Any child who falls behind in maths or English will get the support they need to get back on track, as part of a pledge made by the Education Secretary today, as he launched the first Schools White Paper in six years.
Commenting Burnley and Padiham Antony Higginbotham MP said:
For me the very heart of levelling up, and making our borough the best place to live is having a world class education system.
Our schools have improved enormously since 2010 with the number of good and outstanding ratings from Ofsted up, and pupil attainment up. But I’m determined to push further forward, so every child locally gets the very best start in life and no one is left behind.
The new Schools White Paper announced by Government will deliver on just that. Providing extra help for those who need it, developing our teachers, and making sure the curriculum keeps pace with the world and drives up standards. Our teachers locally do a brilliant job, and I’m going to do all I can to help them deliver the best for our young people.
Schools will identify children who need help, provide targeted support via a range of proven methods such as small group tuition, and keep parents informed about their child’s progress.
The Parent Pledge will support the government’s Levelling Up mission for education, previously set out in the Levelling Up White Paper, for 90% of primary school children to achieve the expected standard in Key Stage 2 reading, writing and maths by 2030.
In 2019, only 65% of children achieved this standard, with the covid pandemic exacerbating challenges despite the incredible work of parents and teachers during this time.
A second ambition for secondary schools aims to see the national average GCSE grade in both English language and maths increase from 4.5 in 2019 to 5 by 2030.
The Schools White Paper sets out a series of new measures to support the delivery of these ambitions, including:
- Schools will offer a minimum school week of 32.5 hours by September 2023
- Ofsted will inspect every school by 2025, including the backlog of ‘outstanding’ schools that haven’t been inspected for many years
- By 2030 all children will benefit from being taught in a school in, or in the process of joining, a strong multi-academy trust, which will help transform underperforming schools and deliver the best possible outcomes for children
- At least £100m to put the Education Endowment Foundation on a long-term footing so they can continue to evaluate and spread best practice in education across the country
If achieved, the wider benefits of pupils in 2030 meeting the Key Stage 2 and GCSE ambitions are estimated to be worth at least £30 billion each for the economy.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:
Literacy and numeracy are the building blocks of a world-class education. They unlock the learning, knowledge and skills that every child needs to succeed in later life.
So today, we are making a pledge to every parent – if your child falls behind at school in either of these key subjects, their school will help them get back on track.
By making sure every child receives excellent teaching which helps them reach their full potential, we will spread opportunity and futureproof our mission to level up the country.
Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said:
This is levelling up in action. The Opportunity for All White Paper will deliver for every child, parent and family, living anywhere from rural villages, to coastal towns through to the largest cities, by making sure all children have access to a school that meets our current best standards, harnessing the incredible energy and expertise of the one million people that work in schools.
Any child who falls behind in maths or English will get the support they need to get back on track, and schools will also be asked to offer at least a 32.5 hour school week by September 2023.
We know what works in schools and we are scaling up to ensure that every child can expect interesting, enriching lessons. Parents rightly expect a world class education for their children and that is what we will deliver.
Rt Hon Robert Halfon MP, Chair of the Education Select Committee said:
The publication of the Schools White Paper could not have come sooner. The four key pillars of teacher development, improving curriculum standards especially with regard to literacy and numeracy, parental engagement and uniformity of school hours are a welcome ambition to help ensure the Government works to level-up education.
Increasing parental engagement through the “parent pledge” will help break down long-standing and often complicated barriers that exist to help increase attendance, especially in relation to the 124,000 “ghost children” who have dropped out of the school system following the outbreak of the pandemic.
I am particularly pleased to see the commitment made by the Department to establish a uniformity of school hours. It is my hope that this will mean pupils up and down the country will have more time to catch up on their lost learning from the pandemic, and to also develop their skills by exploring creative subjects like sport, drama and music. Not only will this benefit their mental health and resilience, but it will also improve their educational attainment and allow every child to climb the ladder of opportunity, regardless of their background or circumstance.
Other plans in the White Paper to deliver on the missions for children’s attainment at the end of primary and secondary include:
- 500,000 teacher training and development opportunities by 2024
- £30,000 starting salaries to attract and retain the best teachers
- Payments to recruit and keep talented physics, chemistry, computing and maths teachers working in disadvantaged schools
- A register for children not in school to make sure no child is lost from the system
- Every school to have access to funded training for a senior mental health lead to deliver a whole school approach to health and wellbeing
- Oak National Academy becoming a government body with sole focus on supporting teachers to deliver the very best lesson content
- Up to 6 million tutoring courses by 2024 and action to cement tuition as a permanent feature of the school system
- The school system working as a whole to raise standards with trusts responsible for running schools while local authorities are empowered to champion the interests of children
The SEND and alternative provision green paper will also launch tomorrow (Tuesday) and build on the Schools White Paper by setting out a national vision for more inclusive culture and practice in mainstream schools, helping the workforce to adapt to every pupil’s needs.
Updated data published today shows pupils continue to make progress following the pandemic with the support of the education recovery programme, now worth nearly £5 billion. By Autumn 2021, the average primary school pupil was 1.9 months behind in maths compared to 2.8 months in the summer, whilst the average primary school pupil was 0.8 months behind in reading, compared to 0.9 months behind in the summer.
The new tools and interventions set out in the White Paper will make sure every teacher, school and trust in the country is focused on identifying children who remain at risk of not meeting their potential, and providing them the right combination of academic, pastoral and specialist support they need to thrive.
