Every child should have the chance to succeed in life.
And that starts with access to a good school place, no matter their background or where they live.
We want every parent to be confident that their children are getting the best start in life, one that will allow them to fulfil their potential and put them on a path to a brighter future.
Increasing education funding
We’re increasing school funding by £14 billion, with those areas historically underfunded receiving the greatest increase.
Each secondary school pupil will receive a minimum of £5,000 next year, and each primary school pupil will receive £4,000 by 2021-22 meaning that every child has the resources they need for a good education.
There is also a funding boost of £400 million in education for 16-19-year olds, including further education and sixth form colleges, to give our young people the skills they need for well-paid jobs in the modern economy.
Improved discipline and standards in the classroom
Thanks to the Conservative Party’s reforms England has risen in international league tables that measure literacy.
But we want to make sure standards keep rising. That’s why every school – including schools rated as outstanding – will receive regular checks, so that parents can be confident their child’s school continues to deliver the best education.
We will also invest £10 million in national Behaviour Hubs to enable schools which already have an excellent behaviour culture to work closely with other schools to drive improvement to make sure the best education is available regardless of where you live.
Supporting teachers
We know that teaching is a high-value and prestigious profession. That’s why we’re raising teachers’ salaries and benefits.
In the biggest reform to teacher pay in a generation, salaries for new teachers will be increased to £30,000 by 2022-23 and we’re funding increased contributions into the Teachers’ Pension Scheme so that school leaders can focus as much of their resources as possible on the front line.
By doing this we can attract the best teachers into the profession and make sure that our children have access to the best teaching all around the country.
Backing our teachers on discipline
We will back heads and teachers on discipline. We will expand our programme to help schools with the worst behaviour learn from the best – and back heads to use exclusions.
Unlike Labour, we believe that Ofsted inspection serves a valuable purpose not just in improving standards but in improving behaviour. We will continue to help teachers tackle bullying, including homophobic bullying. No child should be bullied on account of who their parents are or where they come from.
We will create more great schools
We will continue to do everything we can to ensure every school is a great school. We will continue to support innovation, like our successful maths schools, set up for the most gifted young physicists and mathematicians.
We will expand ‘alternative provision’ schools for those who have been excluded. We will also deliver more school places for children with complex Special Educational Needs. We will intervene in schools where there is entrenched underperformance.
We will continue to ensure that parents can choose the schools that best suit their children and best prepare them for the future. And we will continue to build more free schools.
We will invest in arts, music and sport
Over the last nine years we have made real improvements in maths, English and science, and given more children access to a rich academic curriculum.
We retain our commitment to the core subjects and also want young people to learn creative skills and widen their horizons, so we will offer an ‘arts premium’ to secondary schools to fund enriching activities for all pupils.
And to ensure children are getting an active start to life, we will invest in primary school PE teaching and ensure that it is being properly delivered. We want to do more to help schools make good use of their sports facilities and to promote physical literacy and competitive sport.
