Tomorrow (3 April), Education Secretary will deliver the keynote
speech at the Children's Commissioner's inaugural Festival of
Children.
The Education Secretary will set out how this government is
putting children at the heart of policy through its Plan for
Change – breaking down barriers to opportunity by giving every
child the best life chances from the start of their life through
to adolescence.
The speech will cement early years education as the heart of the
Education Secretary's agenda, setting out the steps the
government is taking and signalling further reform to come.
Just this week the government announced 300 new or expanded
school-based nurseries, creating 6,000 new childcare places, and
more widely is rolling out free breakfast clubs for children up
and down the country.
The Education Secretary will also build on the Prime Minister's
intervention earlier this week to tackle the development of
misogynistic views in young boys and will appeal to more men to
consider a career in teaching.
The Education Secretary is expected to say:
“It's clear the behaviour of boys, their influences, and the
young men they become, is a defining issue of our time […]
“We need to raise a generation of boys with the strength to
reject that hatred – curiosity, compassion, kindness, resilience,
hope, respect.”
She will go on to say:
“With toxic online influences on the rise, our boys need strong,
positive male role models to look up to. At home, of course, and
at school too. Schools can't solve these problems alone, and
responsibility starts at home with parents.
“But only one in four of the teachers in our schools are men.
Just one in seven in nursery and primary. One in 33 in
early years.
“And since 2010 the number of teachers in our schools has
increased by 28,000 – but just 533 of those are men. That's
extraordinary.
“So I want more male teachers – teaching, guiding, leading the
boys in their classrooms. And of course I want more teachers
across the board, as part of our Plan for Change.”
