Tag: Press Release

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 18 June 2010.

Education Secretary Michael Gove has today outlined the process for allowing teachers, charities and parents to set up new schools – free schools – in response to parental demand. Free schools are independent state schools run by teachers not bureaucrats or politicians and accountable to parents.

The government has already set out plans to give teachers the option to take on greater professional freedoms. Today’s announcement will see the government harnessing the passion and innovation of teachers even further by allowing them to set up schools for the first time.

Education Secretary Michael Gove has today:

• set out the process for how groups can start new schools and published a proposal form for groups to fill out
• stated the government’s commitment to making it easier to secure sites for new schools. This will include allowing a wider range of sites, including residential and commercial property, to be used as schools without the need for ‘change of use’ consent. There will also be an extension of powers to protect existing schools’ sites, to make sure they are kept available for use by new schools where there is demand
• reallocated £50 million of funding from the Harnessing Technology Grant to create a Standards and Diversity Fund. This will provide capital funding for free schools up to 31 March 2011. Funding for free schools will be a top priority for the Department for Education in the forthcoming Spending Review.
• written to the New Schools Network to establish a formal relationship and to offer a £500,000 of initial funding to help make sure groups across the country get the support they need to start forming schools. The New Schools Network will act as the first point of contact for all groups who wish to start schools and will provide them with information as they go through the process and prepare their proposals.

Education Secretary Michael Gove said:

The most important element of a great education is the quality of teaching and free schools will enable excellent teachers to create new schools and improve standards for all children. This government believes that passionate teachers who want to make a real difference to education should have the opportunity. That’s why I am today inviting groups to complete a proposal form and enter a process to set up new free schools.

Hundreds of groups, from teachers themselves to charities such as the Sutton Trust, have expressed an interest in starting great new schools. Just like the successful charter schools in the US, supported across the political spectrum, these schools will have the freedom to innovate and respond directly to parents’ needs. The new free schools will also be incentivised to concentrate on the poorest children by the introduction of this government’s pupil premium which will see schools receiving extra funds for educating children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

In this country, too often the poorest children are left with the worst education while richer families can buy their way to quality education via private schools or expensive houses. By allowing new schools we will give all children access to the kind of education only the rich can afford – small schools with small class sizes, great teaching and strong discipline.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 17 June 2010.

Michael Gove today addressed headteachers at the National College for Leadership of Schools and Children’s Services’ Annual Leadership Conference in Birmingham.

The Secretary of State for Education’s first keynote speech to the conference saw him stress the need for greater freedoms for headteachers and schools, the importance of learning from overseas, improved teaching, more intelligent accountability and a curriculum and qualifications system that compares with the best overseas.

Academy freedoms

Regarding greater freedoms Michael Gove said:

One of the first things we have done is to give professionals more scope to drive improvement by inviting all schools to consider applying for academy freedoms.

But we will now also provide you with the kind of autonomy that has served schools in America, Canada, Sweden and Finland so well and allow all schools the freedom to develop their own curriculum and fully control their own budget and staffing.

The Education Secretary stated that over 1,772 schools have enquired about academy freedoms; 870 of these schools are rated ‘outstanding’ including 405 secondary schools and more than 400 outstanding primaries.

He went on:

That’s 70% of the outstanding secondary schools in the country and a significant cohort of outstanding primaries.

Any school which acquires academy freedoms will continue to be governed by admissions rules which guarantee fair access to all, safeguards the inclusive character of comprehensive schools, ensures all schools take their fair share of pupils in need and prevents any school discriminating in any way against those pupils with special educational needs.

Improving teaching

The Education Secretary stressed the importance of attracting highly qualified teachers to the teaching profession:

The generation of teachers currently in our schools is the best ever, but given the pace of international improvement we must always be striving to do better.

That is why we will expand organisations such as Teach First, Teaching Leaders and Future Leaders which have done so much to attract more highly talented people into education.

That is why we will write off the student loan payments of science and mathematics graduates who go into teaching.

That is why we will reform teacher recruitment to ensure there is a relentless focus on tempting the best into this, most rewarding, of careers.

And that is why we will reform teacher training to shift trainee teachers out of college and into the classroom.

Discipline and behaviour

The Education Secretary said that he will reform rules on discipline and behaviour to protect teachers from abuse, false allegation and from disruption and violence. He continued:

That means getting parents to accept their responsibilities, giving teachers the discretion they need to get on with the job and sending a clear and consistent message at all times that adult authority has to be respected.

Professional development

Teachers will be given more control over their careers with a culture of more teachers acquiring a postgraduate qualification like a master’s or doctorate and potential school leaders will acquiring management qualifications. The Secretary of State saw the National College as key in this.

Intelligent accountability

The Education Secretary called for external assessment that shows what works, clearer information about teaching techniques that get results and evaluations of interventions that have run their course.

Ofsted’s resources will also be directed to schools which are faltering or coasting and inspectors will spend more time on classroom observation and assessing teaching and learning.

Curriculum and qualifications

The Education Secretary stated:

I want to ensure our national curriculum is a properly international curriculum – that it reflects the best collective wisdom we have about how children learn, what they should know and how quickly they can grow in knowledge.

He stressed the need for a curriculum with a ‘simple core’ which is informed by best international practice which will be a measure for schools and will also allow parents to ask meaningful and informed questions about progress.

In addition to curriculum reform, the Education Secretary said that tests that 11-year-olds sit in this country should be comparable with those 11-year-olds sit in Singapore, Taiwan or Toronto. He went on:

That is why I want Ofqual to work not just to guarantee exam standards over time, but to guarantee exam standards match the best in the world.

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

Dear Sir

Contrary to your report (Cameron and Gove ‘failing to back headteachers over poor staff’, 5 June 2010) we are scrapping the General Teaching Council for England (GTC) precisely because it is not delivering what heads want. We do need to have an effective way of dealing with incompetence and misconduct and will be setting out which of GTC’s functions should be transferred to other bodies. In addition to the £400,000 grant mentioned, the taxpayer subsidises GTC membership by almost £16 million a year.

Yours faithfully

Lord Hill of Oareford
Schools Minister

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 10 June 2010.

Responding to the statistics, Schools Minister Nick Gibb said:

Today’s figures show that an increasing number of parents are unhappy with the school choices open to them.

The level of dissatisfaction underlines why it is so important we change the schools system so providers like teacher groups and charities can open new state schools wherever parents want them; and give outstanding schools the freedoms they need to help improve those in more challenging circumstances.

By putting education in the hands of parents and professionals, rather than bureaucrats, we can raise standards in all our schools, particularly in the poorest areas where problems are most acute.

Admission appeals statistics for maintained primary and secondary schools in England in academic year 2008 to 2009 can be downloaded.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 9 June 2010.

Regarding stories concerning free school meals, a Department for Education spokesperson said:

As the Education Secretary made clear in his letter to Ed Balls dated 7 June 2010, we are not stopping free school meals. All pupils who are already eligible will continue to receive them. We are, however, ending the expansion of eligibility this year. This decision was made because the cost of extending eligibility was significantly higher than anticipated by the previous government. Money saved this year will be invested in projects to boost the attainment of children from disadvantaged families.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 7 June 2010.

The government has today lifted the restrictions that stopped state schools offering iGCSE qualifications in key subjects. It has also announced its intention to include iGCSE results in school performance tables as soon as possible.

The announcement means that state-funded schools will be free to teach from September a wide range of these respected and valued qualifications, putting them on a level playing field with independent schools who have offered them for some time.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb has also announced that development of the new diplomas in science, humanities and languages, due to be introduced from September 2011, will cease immediately. This means instant savings of around £1.77 million, plus further savings in future years.

Along with today’s significant qualifications announcements, ministers also confirmed that they will not proceed with the last government’s proposed new primary curriculum, which was based on a review led by Sir Jim Rose. The new curriculum was due to be taught in schools from September 2011.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 7 June 2010.

The government has today lifted restrictions that stopped state schools offering iGCSE qualifications in key subjects. It has also announced its intention to include iGCSE results in school performance tables as soon as possible.

The announcement means that from September, state-funded schools will be free to teach a wide range of these respected and valued qualifications, putting them on a level playing field with independent schools who have offered them for some time.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb has also announced that development of the new diplomas in science, humanities and languages, due to be introduced from September 2011, will cease immediately. This means instant savings of around £1.77 million, plus further savings in future years.

The Minister said it was not the role of government to force the development of new diplomas in humanities, sciences and languages. Stopping the phase 4 diplomas will help refocus efforts on tried and tested, rigorous qualifications in these subject areas, which employers and higher education are asking for.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said:

After years of political control over our exams system, schools must be given greater freedom to offer the qualifications employers and universities demand, and that properly prepare pupils for life, work and further study.

For too long, children in state-maintained schools have been unfairly denied the right to study for qualifications like the iGCSE, which has only served to widen the already vast divide between state and independent schools in this country.

By removing the red tape, state school pupils will have the opportunity to leave school with the same set of qualifications as their peers from the top private schools – allowing them to better compete for university places and for the best jobs.

It’s not for government to decide which qualifications pupils should take, or to force the development of new qualifications, which is why we are stopping development of the state-led academic diploma in humanities, sciences and languages from today. Instead, we will devote our efforts to making sure our existing qualifications are rigorous, challenging and properly prepare our young people for life, work and study.

Up until now, only independent schools were able to offer iGCSEs in English, mathematics, science and ICT, which are widely respected and recognised by universities and employers. A number of the high-performing state schools have expressed an interest in offering these exams, but were prevented from doing so – even where accredited by Ofqual – by restrictions the previous Government had in place.

By removing the red tape around iGCSEs and today approving them for use and funding in state-maintained schools, ministers have given a clear signal that headteachers should be given greater power to choose the qualifications that best meet the needs of their students.

Along with today’s significant qualifications announcements, ministers also confirmed that they will not proceed with the last government’s proposed new primary curriculum, which was based on a review led by Sir Jim Rose. The new curriculum was due to be taught in schools from September 2011, but the relevant clause in the Children, Schools and Families Bill did not successfully pass through the last Parliament.

Nick Gibb said:

A move away from teaching traditional subjects like history and geography could have led to an unacceptable erosion of standards in our primary schools.

Instead, teachers need a curriculum which helps them ensure that every child has a firm grasp of the basics and a good grounding in general knowledge, free from unnecessary prescription and bureaucracy.

It is vital that we return our curriculum to its intended purpose – a minimum national entitlement organised around subject disciplines.

Ministers have always made clear their intentions to make changes to the national curriculum, to ensure a relentless focus on the basics and to give teachers more flexibility than the proposed primary curriculum offered. They will shortly announce their next steps.

In the meantime, the Department for Education has advised schools that the existing primary curriculum will continue to be in force in the academic year 2011 to 2012 and primary schools should plan on that basis.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 2 June 2010.

Commenting on the decision, Michael Gove said:

This government trusts the professionals. That’s why we want to give teachers greater freedoms and reduce unnecessary bureaucracy. Since I have been shadowing education and more recently held the brief in government there has been one organisation of whose purpose and benefit to teachers I am deeply sceptical – the General Teaching Council for England.

I believe this organisation does little to raise teaching standards or professionalism. Instead it simply acts as a further layer of bureaucracy while taking money away from teachers.

I want there to be stronger and clearer arrangements in relation to teacher misconduct and I am not convinced the GTCE is the right organisation to take these forward. I intend to seek authority from Parliament to abolish the General Teaching Council for England.