Hinds: A world class education for everyone, whatever path you take, whatever your background

• Unrelenting focus on academic standards, with actions to improve literacy and numeracy and support to create a positive learning environment
• Equal importance for technical and vocational education with £38 million funding boost for the first T Level providers
• Supporting kids beyond the classroom to build character and resilience through a new School Sports Action Plan

Speaking at Conservative Party Conference this afternoon, the Education Secretary, Damian Hinds will announce a series of measures that will help to create a work class education for every child, whatever path they take and whatever their background.

• ·         Improving standards in English and Maths. Many of our schools and colleges now excel in teaching maths and English. Standards are therefore rising with more 11 year olds meeting the required standards in reading and writing and more teenagers achieving a standard GCSE maths pass before they leave education. However there is more to do and so today we are naming 32 schools and 21 colleges who will receive £66 million over five years to share their expertise. The colleges will establish Maths Centres of Excellence that will test and share new ways to teach students who are resitting their maths GCSE. The schools will set up regional English Hubs to help other primary schools teach phonics.

• ·         Support for improving behaviour in schools. Good behaviour unlocks opportunities for pupils. It frees pupils from low-level disruption so they can learn and frees teachers to focus on teaching. This government has empowered schools to improve behaviour but we want to go further. We will therefore invest £10 million to improve training on behaviour for teachers, update our guidance on behaviour and support the best schools to share their knowledge.

• ·         World class facilities for teaching T Levels. We are transforming technical education so that every young person has the opportunity to get a skilled job. From 2020, students will be able to study T Levels - a new high quality, technical alternative to the A-level. T Levels are designed by business and include substantial placements in industry so that young people master the skills they need to get a great job at the end. Today we are announcing that we will invest £38 million in cutting edge equipment and facilities so that these new gold standard qualifications will be taught in world class facilities.
• ·         Increasing Careers provision. We want young people to have great careers provision so they can access opportunities, especially those created by our reforms to technical education. That is why we are doubling the number of trained Career Leaders in schools to 1,300 as well as setting up 20 new networks of schools working together with employers. This means more work experience, more employers visiting schools, more focus on careers in the curriculum and more young people acquiring the skills and qualifications they need succeed.

• ·         More competitive sports in school. Sport is an important part of growing up. It gives young people the opportunity to build the character and resilience they need to succeed as an adult. The Education Secretary and the Sports Minister will convene key organisations in the sports world – including the Premier League, England Netball and the RFU – to encourage schools to offer more competitive school sport. This will lead to a School Sports Action Plan which will be published next year.

Education Secretary, Damian Hinds said:

“Look at what has been achieved in education since 2010 – back in the world top 10 for primary school reading, with reformed curriculum and qualifications, thousands of schools given freedom as an academy, 1.9 million more children in good or outstanding schools. 

“This is a record to be proud of, but it’s not yet enough to be satisfied with. Our ambition is simply said but truly stretching: a world class education for everyone, whatever path you take, whatever your background.

“We will not rest until results in all parts of our country are as good as they are now in the best, opportunity is equally available to all of our society and all routes, whether academic or technical, are of equal standing.”

ENDS

A transcript of the Education Secretary’s speech will be circulated shortly after he comes off stage.

For further information, please contact Meg Powell-Chandler on 07585448031

Notes to Editors

English Hubs

• ·         The 32 schools chosen as hubs will spread best practice and teaching techniques, backed by £26.3 million of funding. This will include providing school workshops for teachers and more intensive school-to-school support.
• ·         The hub schools were chosen through a competitive process - all 32 have a background of excellent phonics teaching and are distributed to benefit the areas that need it most. Each hub will identify specialist literacy teachers who will get additional training to act as experts in teaching in early language and reading from reception year to Key Stage 1. The hubs will work with up to 170 local primary schools and will build a network of excellent phonics teaching in every region.
• ·         Please contact the DfE press office for information on the primary schools selected as English Hubs.

Maths Centres for Excellence

• ·         21 new centres for excellence will be established in post-16 institutions across the country - with at least one in every region of England. The programme will design new and improved teaching approaches, develop high quality teaching resources, build teachers’ skills, and spread best practice across the country through maths networks.
• ·         This announcement is part of the £40 million announced in the 2017 Autumn Budget to improve the quality of basic maths provision for low attaining young people over the age of 16 over the next five years. 
• ·         Please contact the DfE press office for information on the colleges identified as Centres for Excellence in basic maths teaching.

Behaviour

• ·         We will update our behaviour guidance working with the schools that are best at managing behaviour so that our schools are great places to learn and teach.
• ·         We will reform the training that teachers receive in their first two years to ensure that they are able to manage behaviour and thrive in their primary task of teaching. 
• ·         We will invest £10 million over the next two year to enable the schools that are excellent at managing behaviour to train other teachers and share their expertise. 

T Levels Capital

• ·         We are announcing this funding now, and plan to make it available from spring 2019, so that providers are ready to deliver in September 2020.
• ·         This investment will fund the latest industry-standard equipment to ensure that qualifications meet the needs of employers. This will include computers and digital equipment for those studying Digital and heavy plant and machinery for those studying Construction.

Increased Careers Provision

• ·         Many employers think young people do not have enough engagement with employers – 37 per cent highlighted a need for greater engagement with business and the world of work for pupils from age 11 onwards (Gatsby Foundation, Good Careers Guidance: Reaching the Gatsby Benchmarks, 2013).
• ·         The Government’s 2017 careers strategy committed £9 million of funding to train 500 career leaders and set up 20 networks of schools and employers working together. 
• ·         We will invest an additional £5 million to more than doubling the number of trained Career Leaders in schools, as well as setting up new networks of schools and colleges who will work together with employers. This means more work experience, more employers visiting schools and colleges, more talk of careers in the curriculum and more young people acquiring the skills and qualifications they need to succeed.

School Sports Action Plan

• ·         The Education Secretary and the Sports Minister will convene key organisations in the sports world – including the Premier League, England Netball and the RFU – in the Autumn to encourage schools to offer more competitive school sport.
• ·         The Government will publish a School Sports Action Plan next year which will look to increase the opportunities for competitive sport, train more staff in delivering high quality sport, provide opportunities for students to get involved in leading and coaching sport and increase the profile of competitive sport between schools.
• ·         We have doubled the PE and Sports Premium to £320 million. Last year we announced we were doubling the funding that primary schools receive to improve the quality of their PE and sport provision from £160 million to £320 million a year (DfE Press Release, 24 October 2017, link).
• ·         Our Childhood Obesity Plan will make sure children are healthy and active. The Plan recommends that every primary school child should get at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity a day. At least 30 minutes should be delivered in school through active break times, PE, extra-curricular clubs, active lessons, or other sport and physical activity event (DHSC, Childhood Obesity: A Plan for Action, 20 January 2017, link).