Minister for School Standards gives first major public address at the Schools North East Summit
The presence of Catherine McKinnell MP at yesterday’s Schools North East Summit 2024 was a significant opportunity to reconnect with the region’s educators, and marked the Minister for School Standards’ first major public address.
The North East has long been a symbol of resilience and community spirit, yet it has often been overlooked in national policy decisions.
The myth of ‘South good’ versus ‘North bad,’ often reduces success and failure to geography, and does not capture the full context our school leaders work in. In reality, 92 percent of the North East’s schools are rated Good or Outstanding, a testament to the hard work and skills of our region’s educators who serve some of the most disadvantaged communities in the country. The negative narrative surrounding the region has consequences, deterring recruits to our schools and distorting policy.
With that in mind, it was great to have the new Schools Minister join us for her first major public address in this new role.
Ms McKinnell told the audience that the last 14 years “have left a lot of gaps” and that the government must go beyond the school gates to ensure young people can thrive. In relation to Ofsted, she highlighted Labour’s decision to abolish single word effectiveness grades. She said the new report cards will provide “a diagnostic assessment that will support new improvement teams to empower schools to progress and learn from one another.”
The Schools North East network has long stressed that the government needs to do more to support the teacher recruitment and retention crisis, and Ms McKinnell reflected on this in her address. She said the government knows it needs to raise the position and the status of teachers in society and is “pulling what levers we can to elevate the profession’s development, support and working conditions.”
A child’s success is not solely a school’s responsibility and child poverty remains a critical issue, especially here in the North East. The Summit audience learned that Labour has organised a task force to confront this, and a strategy will be published in the spring.
Following her address, Catherine engaged in a Q&A session with Chris Zarraga, Director of Schools North East. The topic of SEND came up relentlessly, which was not surprising. When asked about her thoughts on the SEND crisis, she highlighted the government’s decisions to move SEND into her brief as Schools Minister, confirming that their vision is for a school system that is as inclusive as possible.
Chris respectfully offered some advice to our new Minister: The Schools North East Manifesto for North East Education is an excellent starting point as she embarks on this new role, outlining ten key principles for driving lasting change in our region’s schools. We ensured Ms McKinnell received her own copy of the manifesto during her visit at the conference to peruse at her leisure.
Schools North East looks forward to collaborating with the Minister to create solutions that truly support our schools. The decisions she makes will have a profound impact on the future of North East education and on hundreds of thousands of young people across our region. We are sure that every school leader in the region stands ready to lend Ms Mckinnell their hard-earned experience, to ensure that those decisions are informed by realities on the ground.