CONSERVATIVE PRIORITIES FOR GOVERNMENT

Links to references made in speech by Michael Gove at Centre for Policy

Studies, 6th November 2009 Full text available:
http://www.conservatives.com/News/Speeches/2009/11/Michael_Gove_A_compre
hensive_programme_for_state_education.aspx

Introduction
http://www.etoncollege.com/
Yet in the same year Eton had 175 boys who got 3As at A level. One school with
almost two and a half times as many boys getting 3As as the entire population of
our poorest boys on benefit.

http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/strategy/work_areas/accessprofessions.aspx
And as Alan Milburn pointed out, so convincingly, in his report on social mobility
in this country, we are moving backwards as a nation.

http://www.harriscrystalpalace.org.uk/
The Harris City Academy in Crystal Palace is an outstanding school in every way
– indeed when inspected by Ofsted earlier this month it was ranked as
outstanding.

http://www.mossbourne.hackney.sch.uk/
Mossbourne City Academy in Hackney is another outstanding school. This year
85% of its children secured five good passes at GCSE including English and
Maths.

http://www.emmanuelctc.org.uk/emmanuelcollege/emmanuelcollege/
Emmanuel College in Gateshead is another outstanding school. Again, 99% of
children secured 5 good GCSEs with 83% securing five good passes including
English and Maths.

http://www.brookeweston.org/
Brooke Weston College in Corby is another outstanding school. 100% of children
there got five good GCSEs, 86% got five good GCSEs including English and
Maths.

http://www.ttsonline.net/
Thomas Telford School in Telford is another outstanding school. 99.4% of
children there secured at least ten good GCSEs including English and Maths.

PRIORITY NUMBER ONE - RAISING THE PRESTIGE, ESTEEM AND

PROFESSIONALISM OF TEACHING
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/43/15/5328720.pdf
In Finland teachers are drawn from the top ten per cent of graduates.

http://www.kipp.org/
The Knowledge is Power Programme charter schools in America, which President
Obama supports, insist on a longer school day to ensure children achieve more.
Schools must be able to organise their timetables to be able to offer more
children from disadvantaged backgrounds these opportunities and therefore they
need the flexibility to reward teachers appropriately.

http://www.teachforamerica.org/
Teach for America scheme, which offers America’s brightest graduates the
chance to teach in some of the country’s toughest schools.

http://www.nie.edu.sg/nieweb/index.do
The impact of raising the level of teacher performance can be dramatic - and
rapid. By the end of the nineties Singapore had become one of the top-
performing schools systems in the world. But Singapore’s leadership was
determined to take things to the next level.

PRIORITY NUMBER TWO - A SAFE, SECURE AND ORDERED ENVIRONMENT

http://shortstayschools.org.uk/
We need to radically improve the environment in which disruptive and excluded
pupils are educated and we will ensure that those organisations with a proven
track record in turning young lives round are given the opportunity to do more,
through reforms to Pupil Referral Units and the creation of new Boarding
Academies. We want to see every young person given the chance to get their life
back on track and the opportunity to secure meaningful qualifications.

PRIORITY NUMBER THREE - RADICAL REFORM OF THE CURRICULUM AND

QUALIFICATIONS
http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/Policy/scotinitiatives.html
So we will provide training and support to every school in the use of systematic
synthetic phonics - the tried and tested method of teaching reading which has
eliminated illiteracy in Clackmannanshire and West Dunbartonshire.

http://www.cie.org.uk/qualifications/academic/middlesec/igcse/overview
We would allow all state school pupils the freedom to do the same high quality
international exams that private schools offer.

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/courses/courses/index.htm
http://internet-tv-search-engine-swicki.eurekster.com/online+lectures/?=lectures
Just think – now, every child in the world with internet access can watch lectures
from institutions such as Oxford, Caltech or MIT for free. This revolution is
transforming education and our approach to the curriculum must reflect this.

PRIORITY NUMBER FOUR - A NEW GENERATION OF SUPERB STATE

SCHOOLS
https://www.ssatrust.org.uk/Pages/home.aspx
SSAT

PRIORITY NUMBER FIVE - REFORM TO FUNDING

http://www.dana.com/
One, Dana, has matched its slimming down of the management structure with a
thinning out of bureaucratic control. It has replaced twenty-two and a half inches
of policy manuals with a one page statement of the company’s aims and values.

http://www.newschoolsnetwork.org/index.html
And we will help any parent unhappy with the quality of local provision and
interested in seeing a new school set up to get in touch with other parents and
with organisations like the New Schools Network which now exist to help new
schools become established.