We have seen really strong progress in narrowing the attainment gap at each stage - from pre-school to primary to secondary. But we must go further to maximise all children’s chances of reaching their full potential.
Today’s Education in the Media blog looks at the Free Schools Programme and new data on Ofsted ratings and school preferences. Free Schools Programme Today, Friday 14 June the department announced that we will create an extra 19,000 school places …
We have made huge progress to boost the quality of education and training on offer for young people. From 2020 we will start to roll out new T Levels which will offer young people high-quality technical courses alongside our world class A Levels. These will be the gold standard choice for young people after they take their GCSEs.
The Government provides a significant package of childcare to parents and carers, including our 30 hours offer for working parents of three and four year olds, which benefited over 340,000 children in the first year of delivery. Low income families also have access to support through Universal Credit, which can cover up to 85% of childcare costs.
On Friday 7 June, the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for 2019 was published. This year’s list includes 96 figures from the education and children’s services sectors, including headteachers, governors, principals and foster carers.
Continuing to improve behaviour in our schools is a key priority for this Government. Calm and safe school environments benefit all students, allowing them to concentrate fully on their studies. Just one instance of bad behaviour in a classroom can derail an entire lesson, holding back every other pupil in the room.
The SCIF was launched with a pilot in October 2017. By the end of the scheme, we will have supported 80 colleges with funding of £12.3 million to undertake a focused quality improvement programme with a higher-performing partner.
Children’s centres can play an important role in supporting families, and local councils decide how to organise and provide services for families in their areas to meet local needs – whether this is through children’s centre buildings or delivering services in different ways, and we continuously reflect on what works best.
Parents and children with disabilities deserve the best support we can provide and the government has made £410 million available to local authorities this year specifically for adult and children social care, with £46.4 billion available this year for local services, including children’s services.
Teaching in further education is an incredibly rewarding career. We are reforming technical education in this country with the introduction of new T Levels and we want more staff with industry skills to pass on their expertise and inspire the next generation.
As the Prime Minister said at the launch event for the panel’s report this morning, this government is dedicated to making higher education accessible to everyone and we have welcomed the work of the panel.
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