Foreword by the Secretary of State for
Education
Education has the power to transform lives and, for me, is a
matter of social justice – extending opportunity to every child,
wherever they live and whatever their background. Good
schools and a well-educated population make our country
stronger, fairer, wealthier and more secure, and higher
standards in the classroom mean better life chances for
everyone. Investing in our education system is an investment
in the future of our nation.
In 2010, we inherited an education system where 1 in 3 young people left primary school
unable to read, write and add up properly; where the number of young people studying
core academic subjects had halved in 13 years. Far too many schools were failing, and
far too many children were left out or left behind. Recent international assessments,
comparing the performance of our young people in 2011/2012 with their international
peers, have shown that our education standards have remained static, at best, whilst
other countries have moved ahead.
Over the course of the last Parliament we put in place bold reforms to drive up standards
in schools. We tackled grade inflation and restored the integrity of our qualifications,
introduced a new, more ambitious national curriculum, raised the bar for entry to the
teaching profession, and gave more freedom and autonomy to headteachers and leaders
through the academies and free schools programme.
Thanks to the hard work of thousands of teachers, headteachers and governors, huge
progress was made and schools today are better than ever before. However, there still
remain too many pockets of educational underperformance – areas where too many
young people miss out on the chance to benefit from the best possible education. This is
deeply unfair.
So this white paper sets out our plans for the next five years, building on and extending
our reforms to achieve educational excellence everywhere. Where great schools, great
leaders and great teachers exist, we will let them do what they do best – helping every
child to achieve their full potential. Where they do not, we will step in to build capacity,
raise standards and provide confidence for parents and children. We will put children and
parents first. We will set high expectations for every child, ensuring that there are no
forgotten groups or areas and we will focus on outcomes.
All the policies in this white paper follow that approach. To make sure that our plans are
consistent and coherent, we have followed five guiding principles, as set out in our
departmental strategy overview at Annex A.
3
We believe in supported autonomy: aligning funding, control, responsibility and
accountability in one place, as close to the front line as possible, and ensuring that
institutions can collaborate and access the support they need to set them up for success.
And we will work to build a system which is responsive to need and performance,
ensuring that institutions respond to changing needs. Autonomy will be both earned and
lost, with our most successful leaders extending their influence, and weaker ones doing
the opposite.
To put these principles into practice, we will move to a system where every school is an
academy. And to harness the opportunity that greater autonomy provides, we will do
more to ensure the profession has the tools it needs to succeed: improving teacher
training and qualifications and ensuring a strong, diverse pipeline of leaders. In particular,
we will place a sharp new focus on areas of the country where standards are
unacceptably low and where chronic underperformance is compounded by a lack of
capacity to improve.
It’s an ambitious programme, and an exciting one. But the prize of securing educational
excellence everywhere means it is the right thing to do. I hope that teachers, leaders,
governors and parents will join us in working to improve standards across the country
and will make the most of the opportunities on offer.
Children only get one chance at education and every child deserves the opportunity to
reach their full potential. As a parent, I know only too well that childhood is short, and
when it comes to a child’s education, there’s no time to waste. Access to a great
education is not a luxury but a right for everyone.
Nicky Morgan MP
Secretary of State for Education
4