Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has told school leaders, teachers and the wider sector that she needs their help to deliver on the new Labour government’s education pledges because she “cannot do it alone”.
Ms Phillipson was speaking at a reception for education sector leaders hosted by the Department for Education, following her pledge to “reset the relationship with the profession”.
The guest list for the event, which was also attended by newly appointed DfE ministers, included union leaders, expert advisers and trust leaders, as well as high-profile system leaders such as Ofsted chief inspector Sir Martyn Oliver and children’s commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza, plus two of Ms Phillipson’s former teachers.
Speaking at Sanctuary Buildings, Ms Phillipson used her speech - seen by Tes - to promise that under the new government, “education will once again be at the heart of change”.
“You and all those you represent are an essential part of this - and I want to reset our relationship to reflect that,” she added.
Work to recruit 6,500 teachers ‘has already begun’
Ms Phillipson said that despite being a “shy little girl from a council street in the North East”, she was “lucky enough to go to great state schools that saw the value and worth in every child”.
And she reiterated the Labour manifesto pledge to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers, claiming that work on this has “already begun”.
The new government has promised that the policy will address spiralling concerns about a teacher supply crisis.
Earlier this week the DfE said it would immediately expand its flagship teacher recruitment campaign, Every Lesson Shapes a Life, but it is yet to set out the details.
Last night Ms Phillipson also repeated pledges to deliver on standards, expand the early years system and carry out curriculum and assessment reform.
“But I know that I cannot do it alone, or all at once. I need your help,” Ms Phillipson told those gathered in the DfE office building.
She promised to listen to guidance from the sector, adding that this was “the first step on a long journey”.
“You all know the scale of the challenge in front of us,” Ms Phillipson said.
‘It feels like there has been a reset’
Speaking after attending the event, Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the biggest teaching union, the NEU, told Tes: “I definitely feel like there is a reset.”
Mr Kebede added that there is now an open dialogue between the profession and the secretary of state that did not exist under the previous government.
“We want that reset to be something that lasts into the future, and time will be the test of that,” he said.
News of the teacher pay award for 2024-25 is expected soon.
Mr Kebede was speaking after prime minister Sir Keir Starmer told journalists yesterday that he would not be giving public sector unions what they want on wages because “finances are in a very poor state.”
However, Downing Street sources later said that although Sir Keir would not give the unions what they want, above-inflation pay rises could still be possible, with negotiations taking place as usual.
Sector leaders ‘optimistic’ about the future
Leora Cruddas, chief executive of the Confederation of School Trusts, said that the reset promised by Ms Phillipson while shadow education secretary has been seen in the early days of the new government.
Also speaking after attending the event, Dame Alison Peacock, chief executive of the Chartered College of Teaching, said she was “really optimistic” about the future, adding that the introductory speech from the DfE permanent secretary Susan Acland-Hood was also well received.
Anne Longfield, chair of the Commission on Young Lives and a former children’s commissioner for England, said that at last night’s reception a lot of attendees who had not been in the department for some time were “returning as partners with purpose”.
And she added that if “people’s energy and willingness to achieve real change could be channelled then great things could happen”.
Professor Sam Twiselton, emeritus professor at Sheffield Hallam University and a government adviser, said the reception felt “very open”, and “people genuinely felt like they were being valued”.
For the latest education news and analysis delivered directly to your inbox every weekday morning, sign up to the Tes Daily newsletter
