How we turn our good education system into something great

CST CEO Leora Cruddas outlines why education secretary Bridget Phillipson is right to praise the past – but also to seek to create an even better future
3rd February 2025, 4:24pm

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How we turn our good education system into something great

https://www.tes.com/magazine/analysis/general/how-we-turn-our-good-education-system-into-something-great
Leora Cruddas
picture: Russell Sach for Tes

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson gave an important speech this morning in which she outlined the proposed new arrangements for school accountability in England.

It was good to hear her say that the standards in England’s schools have risen in the last few decades and the system has many strengths.

Good to great

The school system in England is on a journey from good to great. There is a lot to be proud of. The vast majority of schools provide a good standard of education. We do relatively well in international assessments.

This is because we have built on the evidence of what works - thirty years of curriculum development, teacher development, accountability, structural reform and innovation.

But the school system does not work for all children:

If we are to build a great school system, then we must design it so that all our children achieve and thrive. This means putting those children for whom the system does not work, at the heart of system reform. It means improving outcomes for disadvantaged children and those with SEND.

All children benefit from inclusive schooling. So it is good to see the government and Ofsted ‘designing in’ inclusive schooling.

Excellence, inclusion and equity

We can only say our school system is great if the outcomes of state education deliver excellence, inclusion and equity. These should be the three great pillars on which we build a great education system.

Excellence is our commitment to the highest academic outcomes so that young people in England can compete with the best international systems and continue the legacy of England’s education system as an export good.

Inclusion is about removing barriers to learning. It is not just educational policy, but also social policy. We should think deeply about the social policy that supports children in their communities and into adulthood.

For example, we should as a society address the endemic of loneliness and mental ill health which disproportionately affects adults with disabilities. We should also think hard about childhood and whether the lived experiences of our children are the childhood we would want for them as a society.

Equity is not about doing the same thing for all schools or all children - it is about the flexibility and agility to respond to children and communities where schools are. It is doing the things and making the investments that enable equitable outcomes.

For this to happen, leaders need flexibility to deliver for the children and communities they serve.

Ingredients for success

In terms of the good-to-great journey, the key ingredients for success which are consistent with what we know about high-performing systems internationally, are:

  • A clear vision of what success looks like.
  • Strong but intelligent and coherent accountability.
  • Strong school groups and delivery structures with the flexibility to deliver innovation and excellence for children and communities.
  • A knowledge-building and collaborative profession, engaged in the best evidence-informed professional development and building relational trust in the system.

The secretary of state said in her speech that now is the time to build on success. She said: “Academy schools were part of a great age of reform, from the mid-90s to 2015; a wave of changes that lifted standards for schools and life chances for children.

Driven forward by a succession of great education reformers - from David Blunkett to Michael Gove - and a generation of dedicated and determined teachers.”

I think she is right: “Now is the time for reform, for renewal, for modernisation to take the whole school system forward.”

Leora Cruddas is the CEO of the Confederation of School Trusts

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