Good morning colleagues,
It is wonderful to back in Birmingham – a vibrant and diverse city, shaped by the collective social and cultural wealth of its communities. I am proud that our conference is here, in this beautiful place.
May I start by thanking our headline sponsor, Sync, our workshop strand sponsors, Edurio and IMP Software, our other event sponsors, Edwin, RM, Magma Maths, EPM and Ambition Institute, and our Platinum Partners, all of whom enable us to deliver this conference.
Colleagues, we stand at a pivotal moment in the history of our English education system. It is perhaps also a pivotal moment for our country as we think deeply about what kind of society we want to build together - because education is the building of who we can be.
The challenges we face nationally and globally are significant, but we will not let them define us.
Let me start by quoting an extract from the beautiful poem, The Hill We Climb, by Amanda Gorman, the young poet who read at the inauguration of President Biden:
“And so we lift our gazes not
To what stands between us,
But what stands before us,
We close the divide,
Because we know to put
Our futures first, we must first
Put our differences aside.”
We are here today, perhaps not in the words of Amanda Gorman to compose a country – yet that might also be what we are ultimately doing – but to compose a schooling system that is committed to all cultures, colours, characters and conditions of being human.
We have seen terrible examples of hatred and the incitement to hatred over the past 18 months. This could lead to collective despair.
In a blog which I revisit often called Hope in the Dark, Ian Frost, Deputy chief executive of the Oxford Diocesan Schools Trust, writes: “Despair is often a generalised feeling of gloom. To hope is to act specifically.” He goes on to explore what hope is not - It is not the belief that everything was, is or will be fine.”
He says hope is action.
“Hope means to be diligent.
“Hope means we puzzle over difficult questions.
“Hope means trying to do the right thing.”
As the system leaders of our schools in England, you are also public intellectuals.
We do need to think deeply about society – and this conference is a space to think together.
The questions that should interest us are profoundly intellectual. Not least of all, how should we live?
How should we live?
I am very influenced by the work of the author and social innovator Hilary Cottam. She does not write about education per se – her canvas is broader. She writes about society and the welfare state. She asks:
“How should we live? This most basic of questions was asked by Aristotle, the philosopher to whom many of us return when our existing rules and systems no longer work. People need meaning,
“Aristotle argued, and they need support to grow and develop. Aristotle spoke of eudaimonia, which is often translated as happiness, but he was not in pursuit of an individual’s elusive happiness.
“In fact, he argued that a rich, well-lived life would certainly contain periods of unhappiness, but to grow we need to aim for something big and we must risk disappointment.
“Eudaimonia is better translated as flourishing. And flourishing is a collective and political concept that embraces participation in the structures of society.”
Flourishing
In CST’s joint paper with the Church of England and Catholic Education Service, we see human flourishing as a collective vision for our education system.
We propose that this is a core purpose that is enacted in the dignity with which everyone is treated, the hope with which each are instilled, the relational community in which each are located, and the practical wisdom with which each are taught.
Our vision for flourishing is deeply resonant, grounded in mutuality, collaboration, collective voice and shared action. We are seeking together to build an education system that is coherently shaped and collectively led to prioritise the flourishing of all.
The government’s opportunity mission provides a platform for education to pull together in pursuit of a system in which all children can achieve and thrive. We think the language of flourishing captures these twin themes of achieving and thriving.
Flourishing is not just the optimal continuing development of children's' potential (the substance of education) – it is also living well as a human being.
The distinctiveness of the purposes of education
Professor Viviane Robinson argues for the distinctiveness of the purposes of education. She says that only education has preparation as a major purpose: “Preparation involves developing the distinctively human qualities and abilities such as reasoning, wisdom, and understanding, that enable people to manage their lives more intelligently and to appreciate the world in which they live.”
And Professor Zongyi Deng, member of the curriculum and assessment review believes that the curriculum should be concerned with not only the present question of ‘what should students know?’ but also the future question of ‘what should they become?’
Professor Deng concludes that in the policy arena there is a need to articulate a vision of education centrally concerned with the cultivation of human powers in today’s and future context and to explore the contribution of knowledge to the cultivation of potential.
He poses three powerful questions which I recently set out in a briefing to members:
- His first question: what does it mean to be an autonomous and responsible individual who is actively participating in and interacting with the current and future world characterised by transnational economies, increasing rates of information exchange and mobility, rapid developments of new technologies, uncertainty, climate change, human-induced environmental disasters, and wars, among others?
- His second question: what intellectual, emotional, moral, social, cross-cultural, and technological powers would he or she need to develop to become a free and independent individual and to face the challenges of the world?
- His third question: how and in what ways would academic disciplines and specialised fields contribute to the development of such powers?
These are powerful questions. These are questions we should be asking ourselves as we move forward to implement the curriculum and assessment review.
And right now as we turn our minds to the White Paper, it is more important than ever to consider the sort of society and schooling we want to create.
The Veil of Ignorance
Let us engage in a thought experiment for a moment. I am going to invite you to consider what the philosopher John Rawls calls the "veil of ignorance." This is a thought experiment that helps determine the principles of justice by ensuring decisions are made without knowledge of personal circumstances.
Let us consider you are tasked with designing the principles of a just society without any knowledge of your own personal characteristics, or those of your children, such as race, gender, social status, or wealth. What would the principles of that society be?
Remember, you cannot know your place in that society.
In this society, would we want to see the social and economic value of all children? Or are we content to design a society in which we see the sort of unacceptable data about disabled adults which evidences endemic loneliness, early death and impoverished lives?
Would we tolerate children living in destitution if we thought our children could be among those?
Rawls thought that the veil of ignorance would help to ensure that the principles of a good life are fair and impartial, as no one can tailor the rules to benefit their specific situation.
In this society, we would want our schools to be microcosms of the good society where difference and diversity are celebrated, where each human being has dignity and respect and is able to live a good life.
- So how should we live?
- What kind of society do we wish to build?
- And what is the place of schooling in that society?
The answers to these questions provide our narrative arc – the story we should be telling about schooling now, and in England.
And as Martin Luther King said, there is a “fierce urgency of now.”
This is no time to engage in what he called the luxury of gradualism. This is particularly true for our children with disabilities or those whose lives are blighted by poverty and disadvantage.
Childhood is short and precious.
It would be fatal for the nation and for our education system to overlook the urgency of this moment.
We must embrace the change we need with courage, and optimism of the will. With hope as action.
We must build a society where our children, schools and communities flourish.
I’ll turn now to each of these.
Flourishing children
We must start with an important question: are our children flourishing?
The PISA 2022 report for England found that pupils in England reported a significantly lower average level of satisfaction with their lives, and fewer reported they feel they belong at school than their peers across the OECD.
And while school attendance is improving, too many of our children are still absent from school.
And of course too many are living in poverty. These are the wider social and economic issues that we need our government to address. But today, I am speaking about our agency, what we can do.
We know from the National Study of Pupil Engagement in England’s Schools that
- Year 7 marks a steep and lasting drop in engagement;
- Disadvantaged pupils and girls are hit hardest; and
- Falling engagement predicts absenteeism.
We have also had in the last few weeks the first data from the independent inquiry into educational outcomes of white working-class young people. Polling data shows that disadvantaged white students are much less likely to say they enjoy school.
So how should we build our schooling system to enable all our children flourish?
By intentionally creating cultures of belonging, connection and engagement.
By prioritising interactions that help pupils feel successful, valued, and listened to, so that every child knows that they matter to us.
By creating a school curriculum that cultivates human powers.
By building motivation through calibrated challenge.
By building a sense of agency as a catalyst for motivation.
By having a broad view of success so that every child’s success is celebrated, rather than assuming that success looks the same for every child.
By ensuring that the education of all our children is characterised by dignity and high expectation.
As Steve Farndon finds in Ambition Institute’s research-based guide to pupil motivation and engagement, “When pupils believe that their interests and perspectives are taken into account by their teachers, they feel like they have a stake in their school.”
They know they matter.
Let us be in no doubt that the English education system is a good system because we have built on the evidence of what works. If we are to build a great school system, then we must design it so that all our children flourish. This means putting those children for whom the system does not work, at the heart of system reform. It requires a gear change.
We will do this together.
Flourishing schools
Let us turn now to flourishing schools. Is our workforce flourishing?
Education Support’s Teacher Wellbeing Index (2024) found that 78% of all staff in our schools feel stressed.
And while the Working Lives of Teachers (2024) shows a slightly improving picture from the previous year, there is still a lot of work to be done.
It remains the case that these wellbeing measures are lower for survey respondents than for the wider population in England.
As you will have heard me say before, citing my friend and colleague Andy Wolf, “Where there are few flourishing adults, there will be few flourishing children.”
So we also need to be more intentional in building positive cultures in our schools for our staff. And we do know quite a lot about how to do this.
The Education Endowment Foundation’s rapid evidence of review gave us three evidence-informed leadership practices that help here.
They are not rocket science – but they are deeply rooted in evidence.
Firstly, prioritising professional development;
Secondly, building relational trust; and
Thirdly, improving working conditions.
Flourishing communities
Finally let us consider how we build flourishing communities.
Since our inception as your sector body, we have been talking about civic leadership. This is the importance of working with others to make a difference in the lives of our children and communities.
It is an important leadership mindset. The solutions to the problems that face us in society are beyond the reach of individual leaders or organisations. They are beyond even the reach of the state actor as a sole actor. So we need to think of the state as being ‘an’ actor – not ‘the’ actor.
We must work with the state, but not wait for permission. We must embrace our agency as civic actors, as Sir Hamid has done in working with others to convene the independent inquiry into educational outcomes of white working-class young people.
The problems we face are complex, requiring that we develop a different leadership mindset – that of civic action or collaborative action.
You will have heard me say this often before.
Today I want to focus this civic mindset as working with people and communities.
Without the intentional building of relationships with people and communities, we will not progress.
As the Reach Foundation teaches us: great schools are necessary but not sufficient.
“Schools are cornerstones of their communities.
“They are trusted local institutions.
“Schools are deeply rooted and have a visible presence in their communities. They have long-lasting relationships with families.
“We know that when schools truly embrace a broader role and build meaningful partnerships, they can transform children’s lives and strengthen local communities.”
Sir David Carter introduced the concept of the trust dividend. Today we need to think hard about the partnership dividend.
The partnership dividend is an investment in each other, in people, in our communities. It recognises the huge wealth in every community. It recognises the strengths and talents in our communities and seeks to build this capacity.
It is after all our solidarity and our interconnectedness – our shared sense of purpose and our execution of a shared mission – that will make a difference to the children and communities we serve.
It is through this that we mobilise education as a force for social justice and wider common good.
After the terrible events in Manchester, I cited a line from the Talmud: ‘Every blade of grass has its angel that bends over it and whispers, “Grow, grow.”’
Those who work in our schools are the angels that bend over every child and whisper, grow, grow.
We can, and we are growing the good society in our schools.
My friend and colleague Jonathan Simons said in a recent speech: schools are the outstanding bits of the public realm. Yes, they are.
We do not run our schools for a regulator or for an inspectorate.
We have a higher moral purpose.
We are growing human capacity and the good society.
My message to you today is simple. Barack Obama was paying homage to Ghandi when he said, you are the leaders you have been waiting for.
There is not some other person or some other time.
There is only “the fierce urgency of now.”
So this is a call to action, a call for us to find the animating spirit of positive disruption that was the founding consciousness of the trust movement.
We will advance education for public benefit.
We will convene in place in the way that trust leaders in Plymouth have done to secure local improvement, or trust leaders in Bradford have done to bring about local change.
We accept the challenges that face us.
And we are collectively committed to addressing these challenges.
They are complex and hard. And that is why we are called to lead.
Who sets the vision and ambition for our schools, beyond political cycles? Colleagues, this conference does. We do.
This is why last year, I said we are building public institutions, civic in outlook, anchored in communities. We are the stewards of our school system and the institutions that we are building will have longevity, permanence, and durability.
How should we lead?
So how should we lead?
I’d like to read an extract from my book. It is from the afterword which takes the form of a letter to school and trust leaders:
Let us lead with perseverance - with the persistence and tenacity to do the right thing.
Let us lead with love and wisdom, that increases the spirit and cultivates human powers.
Let us lead with kindness and justice, unafraid to use the mantel of our protection.
And finally let us lead with quiet authority and compassion, seeking first to serve.
Our enduring and shared mission is to advance education for public benefit and create opportunity for all children. While this mission goes among things that change (governments, policies, legislation), it does not change.
Let’s never let go of this.
In conclusion
I’ll finish where I started: we stand at a pivotal moment in the history of our English education system. It is perhaps also a pivotal moment for our country as we think deeply about what kind of society we want to build together - because education is the building of who we can be.
The challenges are significant, but we will not let them define us.
We can and we will compose a schooling system that is committed to all cultures, colours, characters and conditions of being human.
Together, we can grow the good society.
We can nurture the cultivation of human powers.
Let me return to Amanda Gorman’s beautiful exhortation in the final stanza of her poem:
The new dawn blooms as we free it,
For there is always light,
If only we’re brave enough to see it,
If only we’re brave enough to be it.
Thank you for being the light.
