When I took up this role almost a year ago, my very first message to the sector and to the wider public was that this government would reset the relationship with the education workforce.
Because ultimately, this government, education leaders and teachers are all focused on a single, shared aim: improving outcomes for children and young people.
Resetting that relationship means treating our brilliant teachers and leaders with the respect they deserve. It means valuing them properly. And it means partnership.
And as a government, that’s what we have done. Last July, we accepted the independent pay review body’s recommendation for a 5.5-per cent pay award and provided over £1 billion, despite immensely tough public finances, to make sure schools could deliver it.
Today we are taking another decisive step, once again accepting in full the pay review body’s recommendation, and making a 4-per cent pay award, again with significant investment to make sure the pay rise becomes a reality for teachers.
We’re acting to support teachers in our colleges too, because they are essential to delivering on our Plan for Change. We’re investing an extra £160 million this year, on top of the over £400 million we are already planning to spend, so that colleges and other 16-19 providers can recruit more expert teachers – and keep the ones they’ve got too – while driving economic growth and delivering the skilled workforce which businesses and public services need.
This government has had to take some deeply difficult decisions, including ending programmes that are not delivering value for money and ending tax breaks enjoyed by private schools, which is why accepting the pay body’s recommendation, alongside further funding, reflects education as a true national priority.
And it reflects the determination this government has to lift outcomes for all young people, because teachers are the single most powerful tool we have to do that.
The value of teachers and leaders must be measured in more than just pounds and pence
But the value of teachers and leaders must be measured in more than just pounds and pence. That’s why we’re also giving the sector a voice in the development of policies that most affect them, through our Improving Education Together board, which launched last year.
This partnership approach is crucial, but it must be a two-way street. Joint responsibility. Government to do its bit to turn around the challenges that are all too familiar in our education system, and schools to do theirs.
And there are areas where we are asking exactly that. On attendance, where we are already seeing the tide begin to turn, schools have a big role to play in cutting the number of children who are regularly absent.
On accountability too, where together with Ofsted we are introducing a new, strengthened inspection system, because with higher standards for children must come stronger accountability for schools.
Partnership also means honesty, and as school leaders you have not always had a government that has been honest with you about the state of school funding.
That’s why I‘m being upfront and asking schools to fund the first 1 per cent of the pay rise by making efficiencies so every pound benefits children with the high-quality education they deserve.
Because the reality is that there’s enormous variation across schools in how effectively money is being used. Some brilliant, some less so, It’s only right we are honest about that picture.
My department will help. We will support schools in getting far greater value from their budgets, whether that’s savings on energy bills, better banking returns on cash balances; best value when procuring goods through our Get Help Buying for Schools service; or lower recruitment costs through our Teaching Vacancies Service.
And real gains are possible. Take the example of a multi-academy trust in Yorkshire which was using more than 50 different agencies for temporary staff recruitment. After better centralising their approach, that trust saved over £110,000 from their annual budget.
I know that isn’t an example that will resonate with all schools, and I know that all schools have their own circumstances, but this is a nettle we are all going to need to grasp over the months to come.
But tough public finances does not mean slow progress when it comes to improvements for the children and young people we all serve.
Schools and colleges now have a government that is determined to put education back at the forefront of national life. We are building on the progress made in recent years including by tackling the huge injustices we know still exist in our system – for children with SEND, children and young people from the most deprived backgrounds and those who the system to this point has all but left behind.
And we will do that together: government, teachers and leaders working in partnership. That’s how we build a system where every child and young person, wherever they grow up, has the opportunity to make the very best of their life.
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