Schools White Paper promises action to level up education

The Education Secretary will launch the first Schools White Paper in six years today, which includes a promise that any child who falls behind in maths or English will get the support they need.

Schools will identify children who need help, provide targeted support through methods such as small group tuition, and keep parents informed about their child’s progress.

The Parent Pledge will support the government’s Levelling Up mission for education, previously set out in the Levelling Up White Paper, for 90% of primary school children to achieve the expected standard in Key Stage 2 reading, writing and maths by 2030.

In 2019, only 65% of children achieved this standard due to the covid pandemic.

A second ambition for secondary schools aims to see the national average GCSE grade in both English language and maths increase from 4.5 in 2019 to 5 by 2030.

The Schools White Paper sets out a series of new measures to support the delivery of these ambitions. This includes asking schools to offer a minimum school week of 32.5 hours by September 2023.
    
Ofsted will inspect every school by 2025, including the backlog of ‘outstanding’ schools that haven’t been inspected for many years.
    
The government pledges that by 2030 all children will benefit from being taught in a school in, or in the process of joining, a strong multi-academy trust, which will help transform underperforming schools and deliver the best possible outcomes for children.
    
What's more, at least £100m will be invested to put the Education Endowment Foundation on a long-term footing so they can continue to evaluate and spread best practice in education across the country.