ofsted to change their framework to focus on four principal areas: the quality of teaching, the effectiveness of leadership, pupils’ behaviour and safety, and pupils’ achievement.
This rolling programme will continue into the autumn as ministers engage with teachers and frontline staff on their plans to give them more power and remove the form-filling and bureaucracy that takes them away from the classroom.

Michael Gove said:

The Coalition government trusts teachers to get on with their job. That’s why we are taking steps to reduce the bureaucracy they face and giving them the powers they need to do a good job. We believe that teachers – not bureaucrats and politicians – should run schools.

The removal of the SEF was welcomed by teachers:

Kate Dethridge, Head of Churchend Primary School in Reading, said:

Removing the SEF will free up huge amounts of time – many heads spend most of their summer holidays updating the SEF, then you would need at least two or three senior management meetings to discuss it.

Amanda Whittingham, Assistant head of Wensley Fold School in Blackburn, said:

Just to update the SEF took up two full days of work for the head, deputy and a paid external consultant brought in as an expert on filling in the SEF.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 21 September 2010.

A Department for Education spokesman said:

The independent Capital Review team is working with building companies on a pilot proposal to rebuild Campsmount Technology College in Doncaster. Under plans, the new school could be potentially built ahead of the original schedule and with significant cost savings.

The Government believes there are better, faster and more cost-effective ways of rebuilding our schools in need of repair, without compromising on having a safe school environment for pupils to learn in. The Capital Review team’s final report will be submitted at the end of the year and we look forward to the outcome of their pilot project at Campsmount Technology College.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 16 September 2010.

Schools minister corrects claims that free schools and academies are not covered by FOI legislation, and responds to opinion put forward by a group of professors in ‘The Guardian’.

Sir

The professors writing in your paper yesterday (‘Gove should delay creating more academies and free schools’) stated that free schools and academies will be not covered by Freedom of Information legislation. They are wrong. The Academies Act that passed into law in July extends FOI to all academies and free schools.

I agree about the need to avoid a two-tier system but they fail to recognise that it already exists. Just 27% of pupils on free school meals get 5 good GCSE grades, compared to 54% of non-free school meal pupils. Academies are helping to raise standards and aspiration in some of the poorest parts of the country. Our academy and free school proposals will give poorer parents the choices that richer parents have always had. The pupil premium will benefit poorer pupils, providing extra money directly for those pupils who need it the most.

Rather than delay, we need to spread the benefits of academy status as fast as possible.

Yours

Lord Hill, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 14 September 2010.

In response to the Ofsted report on special educational needs, Children’s Minister Sarah Teather said:

Ofsted’s report presents some challenging but familiar criticisms of the system supporting children with special educational needs (SEN) and disability. It is clear that we have a consensus on some of the issues with the SEN system – now I want to work with parents, charities, teachers and other organisations to find a consensus on the solutions.

Last week I launched a call for contributions to the Government’s SEN and disability Green Paper, which will focus first and foremost on meeting families’ needs. Children with SEN and disabilities should have the provision they need to succeed and parents should not feel they have to battle the system to get help. Improving diagnosis and assessment will be central to our commitment to overhaul the system to ensure families get the appropriate support at the right time.