Please find below Education Secretary Bridget Philipson's opening
statement at todays Education Select Committee, her first as
Education Secretary.
"I am delighted to be here today, and I do want to say before I
go further how proud I am to be in front of you. There is
no job better in government; no better select committee to sit
on, and I also want to thank you Chair for this early opportunity
to update Members of the Committee on the work and thinking of
the Department for Education.
This government believes education belongs at the heart of
national life: at the heart of the ambition we have for the next
generation.
I know how a great education and the support of loving parents
can transform lives, and my ambition and determination is to
improve standards at every stage of children's education. I
believe that is the way we will drive the best possible outcomes
for all, breaking the link between background and success.
That starts in our children's earliest years and our Plan for
Change sets the ambition for a record proportion to children
starting school ready to learn. This step change is essential to
every child's success.
Turning to schools, over the past few decades, we saw improved
attainment before the pandemic. But all was not well in our
school system– a third of children were leaving primary school
without fundamental reading, writing and maths skills.
Disadvantaged children too often being failed and children with
SEND left without the support they needed to excel at school.
The pandemic exposed and exacerbated these problems, and recovery
has been too slow. Average attainment is down, the gap for
disadvantaged children has opened up and we have an absence
crisis, with more than 1 in 5 children missing a day of school
each fortnight, fuelled by fewer and fewer children feeling they
belong at school.
This needs to change.
Our mission is to drive high and rising standards and Academies
are crucial partners and often leaders in this.
High standards must be the right of every child, delivered
through excellent teaching and leadership, ashared knowledge,
rich and engaging curriculum, and a system which removes the
barriers to learning that hold back too many or our children.
This means higher and broader expectations for all children and
of all schools. And that truly means for all children.
We are designing a school system which supports and challenges
all schools to deliver high standards for every child: expert
qualified teachers in every classroom, teaching a rich and broad
curriculum, with schools able to create an attractive pay and
conditions offer that attracts and retains the staff our children
need. We will create a floor but no ceiling, enabling healthy
competition and innovation to improve all schools.
But effective competition alone isn't sufficient. There are still
too many struggling schools that are not providing a good
education, with a fragmented system that lets vulnerable children
fall through the gaps and we will tackle this.
Our accountability reforms will replace blunt single word
judgements with more information on what schools do well and what
they need to do to improve. Our new RISE teams will work schools
that are struggling or slipping, and we will continue to change
the leadership and governance of schools where there is not
capacity to drive the change that is needed.
We are taking action to make sure parents, wherever they live,
will have a good local school for their child, and can be
confident they will achieve and thrive.
But learning must not end when young people leave school. We are
going further to create new pathways for young people and adults
to learn, retrain, upskill throughout their lives spreading
growth and economic opportunity to every corner of our country. I
look forward to discussing this and all issues with you this
morning."
