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Education system in UK – Cause & Effect

Introduction Education in the UK is devolved with each of the smaller countries within the UK. This means there are governments in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland that deal with education their own way. There are five stages of education in the UK, which include early years teaching, primary school, secondary school, Further Education (FE) and Higher Education (HE). In my cause and effect essay, I show the effect of school rules and rankings and graduation rates in the UK. Cause The UK is traditionally one of the highest ranked countries when it comes to education, but over recent years, their ranking against the world has stagnated a little, especially when it comes to PISA tests (Program for International Student Assessment).

Effect The UK education system is still good and ranked highly, but it has caused more people to consider teaching their children at home. There are a growing number of parents that are teaching their children at home in the UK. The numbers are still small in comparison to the number of children that attend school. Part of the reason that there are more children being taught at home is because there are now free and easy-to-use tools on the Internet that parents can use to teach their child a little easier than before. Cause It is compulsory for children to attend school from the age of four in Northern Ireland and five in the rest of the UK, and children are not allowed to leave school until the age of 16. The only way to avoid going to school is via home schooling, but a child must still complete a curriculum that is overseen by a tutor upon occasion. Effect It has become more difficult for students to miss school, and many have to attend school no matter what. However, thanks to the Internet, students are discovering that if they behave badly then they can be expelled. If they are not accepted into other schools, then their parents are forced to teach them from home. Cause The University and college system in the UK is truly top class, with many of the Universities and colleges having notoriety and esteem around the world. Graduation rates within UK colleges and Universities are very high, and any student in the UK can find funding in order to attend University apart from in special circumstances. Effect The UK stands in second place across Europe and in sixth place worldwide when higher education from Universities and colleges is counted in with the figures whilst ranking. There are so many students attending college and so many graduating that the UK world ranking and European ranking is very high. If graduation rates from colleges and Universities were not counted, then the UK is no longer second place in Europe when it comes to education rankings.

Conclusion The UK education system is clearly very good and of a very high standard, though some of their high rankings on the world stage are backed up by their very strong college system and even stronger University system, with the college system giving A-level qualifications and Universities giving degrees.

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ReviseSociology

A level sociology revision – education, families, research methods, crime and deviance and more!

Evaluate the Functionalist View of the Role of Education in Society (30) #LONG VERSION

Essay practice for A-level sociology!

Table of Contents

Last Updated on September 17, 2021 by Karl Thompson

An A-level sociology essay written for the AQA’s 7192 (1) specification, exam paper 1. This is the long, ‘overkill’ version of the essay, written using the PEAC system (Point – Explain – Analyse – Criticise)

An obvious starting point before reading this essay would be to read my post on the Functionalist Perspective on Education .

NB – At time of posting, it’s half an essay, more to follow!

Introduction

Functionalism is a somewhat dated structural theory popular in 19 th century France (Durkheim) and mid-20 th century America (Parsons). Functionalist theorists adopted a ‘top-down’ approach to analysing the role which institutions, such as schools play in relation to other institutions, such as work, and generally believe that schools form an important part of a society’s structure. Functionalism is also a consensus theory: functionalists generally emphasise the positive functions which schools perform for individuals and society, arguing that schools tend to promote social harmony and social order, which they see as a good thing.

Below I will analyse and evaluate four specific ‘functions’ or roles which schools perform according to Functionalist theory, ultimately arguing that it obscures more than it enlightens our understanding of the role of education in society.

Education and Social Solidarity

POINT 1: According to Emile Durkheim (1890s), the founder of modern Functionalism, the first role of education was to create a sense of social solidarity which in turn promoted value consensus.

EXPLANATION : Social Solidarity is where the individual members of society feel themselves to be a part of a single ‘body’ or community and work together towards shared goals. According to Durkhiem schools achieved social solidarity through children learning subjects such as history and English which gave them a shared sense of national identity, which in turn promoted value consensus, or agreement on shared values at the societal level.

Analysis: Durkheim thought schools were one of the few institutions which could promote solidarity at a national level – he may have a point. It is difficult to imagine any other institution which governments could use to socialise individuals in to a sense of national identity.

Evaluation: To evaluate this point, there do seem to be examples of where schools attempt to promote a sense of social solidarity. Writing in the 1950s, Talcott Parsons pointed to how, in American schools, children pledge allegiance to the flag; while today British schools and colleges are obliged to promote ‘British Values’ (woohoo!)

However, it is debatable whether schools are successful in instilling a genuine sense of social solidarity into most, let alone all students. A minority of students are excluded from schools, and around 5% are persistent absentees – if students are not in mainstream education, then schools cannot promote a sense of belonging; while for those students who are at school, many are there ‘in body, but not necessarily in spirit. Finally there is the fact there is such a huge diversity of schools (faith schools, private schools, home education) that surely education is too fragmented and divided for it to promote true solidarity at the national level – to the extent that postmodernists suggested there is no such thing as a unified culture anymore.

Education teaches Skills for Work

POINT 2: A second function of education, again according to Durkhiem, is that schools teach individuals the specialist skills for work, which is crucial in a complex, modern industrial economy. (Schools thus have an important economic function).

Durkhiem argued that school was an efficient way of teaching individuals these diverse skills while at the same time teaching them to co-operate with each-other – schools thus instilled a sense of organic solidarity, or solidarity based on difference and interdependency, with school being one of the only institutions which could do both of these functions simultaneously within the context of a national economy.

The idea that schools have an economic function certainly seems to be true – basic literacy and numeracy are certainly important for any job today, and ever since the New Right, Vocational education has expanded, right up to the present day in the form of Modern Apprenticeships, and today. There is also a relationship between government expenditure on education and economic growth – more developed countries tend to have stronger economies.

However, it is debatable whether schools prepare children adequately for work – for example, there is a shortage of STEM graduates, and many doctors come to Britain from abroad, so maybe the education system today focuses on the wrong subjects, not the subjects the economy actually needs to grow effectively? There is also a Postmodern critique from Ken Robinson that suggests that ‘schools kill creativity’ – a system obsessed with standardised testing hardly prepares people to go into the creative industries or become entrepreneurs, both of which are growth areas in the current UK economy.

More to follow…!

Short version of this essay

• Point – Simply state something Functionalists say about education
• Explain – Explain what is meant by the ‘Function’ of education mentioned previously
• Expand – this could mean giving examples, evidence, or explaining in more depth
• Criticise – criticise with evidence against or limitations

(P1) Secondary Socialisation and Value consensus       

• The teaching of norms and values after the family – leading to agreement around these norms and values
• Formal Curriculum – Shared history/ Shared language/ Shared religion
• Team sports – working together shared aim
• Ethnocentric Curriculum
• Sub cultures
• More school types – more diversity, surely = less value consensus?

(P2) Teaching skills for work – economic function          

• Diverse subjects,
• Punctuality
• Vocationalism and apprenticeships have expanded
• Are apprenticeships useful?
• Tea servers

(P3) Bridge between home and school  

• School prepares us for the world outside the family – it acts like a society in miniature
• Particularistic/ Universalistic Standards
• Doesn’t apply to everyone – Home schooling

R(P4) Role Allocation  

• Different qualifications sift people into appropriate jobs
• Does this through exams – sifting and sorting
• Meritocracy (since 1944)
• Marxism – not meritocratic – myth of meritocracy,
• Private schools
• Feminism – gender stereotyping and subject choice

Evaluate using other perspectives –

• Marxism – Agrees with Functionalists that school socialises us into shared values, but these values are the values benefit the ruling class (we get taught that inequality is natural and inevitable, we believe in the myth of meritocracy and so end up passively accepting society as it is.
• Feminism – Functionalism ignores the gender divide in school
• Interactionism – Argues Functionalism is too deterministic – it sees individuals as passive, but there is a lot more evidence that pupils are active and aren’t just moulded by the school system

Conclusion – You must point out that this perspective is too optimistic and overgeneralises!

Signposting

This essay plan is based on these class notes on the Functionalist perspective on education .

For more essays, please see my main post on exam advice, short answer questions and essays .

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Promoting Equality in the UK Primary School Education System Essay

Introduction, research aim, research questions, importance of study, context of study, reason for choosing topic, scope of the literature review, critical analysis of the literature, reference list.

Schools were once unimportant educational centers that served small groups of people. However, today, they have grown to become hubs of knowledge exchange and cultural innovation (Brandes and Ginnis, 2001; Bell, Bolam and Cubillo, 2002). This evolution has permeated different levels of learning and primary school education in the UK is no exception. Past efforts aimed at improving the efficacy of school systems focused on expanding access to educational opportunities but today, similar initiatives strive for opportunities to make them more effective and inclusive for all groups of learners.

The current debate on improvement of learning outcomes in the UK strives to examine how educational standards can be raised and inequality tackled at the same time. This goal is alive despite some observers making admissions that a single policy cannot be used to address both challenges at the same time (Kerr and West, 2010). Subject to this acknowledgement, technology has emerged as one of the most promising tools for addressing some of the above-mentioned problems because it is linked to improved educational outcomes and reduced levels of inequality. This is why it is depicted in this study as a basis for making changes in the education structure by making it more inclusive and responsive to the needs of underprivileged learners.

To find out how to minimize inequality in UK primary schools through inclusion.

• What is the nature of the relationship between inequalities in the UK primary school education system and its administrative structures?
• To what extent can technology improve the effectiveness of school structures to minimize inequalities?

School improvements have come a long way since the early 1960s when there was skepticism regarding the importance of learning institutions in the first place. This cynicism was informed by the use of Marxist ideologies in designing education systems to realize social and economic growth (Hopkins, Ainscow, and West, 1994). Relative to this view, some people argued that socioeconomic progress should be domiciled in societies and not schools, while others believed that schools created a group of workers trained to accept things as they are, thereby promoting existing unequal systems (Leithwood, Jantzi and Steinbach, 1999). However, over time, a lot of progress has been in appreciating the importance of education.

The 21 st century has seen the emergence of new challenges in learning because of the realization that poor educational outcomes and socioeconomic inequality have been entrenched in current educational systems, thereby disenfranchising students from minority and low socioeconomic groups. These issues dominate current discussions regarding education inequality in the 21 st century learning environment and how new and more innovative methods of improving school systems could alleviate the growing problem.

The context of this research is the primary school education system in the UK. This stage of education involves children who are between 5 and 11 years receiving basic education.

Class differences in the society and their effects on educational achievement have caused inequalities in education. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the problem because concerns abound regarding the role that online education will play in crystalizing learning gaps that exist among privileged and disenfranchised children. A recent survey to sample teachers’ views regarding the impact of the health crisis on students’ learning outcomes showed that education practitioners are worried about the role of virtual education in entrenching inequalities among the aforementioned groups of students as schools transition to online learning (Jain, Lall and Singh, 2021). Researchers also opine that economically weaker students will become hard to reach, thereby making teachers incapable of providing them with education services (Jain, Lall and Singh, 2021). Therefore, technology-based solutions aimed at alleviating the crisis have been criticized for being ineffective when employed in hard-to-reach communities. Therefore, it is pertinent to understand how existing education structures propagate these inequalities and the role that technology could play in alleviating the problem.

The literature review process was undertaken by searching for books and journals from reputable online databases. The keywords used to perform the analysis included “inequality” “primary school” and “UK.” The initial research process generated 6,708 articles from three journal databases – Sage Journals, Emerald Insight, and Elsevier, while books were obtained from Google Scholar and Google Books. Afterward, the materials were scrutinized for their relevance to the research topic with an emphasis on finding articles that talked about primary education in the UK in particular. Additionally, books and journals that discussed inclusivity were prioritized over those that did not and the number of articles available for review reduced to 30.

Researchers have investigated the relationship between negative student learning outcomes and socioeconomic backgrounds with varied outcomes. Key sections of this literature review describe the relationship between students’ socioeconomic backgrounds and educational outcomes as well as the impact that school structures have on education inequalities. The analysis is later contextualized within the UK primary school education setting and inferences are drawn to known theories underpinning learning development in formative years of education.

Theoretical Foundation

Researchers have come up with different theories to explain varying levels of academic achievement and understand the role that students’ socioeconomic backgrounds play in predicting this outcome. As a result, four schools of thought have emerged with varying perspectives regarding the impact of education on an individual’s life. Functionalism is one of them and it suggests that education is meant to help people become functional members of society (Chapman et al. , 2012). Conflict theories propose a different ideology because they are based on the belief that education is designed to promote social inequality (Hirsch, 2016). Their view largely explains the educational challenges witnessed in the UK primary school environment because widening achievement gaps have created socioeconomic equality for a long time.

Researchers have gone a step further to understand varied forms of inequality in the education system and found out that feminism is one of its subtle manifestations and it is rooted in sexist ideologies ingrained in the school system by creating inequalities in gender achievement gaps (Bansal, 2018; Coe, 2009). This school of thought demonstrates that inequalities do not only exist among minorities or students who hail from families with lower socioeconomic status but also across the gender spectrum. Consequently, it is imperative to view inequalities in the education sector from a broader perspective involving gender and socioeconomic variables.

Several studies have tried to adopt a holistic strategy in investigating learning gaps among students from low-income communities and those of privileged backgrounds. For example, in an investigation conducted by Kustatscher (2017) in Scottish primary schools, it was established that social class differences impacted intergenerational interactions among children aged 5 and seven years. It was also affirmed that these class divisions intersected with gender, race, and ethnic strata in society (Kustatscher, 2017). Consequently, there is a need to understand the process of tackling inequality in the education system holistically and involve young people in discussions about the same issue.

Symbolic interactionism is also another school of thought that has emerged from studies that have investigated the role of the school environment in influencing students’ achievement levels. Associated research studies point to the need to strengthen student-teacher relationships to improve educational outcomes. In this context, inclusivity is expected to be achieved through strong teacher-student bonds.

Relationship between Students’ Socioeconomic Background and Educational Outcomes

Studies have shown that social factors influence educational outcomes and, by extension, people’s wealth and ability to prosper. This statement has been supported by anecdotal evidence showing the psychosocial link between non-economic factors affecting wealth creation, such as people’s attitudes, beliefs, ethos and socioeconomic background, and educational outcomes (Cebolla-Boado, Radl and Salazar, 2017). This relationship has been characterized by the presence of positive environmental stimuli for students who have access to resources, improved educational outcomes, and better standards of living.

Relative to the above assertion, one notable scholar, Pierre Bourdieu, suggested that students tend to conform to dominant ideologies through psychological and behavioral influences harbored by societies (Griffiths, 2018). The relationship between these moderating factors and educational outcomes has been juxtaposed against the opportunities offered by learning in promoting learners’ progress in life with the dominant assertion being that education seeks to promote equality by expecting students to have that which it does not give – cultural competency. Without it, it is difficult for students to attain high levels of educational achievement. Furthermore, but they can only be transmitted through family structures and community influences, which vary across the spectrum of students’ backgrounds.

Impact of School Structures on Education Inequalities

School structures affect learning outcomes and teaching methodologies in various education settings. For example, admission policies have been linked with inclusive practices in the UK education sector (Rayner, 2017). Policy discourses have also shown the difficulty of separating the quest to improve educational outcomes with inequality in schools (Elmore, 2008). Additionally, studies show that school policies are often formulated within a sociocultural setting, thereby highlighting the role of regional differences in defining school outcomes (Evers and Kneyber, 2016). For example, school ethos and values have been associated with policy discourses and teaching practices (Rayner, 2017). While these insights are relevant in understanding how sociocultural factors play an important role in influencing school outcomes, the link has mostly been established in studies that involve secondary school teachers and students (Rayner, 2017). This means that there is inadequate research done in the primary school education context to determine whether the same link between raising education standards and tackling inequality is valid.

To understand the impact of school structures on learning outcomes, researchers have investigated strategies adopted by education institutions to minimize gaps in achievement between students who come from low socioeconomic backgrounds and those who hail from privileged backgrounds (Glickman, 2003). For example, Sierens et al. (2020) surveyed 1,741 pupils who were in fourth grade to find out whether pre-schooling helped to promote equity in education. It was established that the duration of education did not have an impact on their attainment levels. However, this finding was found to be true for certain subject areas, such as sciences and mathematics, but not in humanities.

Relative to the above findings Woldehanna (2016) conducted a similar study to investigate the relationship between inequality, pre-school education, and cognitive development in Ethiopia among students aged between five and eight years and found out that pre-school attendance mediated about a third of the effects of family background on students’ educational outcomes. Limited public investment in pre-primary school education exacerbated these inequalities, thus highlighting the need for government involvement in mitigating educational gaps.

The focus on duration and attendance of pre-school education in managing learning gaps has created a greater interest in this subject area with newer studies focusing on understanding the extent that pre-school education could help to minimize the effects of socio-cultural backgrounds on learning outcomes. In one such study, Cebolla-Boado, Radl, and Salazar (2017) obtained data from 119,008 respondents spread across 28 developing countries and found that pre-school education helped to minimize the negative effects of low socioeconomic backgrounds on learners’ attainment levels. However, this effect was weaker for students who had highly educated parents. Therefore, it was recognized that parental involvement in children’s education helped to alleviate the effects of low socioeconomic backgrounds on student’s learning.

Inequality in the UK

The structure of the primary school education system in the UK has changed since the late 1960s because of several policies and education reforms that have been instituted since then. The most instrumental piece of law that has been introduced from the time includes The 1988 Education Reform Act, which encouraged learning institutions to be competitive as a precondition for improving their performance. Additionally, changes in the age of starting school, school size, types of primary schools, roles of local authorities, and formations of federations have contributed to additional changes to the structure of the primary school education system (Ainscow and West, 2006). At the same time, collaboration, changes in the provision of early childhood education and care services have further helped policymakers to examine the structure of school holistically.

For more than 20 years, the official government policy on the improvement of education standards in the UK has focused on promoting social justice. Part of the attention has been on tackling inequality and raising education standards for all cadres of learners (Bush, Bell and Middlewood, 2019). Stakeholders have adopted these measures after analyzing recent research evidence revealing that poorly performing schools reinforce inequality in educational attainment (Ainscow et al. , 2011; Ainscow et al. , 2012). Indeed, some existing policy structures governing teaching and learning activities have entrenched school failure, especially among underprivileged learners.

Regardless of the aforementioned policy changes and reforms, education inequality rates in the UK are higher among major western countries. The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) recently surveyed to assess education inequality among 41 countries and found that it affected student educational outcomes at the primary school education level and subsequent opportunities that affect a person’s socioeconomic outcomes after childhood (Bryk et al. , 2015). Education inequality in the UK is only a manifestation of a greater problem of social inequity in society, which has affected different sectors of society. Several reasons have been advanced to explain gaps that have caused this phenomenon.

Researchers such as Parker et al. (2016) have done a comparative analysis of countries and found that educational differentials were greater in countries that have high levels of curricular stratification. The researchers also established that primary effects influencing educational outcomes, such as socioeconomic status, were more impactful in countries that had a higher curriculum track record (Bryk et al. , 2015). Therefore, the efficiency that education stakeholders evaluated, or reviewed, their curricula affected learning gaps. Relative to this assertion, Parker et al. (2016) say that highly stratified countries have a higher probability of pegging educational expectations on achievement outcomes relative to those that have a weaker social stratification framework. These findings suggest that the structural makeup of a society has an impact on its educational outcomes.

This literature review shows an emerging trend where researchers are affirming the inefficiencies and weaknesses of current educational systems and their inability to address systemic weaknesses that have disadvantaged students from underprivileged backgrounds. However, most of the articles analyzed are descriptive in the sense that they only identify and define the scope of the problem with little understanding of how to develop innovative and holistic solutions, especially those of a technological nature, which would appeal to the multifaceted nature of the research issue.

Ainscow, M. and West, M. (eds.) (2006) Improving urban schools: leadership and collaboration . Buckingham: Open University Press.

Ainscow, M. et al. (2011) Social inequality: can schools narrow the gap? Macclesfield: British Educational Research Association.

Ainscow, M. et al. (2012) Developing equitable education systems. London: Routledge.

Bansal, D. (2018) ‘Science education in India and feminist critiques of science’, Contemporary Education Dialogue , 15(2), pp. 164-186.

Bell, L., Bolam, R. and Cubillo, L. (2002) A systematic review of the impact of school leadership and management on student outcomes . London: EPPI-Centre, Social Science Research Unit, Institute of Education.

Brandes, D. and Ginnis, P. (2001) A guide to student-centered learning. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes.

Bryk, A. S. et al. (2015) Learning to improve: how America’s schools can get better at getting better . Cambridge: Harvard Education Press.

Bush, T., Bell, L. and Middlewood, D. (eds.) (2019) Principles of educational leadership and management. 3rd edn. London: SAGE.

Cebolla-Boado, H., Radl, J. and Salazar, L. (2017) ‘Preschool education as the great equalizer? A cross-country study into the sources of inequality in reading competence’, Acta Sociologica , 60(1), pp. 41-60.

Chapman, C. et al. (2012) School effectiveness and improvement research, policy and practice . Abingdon: Routledge.

Coe, R. (2009) ‘School improvement: reality and illusion’, British Journal of Educational Studies , 57(4), pp. 363-379.

Elmore, R. F. (2008) School reform from the inside out. Cambridge: Harvard Education Press.

Evers, J. and Kneyber, R. (eds.) (2016) Flip the system: changing education from the ground up . Abingdon: Routledge.

Glickman, C. (2003) Holding sacred ground : pretending not to know what we know . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Gorard, S. (2010) ‘Serious doubts about school effectiveness’, British Educational Research Journal , 36(5), pp. 645-766.

Griffiths, A. (2018) ‘Using exploratory factor analysis and Bourdieu’s concept of the illusion to examine inequality in an English school’, Power and Education , 10(1), pp. 40-57.

Harber, C. and Davies, L. (2001) School management and effectiveness in developing countries . London: Continuum.

Harris, A. and Bennett, N. (eds.) (2001) School effectiveness and improvement: alternate perspectives . New York: Continuum.

Hirsch, E. D. (2016) Why knowledge matters: rescuing our children from failed educational theories . Cambridge: Harvard Education Press.

Hopkins, D., Ainscow, M. and West, M. (1994) School improvement in an era of change . London: Cassell.

Jain, S., Lall, M. and Singh, A. (2021) ‘Teachers’ voices on the impact of COVID-19 on school education: are Ed-tech companies really the panacea?’, Contemporary Education Dialogue , 18(1), pp. 58-89.

Kellock, A. (2020) ‘Children’s well-being in the primary school: a capability approach and community psychology perspective’, Childhood , 27(2), pp. 220-237.

Kerr, K. and West, M. (eds.) (2010) Insight 2 – social inequality: can schools narrow the gap? Macclesfield: British Educational Research Association.

Kustatscher, M. (2017) ‘Young children’s social class identities in everyday life at primary school: the importance of naming and challenging complex inequalities’, Childhood , 24(3), pp. 381-395.

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IvyPanda . (2022) 'Promoting Equality in the UK Primary School Education System'. 24 August.

IvyPanda . 2022. "Promoting Equality in the UK Primary School Education System." August 24, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/promoting-equality-in-the-uk-primary-school-education-system/.

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Education Secretary speech at Education World Forum 2024

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan's address at the Education World Forum in London.

Good afternoon, and welcome to education world forum 2024.  

It’s wonderful to be back and spending this time together as education world forum was a genuine highlight for me last year. It’s good to see so many familiar faces. 

This forum is about sharing the best of what we do.   

As a global community, we face many similar challenges in education.   

Some are the after-effects of covid.  Others stem from rapid advances in technology. And then there’s climate change:  how do we build a sustainable world for future generations?   

The answer is clear: share what you know works.   

Whilst our countries and cultures are unique, we can all learn from each other.    

The UK government has done this in education in the last decade, with some great results.    

As a country, we weren’t always known for our maths prowess.  

English pupils ranked 27th in the world for maths in 2009, according to PISA.   

We turned to Singapore, a high performer, for advice on raising our standards.   

Their maths mastery technique had been shown to deliver high attainment in mixed-ability classes.   

So we introduced it.   

Nine years later we’d climbed to 17th in world.   

And in the PISA rankings released last year, we’d reached 11th in the world.  

I’m not here to tell you how good we are at maths – though I’ll happily give credit for that to our brilliant teachers and school leaders.    

My point is: if you ask around and share what works, things can and will get better.   

For some problems, we need to ask, where is the evidence pointing?   

Let’s head in that direction.  

It’s something to think about when we’re examining the big challenges in education over the next few days.   

Let’s look at an example of data-driven change.  

One where the right technology has made a fundamental difference.  

Covid was a shared experience.  

And together we’re facing the same post-covid challenges - particularly in pupil absence from school.  

Regular school attendance isn’t just about children’s daily learning.   

It boosts their sociability, wellbeing and their development.   

We recognised this over a decade ago, and we worked hard to improve attendance.   

Between 2010 and 2020, absences in English schools fell from 6% to 4.8%, representing 15 million more days in school per year.  

But along with so much else, covid stole our progress.  

And I know there’s a lot of agreement in this room, because school systems worldwide are affected. The causes are complex, but the outcomes are the same.  

Less time in school equals poorer outcomes for children.  

We’ve tackled this problem by upgrading and expanding our data collection. This allows us to see the shape of the problem.   

Is it a lot of children missing the odd day, or a small number of children missing weeks, or is it both?  

Starting with just a few schools in spring 2021, we now have a detailed, daily picture of absence across the country.   

I can look at a school in Liverpool in the North of England, like the one I attended, and see the attendance levels for every class.   

In fact from September, I will be able to look at any class, in any school, across the whole country, on any day, in real time.  

What a fantastic tool.  Because once you have the information, you can act on it.  

That’s why we’ve made the data available to all schools and local authorities.   

Education leaders can now see the full picture in their area, identify persistent or emerging patterns and take action.  

It is that that has helped us understand, for example, that attendance drops when children move into the second year of secondary school – particularly for girls. We are now working with schools to target this pattern.  

We’re publishing the local and national data, because we want to encourage regional comparisons and collaboration to find what works. It comes back to what I said earlier. There are ways forward, and they need to be shared.  

This problem should not be labelled as inevitable or as unsolvable.   

Thanks to these measures, and the hard work of school leaders, our plan is working. New data shows that 375,000 more children across all year groups were in school almost every day last year.  

The organisation for economic co-operation and development recognised our efforts in a policy paper published last month, calling it a comprehensive strategy.   

There is more to do, with absence remaining higher than before the pandemic.   

But once you can measure a problem you can start to solve it.   

We’ve begun discussing our findings with our friends in New Zealand, and are keen to share them with any delegation here who’d find them useful.   

Just a few years ago, such real-time data collection would have been science fiction, but technology continues to rapidly change the way we live.   

Artificial intelligence will likewise transform our lives.    

But I agree with the great British AI pioneer Demis Hassabis, who says:  

“You look at today, us using all of our smartphones and other devices – we effortlessly adapt to these new technologies. AI is going to be another one of those changes, just like that.”   

We are already starting to use AI unthinkingly, as an integral part of daily life. But it can also be used to overcome some of the biggest challenges in education.   

How do we know which tools will make that difference?   

As with attendance, we need to the gather data and evidence that points towards effective interventions.  

That’s why we established the education endowment foundation in 2011.  

They are currently testing how AI can be used effectively to enhance primary school children’s outcomes.  

This is a vibrant market, with lots of companies coming to the table with  AI-based education solutions.   

Maths-Whizz, an online tutoring programme, will be evaluated on how much it helps six- to ten-year-olds improve their numeracy.   

Another, DreamBox Reading Plus, supports children’s fluency, comprehension and vocabulary via an online programme.  

I know from my 30 years in international business that you only get ahead if you get in early. AI is too great an opportunity to leave to Silicon Valley alone.   

We are getting ahead by making sure that the AI used in schools really works and suits our needs. Last year I attended a 2 day hackathon for teachers to road test AI tools in real world scenarios. After all, they know what truly works in our classrooms.   

And Oak National Academy, our independent provider of resources to support curriculum delivery in England, is developing a new AI-powered lesson planning tool.    This ‘AI Lesson Assistant’ called Aila is being designed to help teachers create and adapt their teaching resources, saving them valuable time.   

Unlike generic large language models, it is being trained specifically on the English national curriculum and on Oak’s own resources. This will ensure the lessons produced are of high quality and tailored to the English context.  

This is where the best evidence for educational AI has taken us so far.   

And we’re keen to share what we’ve learned, so other education systems can benefit from our insights and we can work together.  

Safety matters as much as effectiveness, as the prime minister made clear at the last year’s global AI safety summit. It’s why we’ve introduced the AI safety institute, so that no country is caught off-guard by its rapid advance.   

Our department for science and innovation is currently hosting a virtual AI summit with South Korea – because only by sharing national developments through international dialogue will we stay on top of developments in this field.  

Of the challenges I’ve referred to, none is more urgent than climate change.   

Education needs to play its part, giving children a broad understanding of a clean, sustainable future. That’s why we launched the UK Sustainability and climate change strategy in 2022, setting out the education system’s crucial role in tackling climate change.  

Today I am announcing the extension of the UK’s climate ambassadors scheme. Regional climate ambassadors currently help schools and colleges draw-up climate action plans and improve their sustainability. Over the next two years we will recruit over 1000 volunteers as climate ambassadors, to support over 2,500 education settings.   

Our national education nature park scheme allows each school site to see themselves as a contributing part of the biodiversity and climate resilience of the country’s collective education campus.  

Like countries participating in international climate discussions, we want schools to see themselves as part of a broader whole. These networks are designed to get them sharing ideas and trading creative solutions.   

Our COP26 presidency brought education and environment ministers together for the first time, securing commitment to closer collaboration. On the international stage, we’re working closely with partners to drive change.   

Sharing our solutions is the solution to unblocking climate change challenges.  

We worked closely with UNESCO to develop the greening education partnership, which launched at COP27. Over 80 countries and 1000 organisations are now members, co-ordinating climate change action and promoting sustainable development though education. If your nation has yet to sign-up, please talk to UK ministers and officials about what we can achieve together through the partnership.   

Education as a climate change solution was a central theme at COP28.  

There we launched the education and climate declaration, together with UNESCO and the global partnership for education. Over 40 countries endorsed it prior to launch, demonstrating their commitment to build climate-smart education.   

We hope education will continue to be a prominent theme at COP29 in Baku – and at future COPs – providing a broader approach to a problem that today’s pupils will inherit.   

Sharing and developing big ideas is something we also encourage closer to home.  

We are home to some of the world’s top universities, who benefit from strong international ties. Indeed, the UK has educated 58 current and recent world leaders. 

We have four of the global top 10 universities, and 17 in the top 100.   

Students travel from over 200 nations to study here. And our universities lead the world in producing valuable research: we rank 1st in the G7 for publications’ impact.  

The UK remains the destination of choice for many students. Attracting the brightest from around the world is good for our universities, and supports the creation of more places for domestic students.  

Of course, studying abroad is expensive and out-of-reach for many.   

Transnational education eliminates the need to travel for a UK degree.   

Demand for it is growing; in 2021-22, 160 UK universities delivered transnational education to over 550,000 students in more than 200 countries and territories.   

It’s a solution that’s successfully unlocking the global potential of British institutions, and giving broader access to educational opportunities.   

To support this, the sector has today published a document on our offer to international partners. Entitled ‘unlocking global potential: UK education and skills international offer’, it’s essential reading for any country considering future partnerships with our education institutions.  

In the last few years, we’ve talked a lot about the pandemic.   

We’ve now moved beyond the covid crisis, and our immediate response.   

But there are still challenges that remain, including children’s mental health and school attendance.   

These are joined by the other great issues of our age: introducing children to technology safely – whilst not allowing it to damage or dominate their lives.   

And accelerating climate action and awareness to preserve their future world.  

We come from different countries, but we share many fundamental aims.   

We want children to get the most out of their education – whatever barriers they face.  

How do we limit the impact of the challenges mentioned above?  

Remember the story of maths in England over the last decade.  

Sharing what is known to work can overcome stubborn problems and spread success.   

Real change is hard. But someone showing you a proven way forward, guided by good evidence, can make it easier.  

We have worked together successfully in the past.  

This is how we must tackle the current and upcoming education challenges of this century.  

​ As Malala Yousafzai has said:  

“There are many problems, but I think there is a solution to all these problems. It’s just one, and it’s education.” 

As we gather together to discuss education solutions this week, remember to share what you’ve seen work in your country.  

Children’s futures rely on all of our solutions.  

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