Education secretary Bridget Phillipson made pupil happiness, wellbeing and delivering inclusive schools the key messages of her first big speech to the sector.
Speaking at the Confederation of School Trusts’ conference this morning, she pointed to international data showing a third of 15-year-olds don’t feel like they belong in school.
“We’ve gone backwards, and we’ve fallen behind, and we’ve got to put this right.
“That’s why thriving and belonging will feature so prominently in our work in the opportunity mission, hand in hand with attainment.
“Healthy, happy children coming to school ready to learn – if we get this right, those children will achieve time and again.
“The best schools understand this. They also understand that it’s not easy, it’s not soft.”
‘A*s alone don’t set pupils up for happy life’
Exam results “open important doors … and will continue to be the anchor of our education system,” but “A*s alone do not set young people up for a healthy and happy life.
“And where previous governments have had tunnel vision, we will widen our ambition.
“If we want to tackle the epidemic of school absence, children need to feel that they belong in school.”
She added the “absence epidemic is the canary in the coalmine for belonging in our country”.
While parents “have a responsibility to send their children to school … schools and trusts must create welcoming, engaging and inclusive spaces for pupils.”
‘Reform direction is inclusive mainstream’
She also unveiled a new expert panel to help deliver reforms to make schools more inclusive.
“Ler me be clear: the direction of that reform is inclusive mainstream,” she added.
“That is why we will bring a new focus on improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream education settings.”
She said the current system “incentivised some to adopt a competitive rather than a collaborative model, and others to avoid more challenging communities.
“ But that chase for a narrow shadow of excellence, the kind that only succeeds by pushing problems onto others – that ends now.”
Read: Bridget Phillipson’s speech in full
Good morning, everyone. It’s a real privilege to be here. Thank you to the whole CST team for bringing us together today.
And thank you, Leora, for inviting me to speak this morning, and thank you for your outstanding leadership in the sector.
Your passion for social justice really is an inspiration for us all.
And your dedication to the children of this country is clear in all you do – especially when you are pushing us to be better, always asking us the tough questions.
So I hope we continue to work together in the weeks, months and years ahead.
And thank you to all of you here today in this room. Thank you for all your incredible work, day in, day out, to improve the life chances of young people across this country.
It’s been a long journey for me to get here today.
The journey of a shy girl, who grew up on a council street in the north east of England, in a family that wasn’t a traditional size or shape, who walked every morning to the state school up the road.
I want to talk about how that little girl now stands here in front of you as the Secretary of State for Education.
My family, the schools I went to, the teachers who taught me, they worked tirelessly to give me every opportunity to succeed.
To achieve in the classroom and thrive throughout my childhood.
‘Achieving and thriving’
That’s my story – achieving and thriving.
We all understand how important it is to see our children achieve at school.
But I know deep down that I was only able to achieve at my school, to go on to university, to join this new government as Secretary of State
- because I was happy and healthy in school
- because I felt I belonged
- because I was given every opportunity to thrive.
Many of my friends on my street weren’t so lucky.
They didn’t get those same opportunities.
But life shouldn’t come down to luck.
So this new government is on a mission to spread opportunity far and wide, to give every single child the very best life chances.
This is a new era of child-centred government.
But today our country is far from where it should be, from where I’m sure it can be again.
Too many children are held back by their background.
And still, 24 years into the 21st century, 4.3 million children are living in poverty in this country.
A stain on our society, a disgrace that holds our children back.
So our work on education, on opportunity, starts with our work on poverty.
That’s why I’m proud to be leading the government’s Child Poverty Taskforce, with my co-chair the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.
The work of fixing the foundations in this country has begun – and last week’s Budget continues that.
The Chancellor set out plans to fix the foundations, not just of our economy, but of our education system too.
‘Difficult decisions’
You won’t have missed the tough fiscal situation we face. Incredibly difficult decisions are being made everyday.
But education priorities have been protected – including through the £2.3bn increase to the core schools budget next year.
A Budget that sets us on the path to delivering the best life chances for every child.
A Budget that puts education back at the forefront of national life.
The Chancellor has done her bit, now we must do ours.
That means high and rising standards in all schools and trusts.
Not just for some of our children, not just in some cities, some schools, some trusts, some pockets of excellence here and there.
No, never again, not under this government. This country deserves better. Parents deserve better. Children deserve better.
High and rising standards in every school, in every trust.
That’s the route to better life chances for all our children. To a growing economy, a stronger society.
This government will never be soft on standards.
I will never compromise on achievement or aspiration for our children.
Because we all know who misses out when standards slip – it’s working class children.
So we’re driving high and rising standards for all our children.
The curriculum and assessment review is now in full swing, with roadshows up and down the country.
It’ll deliver a curriculum that is rich in knowledge, strong on skills and led by the evidence.
We’re reforming accountability, ending single headline Ofsted grades in schools, moving to an approach that drives up standards for children, with greater transparency for parents and more support for schools.
And our new Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence teams will work with schools and trusts to spread excellence across the system.
But you all know the factor that makes the biggest difference to our children’s life chances in the classroom.
It’s great teachers.
6.5k more teachers will be spread over parliament
That’s why in our manifesto we committed to recruit an additional 6,500 new expert teachers across our schools, both mainstream and specialist, and our colleges over the course of this parliament.
All this will help every child achieve great things.
But achieving is just one part of it. I want children to do well and be happy in school too. I want all children to achieve and thrive.
Every child should go to a school where they are free to be themselves, free to make friends, free to explore their talents.
A happy, healthy child who knows, that deep down inside, they belong.
There is such value in that:
- not just because it’s good for exam results, although it is
- not just because it helps children achieve, although it does
- not just because it can drive up standards, although it will
You’ll hear lots of talk about reform of systems, reform of policies.
But the scale of the challenge ahead of us demands something deeper – it demands a profound reform in what we value in our schools.
So that up there alongside attainment is the wellbeing of our children.
Because exam results are only achieved when children’s wellbeing is prized too.
Because that’s what parents tell us they care about – the academic success of their children, and their happiness too.
But as a country we know we’re failing. The most recent data shows 1 in 3 fifteen-year-olds don’t feel they belong in school.
That’s worse than the average across our OECD neighbours.
And it’s worse than it was in our country 12 years ago.
‘Failing on pupil happiness’
We’ve gone backwards, and we’ve fallen behind, and we’ve got to put this right.
That’s why thriving and belonging will feature so prominently in our work in the opportunity mission, hand in hand with attainment.
But this is not a manifesto for happy ignorance.
Nor is it a plan for miserable achievement.
Achieving and thriving – the two pillars of our plans for pupils – are not in opposition.
They work in tandem, one strengthening the other.
Healthy, happy children coming to school ready to learn – if we get this right, those children will achieve time and again.
The best schools understand this. They also understand that it’s not easy, it’s not soft.
But it’s the right approach.
And it shows the value of great teachers.
The most important driver of attainment, and essential for building belonging too.
I had amazing teachers. You just heard there – one introduced me at Labour Party Conference this year.
Ms Haq helped me do my best in the classroom.
She pushed me to achieve, she also helped me to thrive.
Giving up her time after the working day to coach the girls’ rugby team, or simple words of encouragement in the school classrooms.
She made sure my classmates and I knew we belonged in that school.
‘Sense of belonging’
But how can children today feel that sense of belonging if their teachers keep leaving?
To achieve and thrive, children need stability, not churn.
And we’ve got to keep our amazing teachers in the classroom. I know that.
So we will end the sorry story of so many teachers leaving the classroom fed up and worn out.
Turning the tide, not just plugging the leaks.
Because the best recruitment strategy is a strong retention strategy.
We must make teaching a career that sparks pride, not resentment. Fulfilment, not burnout.
It once was, it can be again.
And it should be a career that women in their 30s don’t feel forced to leave.
Because, let’s be honest, they make up a huge share of the teachers leaving the classroom.
We need a change of approach.
So we’re supporting teachers to improve their workload and wellbeing.
To undertake planning and preparation remotely.
And our work to tackle child poverty will reduce the burden on teachers.
No longer swamped by failures elsewhere, teachers free to do what they do best, teach.
Their excellent work fairly recognised and compensated – with the 5.5% pay award.
And big financial incentives for teachers in key subjects to stay in the classroom – backed up by massive investment in the next recruitment cycle.
‘Teachers are partners, not enemies’
This is a government that knows the value teachers bring to our country.
- You are partners, not enemies.
- Respected professionals, not political punching bags.
- Essential to building a brighter future for all of our children.
But I ask you, how can teachers build belonging when our classrooms are crumbling?
Something which the last government simply failed to grasp.
Their approach, after cancelling Labour’s school rebuilding programme, was the ultimate in sticking plaster politics.
Patch-and-mend, when what our schools needed was total renewal.
The cost to taxpayers has been vast but the cost to children even more so.
The challenge we now face is immense – the work of a decade.
But this government won’t duck that challenge.
And last week’s Budget, the Chancellor announced £1.4bn in funding to rebuild our schools – up by £550 million.
And £2.1bn to improve the condition of school buildings – up by £300m.
We will fix the fabric of our schools – and rebuild the pride our children feel in their classrooms.
But we all know that poor mental health is another barrier.
The struggle for support is paralysing our children and young people.
So as we said in our manifesto, we will work across government, ensuring our young people get the specialist support they need at school and in the community.
Tackling issues before they impact life chances.
Achieving and thriving in schools, in families, in communities.
That’s how we give our children the best life chances.
I know it, I’ve lived it.
I had a family who loved me completely and unconditionally, every day of my childhood I felt like I belonged.
But my mam and my grandparents also taught me to love learning, they helped me achieve at school.
And I had wonderful teachers – who made me feel at home in their classrooms, but held me to high standards too.
That owes so much to the last Labour government.
They knew instinctively that children could only achieve if they also thrived, that high standards could only be built on a foundation of belonging at school.
So I grew up knowing not only that success belonged to me, but that I belonged in my community.
For children to have that, to achieve and thrive – they need to be in school.
‘Schools must create more welcoming environment for pupils’
But we have an absence epidemic in this country.
One in five children persistently absent, missing a day every other week.
That’s a figure that should shock us all. A failure of society and state.
And our children will pay the price for years to come.
- Their exam results – worse
- Their odds of a getting a good job – lower
- Their life chances – fading
Catching them up hits you and your teams with extra work. I know that.
Even if we assume it takes just one minute per missed day – that adds up to the equivalent of 1,000 teachers working full time, on nothing else, for an entire year.
So we are acting to get children back in the classroom.
A mentoring programme to reach 10,000 more children.
And world class data in the hands of school and trust leaders to tackle problems early.
But this crisis goes back to belonging.
When the precious relationship between schools, families and communities breaks down, attendance plummets.
The absence epidemic is the canary in the coalmine for belonging in our country.
And the way we tackle this, the way we rip out the roots of this generational challenge, is to rebuild belonging, through partnership and responsibility.
Parents have a responsibility to send their children to school.
But schools and trusts must create welcoming, engaging and inclusive spaces for pupils.
Our best schools and trusts do this, but we know that there’s huge variation in attendance levels.
Sometimes that reflects different intakes and resources.
But sometimes it’s difference in school performance, whether leadership, practices or approach.
And that we won’t accept. We expect a relentless focus on driving up attendance across our schools.
As a government, we’re centring schools in their communities to boost attendance.
We’re introducing free breakfast clubs in every primary school.
And we’ve already begun delivering 3,000 new or expanded nurseries in our primary schools.
It’s not just about the breakfast, or the nursery.
By putting them in our schools, we grow that sense of belonging, schools as the beating heart of their communities – where children come together to eat, learn and grow.
To achieve and thrive.
SEND: time for bold reform
I want all children with SEND to achieve and thrive as well.
But last month’s report from the National Audit Office confirmed what parents and people in this room already knew:
- A system neglected to the point of crisis
- A system too skewed too far towards specialist provision
- A system failing families on every measure
Now is the time for bold reform.
And let me be clear: the direction of that reform is inclusive mainstream.
That is why we will bring a new focus on improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream education settings.
I have been really encouraged to see some great examples of mainstream schools delivering specialist provision and showing what is possible – including through the use of SEN Units and Resourced Provision.
I recently visited an autism provision at Mount Pleasant primary school in Darlington,
and saw the fantastic work that they, and increasing numbers of schools and colleges, do to include children with SEND in mainstream classes, whilst also providing the specialist support their children and young people need to thrive.
We will encourage more schools to set up this form of provision.
Taking what works and applying it in mainstream schools.
And our actions will go deeper.
The Curriculum and Assessment Review will look at the barriers which hold back those with SEND.
Early intervention is vital – so there’s increased training for early years providers to identify and support children sooner.
We’re making progress to support the workforce in mainstream to increase SEND expertise, including through changes to initial teacher training.
We will strengthen accountability on mainstream schools to be inclusive, including through Ofsted inspections.
All of our work will be guided by experts – incredible people from across the sector, helping us get this right.
And that’s why today I am proud to announce that I’ve appointed Dame Christine Lenehan as our strategic advisor on SEND.
Dame Christine will play a key role in convening and engaging the sector, including leaders, practitioners, children and families, as we consider next steps for the future of SEND reform.
And Tom Rees, Chief Executive of Ormiston Academies Trust, who is with us here today, will be leading a group of experts to help us drive forward work on inclusion in mainstream education settings.
I’m absolutely delighted to have both Christine and Tom on board to help guide this essential work.
They bring with them a wealth of knowledge and experience in supporting all children and young people to thrive.
And I’m pleased to announce that we are bringing together leading neurodiversity experts – including those with lived experience – to work closely with my department.
They’ll help us to understand how to improve inclusivity and expertise in mainstream, in a way that works for neurodivergent children and young people.
And they’ll work closely with the NHS England ADHD taskforce.
We have to get this right. A comprehensive system of support from birth to age 25.
The key to delivering all this, achieving and thriving for all our children, is collaboration.
I know you agree.
“Public institutions, civic in their outlook, anchored in their communities”. Those are your words.
Trusts: don’t push problems to others
At your best, trusts are drivers of excellence and community connectors. I value the role the CST has played in this.
I want the best trusts to grow, including through schools who wish to convert where there is a strong case to do so.
But I know the current system incentivised some to adopt a competitive rather than a collaborative model, and others to avoid more challenging communities.
But that chase for a narrow shadow of excellence, the kind that only succeeds by pushing problems onto others – that ends now.
With the support of trust leaders, and CST, we will move to an approach rooted in partnership.
Finding what works, ending what doesn’t.
We want to create certainty for all children, parents and teachers, in a core offer of education.
Trusts to play ‘leading role’
I want to see innovation in schools within a core set of requirements so that the best of what you have pioneered becomes common across the system.
I expect all schools, regardless of type, to support each other, to drive a self-improving system.
And I’m committed to introducing inspection across multi academy trusts.
To identify areas for improvement, yes of course. But to spot and spread excellence in all schools as a priority.
It’s about partnership, and government is here in partnership with you.
That’s what our Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence teams are here for too.
Led by the best teachers and leaders in the country, facilitating new support and spreading excellence.
Our best trusts will play a leading role.
Achieving and thriving – those two precious words.
I’ve said them so many times today.
I’ll say them many more times again.
That sense of wellbeing and belonging holds the key to so much of the change that we want to bring, so much of what I’ve spoken about today.
Exam results open important doors to opportunity for young people; they show what pupils know and can do; they are and will continue to be the anchor of our education system.
But A*s alone do not set young people up for a healthy and happy life.
And where previous governments have had tunnel vision, we will widen our ambition.
If we want to tackle the epidemic of school absence, children need to feel that they belong in school.
If we want to transform the outcomes of all young people with SEND, children need to feel that they belong in school.
And if we want young people to leave our school system, not just with A*s in their pocket, but with a sense of power and purpose, children need to feel like they belong.
This government will always be strong on standards.
But those standards will forever be in the pursuit of what’s best for children.
Because if we fall into that trap of chasing a narrow shade of standards, structures-driven rather than child-focused, then children with SEND get swept to the side, and attendance crashes.
A sole focus on achievement is doomed to fail.
But achieving and thriving, together – that’s what gave me a brighter future.
That’s what will give a brighter future to generations to come.
And I am optimistic – that brighter future, for our children, and for our children’s children, it’s possible.
A future in which our children achieve great things – and they are happy as they do it.
It’s within our power, it’s within theirs.
So this is a moment of change, yes. And as a new Secretary of State, I bring reform.
But all of it, every last inch, is about delivering the very best life chances for our children.
I know that’s an ambition that you all share.
Because when I look around this room today,
I see dedicated professionals to work with.
I see decades of experience to draw upon.
I see a room brimming with excellence to spread far and wide.
I see partners, in our shared mission.
Partners in the push for better, on our journey to break down the barriers to opportunity for every child, once and for all.
Thank you.
