Check against delivery

It’s a real privilege to be here today in Birmingham and to have the chance to speak to so many education leaders – with many more I know watching over the internet.

And let me start by congratulating you Steve on what I thought was a really excellent speech earlier this morning.

I thought you told a really compelling story about the brilliant leadership at work in our schools.

You set out the progress that we’ve made over the past decade – and the challenges that we still need to address.

And most importantly, I thought you really captured really well the moral purpose that I know:

-          brought many of you into teaching;

-          drove you on to become school leaders;

-          and led you to being here today.

And that moral purpose? It’s:

-          the belief that every child has potential and can succeed with the right help and support;

-          and the determination that every single school should be a great school where every young person is valued and inspired.

And I also think you are right on this:

Excellence and opportunity can only truly be for all if every one of us works together and takes our responsibilities seriously – teachers, heads and their leadership teams, support staff, governors, local authorities and us in government too.

And it is this same moral purpose to deliver opportunity for all and not just some that underpins our key reforms – education to 18, our new Apprenticeships service, our determination to raise achievement in every primary and secondary school and our new Diplomas – the best chance we have ever had to break out of the old two-tier divide between academic and vocational learning.

We all know that long gone are the days when many young people could leave school at 16 and work their way up to a successful career with no further learning or training.

And while university is a good option for many young people, it isn’t the right option for many others.

But every parent wants to know that their children will leave school with the qualifications they need to get a good job, pay the mortgage and save for a pension.

And that is why we want every young person starting secondary school this September not just to stay in school, college or learning at work until they’re 18and beyond, but to get a qualification that will set them up for adult life.

That is why getting our reforms right – particularly our Diplomas – is so important.

And Diplomas were one of the issues that I discussed with a group of you this morning after Steve’s speech.

We also talked about:

-          the Children’s Plan and what more we can do to back leadership teams in our schools;

-          what more we can do to reduce the burdens placed on you and to get parents more effectively engaged with their child’s learning;

-          and also – and there’s no surprise here – the opportunity of – but also the concerns some of you have with – our National Challenge programme to raise standards in every school – and I will come back to that in a moment.

But in our discussion this morning – and indeed from all the discussions that I’ve had with school leaders and parents over the past year – what comes through so clearly to me is that there is now a real consensus on the qualities and characteristics that make up a great school:

-          strong and supportive leadership from the head and the whole leadership team;

-          great teachers and a premium on inspirational teaching;

-          an engaging curriculum and a focus on tracking the progress of every child;

-          and firm discipline with heads and schools using the powers they need to tackle bad behaviour so that teachers can get on with the job of teaching.

But you have also made it clear that:

-          you can’t do it alone;

-          that parents are the most important influence on their children’s life chances;

-          and that tackling all the barriers to learning means looking at what happens outside as well as inside the school gates.

That was why we created our new Department for Children, Schools and Families.

Some said it was just a re-badging exercise – that we were making cosmetic changes to the surface that wouldn’t – and couldn’t – address the deep-rooted issues that hold back some children.

But I hope you’ll agree that over the past year and through our Children’s Plan, we are demonstrating that our new Department is more than just a new sign on the front of the same building.

I believe that by bringing together in one place responsibility for all policy that promotes the wellbeing of children and young people, we can make sure that every school gets the backing and support it needs from social services, health workers, mental health services, housing departments and – yes – from parents too.

That is the only way we can build on the progress we’ve already made in raising standards and go on to achieve our ambitions for every child.

And as Steve set out in his speech, we start from a position of strength.

We do now have many great leaders in our schools.

And we have made real progress over the past decade.

Primary and secondary results are at their highest ever levels.

And more young people than ever before are going on to university.

But we still have some big challenges to overcome if we are going to get our schools system from above average to genuinely – and consistently – world class so that:

-          all 11 year olds reach the right level at the end of primary school in both English and maths;

-          we aim higher still for more 16 year olds to get five good GCSEs – up from 45 per cent 10 years ago to over 60 per cent today;

-          and we break the link between poverty and achievement – because poorer children are still only half as likely to get five good GCSEs.

So I want today to set out what we are going to do to get our education system to world class.

And my starting point is how we can strengthen further what we all already know is necessary for a good school.

So first, to support great teaching.

We now have over 40,000 more teachers than we did 10 years ago and new routes into teaching like Teach First and Transition to Teaching.

Ofsted tells us that we have the best generation of teachers we’ve ever had.

Working in partnership with your associations, we are reducing the burdens on teachers through the National Agreement.

And the next stage is to do even more to boost the status of teaching and attract in even more people.

So we have announced that we will make teaching a Masters level profession with our new Masters in Teaching and Learning qualification – because if post-graduate learning is right for lawyers and accountants, it should be right for teachers too.

Second, there is more we can do to provide an engaging curriculum and track the progress of every child.

We have helped you to revolutionise primary learning through the use of phonics and one-to-one catch-up learning – and we have created the space for you to make fundamental changes at Key Stage 3.

And now we will implement the recommendations of Sir Peter Williams’ review of maths in primary schools.

Sir Jim Rose is currently reviewing the primary curriculum to create more space for the basics.

And we’re introducing new Diplomas that will combine the best of theoretical and vocational learning.

Third, to give heads and schools the powers and support they need to tackle bad behaviour, we have implemented the findings of Sir Alan Steer’s 2005 report – and provided clear statutory powers to discipline children and impose sanctions for breaches of school rules.

Schools are doing a fantastic job of turning around poor behaviour which is crucial to improving results. It’s now clear that behaviour is improving in our schools and the new measures we have introduced are helping. However, we need parents to continue to play their part.

When I talk to Heads, they say behaviour is one of their main concerns. Some talk of giving detentions to pupils only for the parent to come in and demand their child is let off. So whilst the vast majority of parents work really well with schools, a small minority are not supporting Heads to maintain discipline.

And I know your research still shows that one of the major barriers to teachers aspiring to become heads is the challenge of having to deal with bad behaviour.

Deciding how to discipline pupils for bad behaviour, excluding in the worst cases and dealing with their parents are undoubtedly among the toughest parts of your jobs.

So I have asked Sir Alan Steer to review the progress made in the last two years and tell us what more we need to do – and he is specifically looking at what more we can do to support heads and other education leaders to work with parents to deal with bad behaviour.

So great teachers.

An inspiring curriculum.

Backing heads to tackle bad behaviour.

But there is also more we can do to help you tackle all the barriers to learning outside the school gates.

For every school teacher who has told me how hard it can sometimes be to engage parents in school and their child’s learning, I have also spoken to a parent who has told me how difficult they find it to engage with their child’s school, especially once their child has left primary school.

And while many of you have strong relationships with your local health services, social services, police, youth centres and sports facilities, many of you still find it more difficult than you should to get support and specialist help when you need it.

So we will consult with parents in the next few months on how best to further engage parents in their child’s learning – including through the use of new technologies, the use of personal tutors, and getting them better engaged with governing bodies.

And we are also consulting on how we can strengthen Children’s Trusts to make the co-location of services easier and help school leaders get the backing you need.

It’s no surprise to me that your recent survey showed that more parents think that heads are doing a better job now than they were 10 years ago.

Nor is it a surprise to me that they prefer teachers running schools to politicians.

But I am determined we will do more to support you as education leaders.

That is why we are working with NCSL to get you more support.

We will together run a series of pilots to help us develop the role of school business directors and managers that reduce the burdens placed on you and help free up your time.

And to reduce burdens further, we will also work with the College to fund pilots in six areas in which primary schools will federate to allow a school business manager to work across them all.

I want all primary schools to look at this seriously because I believe that federation can help them achieve much greater value for money and free up time and money to invest in teaching and learning.

Because as Steve said, we have shown over the last decade that strong leadership with the right support can overcome even the most difficult circumstances and help all young people to achieve.

It is the leadership of heads in the London Challenge – working together in partnership – that has been the most significant driver of improved standards in London schools.

And it is strong leadership that is raising achievement in our academies.

I believe we must do more to value good leadership and make more use of our best school leaders – including making sure that heads who take on extra responsibilities are properly rewarded.

And that is also why we’re extending our National Leaders in Education programme from 120 to 500 schools – to help more great head teachers reach outside their own institutions to a school that needs support and to drive up standards in both.

These heads are leading the system – and that is the way it should be.

And it is this track record of strong leadership, rising aspirations and improved standards that gives us the confidence to go further and say that it’s not an impossible dream but a moral imperative that every child should finish primary school ready to learn in secondary school and every young person should stay on in learning until 18 and get good qualifications.

It is only because of this track record of successful leaders working in partnership that we decided – building on the success of the London Challenge – to launch our National Challenge Programme last week.

In 1997, there were more than 1600 schools – over half of all secondary schools – below our benchmark of at least 30% of pupils achieving five good GCSEs, including English and Maths.

Today that it is down to less than a quarter of all secondary schools – just 638.

And our aim is to get that number down to zero over the next three years.

Ten years ago, that would have been an impossible goal.

Today it is within our grasp.

But it’s a big commitment – and I know it has already created some controversy.

Let me say from the outset – this is not about labelling National Challenge schools as failing schools.

I have never described them as failing schools.

In fact, I would say that at least a third of these schools are quite the opposite – schools that are improving fast with great leadership and high aspirations that are not only on track to reach the benchmark, but to go far beyond it.

Fundamentally, National Challenge is about the same moral imperative that leads people into teaching and school leadership.

To get a good qualification for every child.

And we have done it because we share that moral purpose with you.

Like you, we believe that every child has potential.

And like you, we are determined to help them fulfil that potential.

I know many of you here today are not from National Challenge schools – but it is important because it typifies our approach to school improvement.

Because National Challenge is about the support that we can all give to these schools to achieve our shared aims for these young people.

We are making an additional £400m available over the next three years for National Challenge schools.

Because we know that with the right support, schools can be successful even in the most challenging circumstances.

Experience such as London Challenge shows us it can be done, so we will go with grain and do what we know works.

Some people worry that National Challenge doesn’t take account of context.

I don’t accept that at all.

It’s precisely about recognising the context of these schools and ensuring they get the right support for their leadership from all sides.

And this support will be about developing all those characteristics that we know make up a good school.

So to help attract the best teachers to National Challenge schools, we will prioritise the new Masters in Teaching and Learning for teachers in National Challenge schools.

Where National Challenge schools need support in particular subjects, such as English and maths, that is what we will pay for.

Where National Challenge schools need to focus even more rigorously on the progression and support of every one of their pupils, we will make more resources available for one-to-one tuition and study support.

We will engage governors and parents and make sure that these schools in particular get the support they need from children’s services.