Education Secretary speech at CST Conference 2026

15 Oct 2026 12:08 PM

In her speech, Lucy Powell set out a bold vision to reimagine childhood for a new era.

Good morning.  

First of all, can I just thank Windsor Academy Trust. 

What a fantastic performance that was. 

Thank you, Sir Hamid, for your kind introduction.

What an amazing speech. 

And thank you for all your work in education and on the White Working Class Inquiry. 

And Leora, thank you for your leadership in the sector. 

and for inviting me to speak today. 

Because it is great to be here. 

Some said this might be a hostile crowd for me. But, as a Manchester City fan, I’m getting well used to hostile crowds at the moment. 

As most of my family are – or were – school leaders. 

This also feels a bit like a family gathering. 

Rest assured, I get lots of advice at those too – not all of it welcome! 

Coming from a family steeped in education, I know what it means, what it takes. 

Teaching isn’t just a profession, it’s a vocation. 

School and college leadership is a whole other level of calling and responsibility, through the good times and the bad. 

Stepping up because you want to make a bigger difference to more and more young people. I want to make a difference too. 

So, when the Prime Minister asked me a few months ago to serve as Education Secretary, I’ve got to be honest with you, I nearly took his hand off.  

Because without a doubt this is one of the best jobs in government. 

One I relish but one I do with huge respect and care. 

Respect for you, and care for every child and young person whose lives we shape. 

The theme of this conference as we’ve just heard from Hamid is connecting. It’s a theme that is shaping my work too. 

Because our world has never been more connected in many, many ways. Yet our children have never been more isolated and lonely, and in some ways our communities never more separate and siloed.  

This is a fast-changing, technological age. That’s the world that the next generation have to make their own. 

But when young people look around today, what is it that they see? 

TikToks about AI taking all the jobs, reels about broken Britain, and influencers with picture perfect lifestyles that feel totally out of reach to them.

Where’s the hope in that? 

It’s no wonder so many of them are retreating not just into their bedrooms but into themselves, losing sight of a good job, a good life coming down the line. 

And I know a lot of the challenges of modern society show up in your classrooms too.

Constantly having to deal with the fallout of what goes on online. 

Managing conflicts and suspicions whipped up elsewhere. 

And staff often dipping into their own pockets or using their own time to address society’s failures. 

I see every single day the amazing job that you do. That is often unseen, and certainly not thanked – and definitely not measured – enough. 

So can I take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you and all your staff for the amazing job that you do. 

This is a new time, a new moment and we need to match it. That’s the challenge for the next decade.

And Hamid just set that out then really well. To reimagine childhood for this new era. 

Playing, exploring, belonging and happiness. Restoring for our children a connection to something bigger.  

To get every child believing, achieving and flourishing. That’s what the theme of connection means to me. 

And to do this we have to take an honest look at where we are and what we value, and how we support it. 

To accept that change is happening and to embrace and shape it. 

I won’t be an education secretary who just tinkers at the margins. I won’t sit still and polish the status quo. I will listen, but I will act. 

And I won’t be afraid to do what needs to be done. 

Not while one in five children are persistently absent from school still. 

Not while so many children with SEND have their needs unmet. 

Not while the disadvantage gap remains so wide. 

My vision is built on the belief that every child matters, on the promise that no young person will be left behind, and on our commitment that everyone will get the opportunity to fulfil their potential. 

A generation of confident, hopeful and happy children. 

That means we need to go beyond a one-size-fits-all system that sets too many up to fail. 

We need to widen the narrow view of what good is. 

And we need to give our young people something to believe in again.  

Hope for the future. 

That is my mission, I’ve dubbed it as me leading the department of hope. That is our mission, all of us here today. 

Every child growing up knowing that success belongs to them, no matter their talents, their needs or their postcode. 

That’s my promise. 

And my promise to you is also a new way of working. 

Rather than beaming policies in from Whitehall, or imposing my own ideology, it’ll be about evidence and what works, and you know what works in your schools and communities.

Backing you with over £2 billion more funding this year, I won’t shirk the hard stuff.  

And I won’t leave you to hold the line alone when the big societal challenges show up in your schools. 

Whether it’s misogyny and antisemitism, polarisation and division, or dis- and misinformation. 

I will back you. 

And we have another big challenge coming up the track in AI, don’t we,and how we preserve that precious human connection at the heart of learning. 

Make no mistake, there are opportunities from AI - everything from children’s learning to staff workloads. 

But AI raises big questions too, questions I intend to answer. 

I know it’s already causing headaches - homework and project work, and AI-written complaints flooding your inboxes. 

We’ll work together on tackling these and other big issues that we face, and I’ll back you to make the big decisions that affect your schools and colleges. 

Colleagues, every child does matter. And that’s why we’ve got to spread excellence to every corner and give more opportunities not fewer. 

That’s why I’m putting technical and vocational qualifications on a par with academic ones. 

As Hamid said, our PISA rankings in English, maths and science are a national success story. 

That is your success story – the result of your hard work, your expertise, your determination. But the next era demands more.   

PISA also found too many don’t see the relevance of school – they’re disconnected. 

We need to broaden the offer and better equip young people for the world they’re entering, not the one of the past.  

That’s why I’m introducing new vocational GCSEs and new pathways, to complement the revolution in post-16 - V Levels, T Levels and apprenticeships alongside A Levels. 

I know that change can be difficult, but we will do it together. 

Because partnership – that’s what I’m all about. 

I kicked that off earlier in Number 10 North last month, and it was great to have Leora there with us, as well as some here today. 

But I want to be clear, this isn’t about building a two-track system of separation. 

The future demands more. Our children deserve more. 

Technical skills matter, but so do the foundations of literacy, numeracy, critical thinking and human creativity. 

I want our kids to master technology, not be mastered by it. To lead the future, not be led by it. 

That’s why I’m also going further and deeper on curriculum reform. Too many children are not getting what they need. 

There’s not enough space for the proper depth or richness that really gets children excited to come to school. 

Practical skills are disappearing from practical subjects, just when the world demands the opposite. 

That isn’t politics or ideology; it’s just a fact. 

That’s why we’ve got to go further with the curriculum review. 

And with AI on the rise, we need to go harder on the skills that makes us human, like oracy. 

That ability to articulate yourself confidently is central to success in work and in life, but for too long it’s been a marker of privilege. 

Now it will become the right of every child - nobody left out because they can’t speak up. 

That’s why we’re hardwiring oracy into the revised National Curriculum. 

And I can announce today that I will give oracy equal status to reading and writing, as a new strand of the English curriculum. 

Working with you, working with Ofqual, and as part of our curriculum review, oracy will light up every classroom.  

Both in content and in assessment, speaking, listening and communicating will be a core part of every child’s education, from primary to GCSE and beyond.  

And that is the oldest form of connection we can think of, building relationships by communicating. 

And we’ll open up enrichment to reach all children.  

Just look at those children here today and the confidence it took to come on stage and do that. 

Music, debating, the arts, engineering and sports - a deep connection to learning for the next generation and to our communities. 

And that right to belong to a proper school community - that’s got to be for everyone. 

So I want to reaffirm my commitment to tackle the SEND crisis, and to seeing through reforms that we all know are necessary. 

Outcomes and the process need to be better. Schools supported and recognised for being inclusive. Extra resources, including £4bn over the next three years. 

We’re working through the response to the SEND consultation - and we’ve got to do this properly and get this right. 

But support is ramping up already, and I know many local areas are beginning to roll out their Experts at Hand offer. 

It’s about success for every child, not just those who fit. 

Instead, we’ll build a system that fits everybody, and a system that rewards inclusion, not exclusion. 

That’s also why I want to improve how we do exclusions. Poor behaviour must have strong consequences, but once someone falls out of the system, it’s all that much harder to get them back.   

And that’s why we’ve launched today’s call for evidence, so please do contribute to that. 

Colleagues, this is about a child’s entire education - engaging them from their first days and not letting go. 

Not separate stages, but one holistic journey. Smooth transitions, consistent support, and above all, connected. 

No gaps to fall through. 

Alan Milburn’s Review, which I strongly welcome and support, is crystal clear: to stop young people becoming NEET, early years education is just as important as pathways into work. 

And that’s why we’ve investing in family hubs, better childcare and early education, health and parenting support. 

It’s why we’re focused on school readiness and reception year, because all the evidence tells us how much the best start in life really matters. 

It’s also why we are tackling child poverty – lifting the 2-child benefit cap, huge extension in free school meals and free breakfast clubs. 

I will be looking to you as well as school leaders to help us get transitions right. 

And the next stage is a transformation in how we do that in places, as Hamid just talked about there, devolving decisions to where they can best change lives -  local services to support local families, ending the silos. 

And local employers teaming up with local schools to give more young people the experience of work, more pathways and better careers advice. 

Passports to success aren’t issued in a day.  

They are a process, and we need to get it right, from start to finish.   

Unafraid to take on practices that have become the norm but we know in this room aren’t right. 

That’s why I want an end to damaging cycle of repeated resits. 

Learning isn’t about doing what’s easy, of course.  

But a sense of achievement and purpose is how we best engage in learning. 

And this summer alone, just 14% of young people “passing” GCSE maths resit - that’s 86% being branded a failure for the second, third or fourth time in some cases.

Who on earth thinks that’s good or desirable? 

That’s why I‘m introducing new foundation qualifications too. 

My whole approach to reforms is about more options, more support, more purpose, more pathways, to get better outcomes, better engagement, a better lives for our young people. 

The chance to take different paths to similar destinations. 

That’s how we bear down on not just the disadvantage gap but the opportunity gap too, because every child does matter. 

That belief must inform everything we do, including accountability. 

On that I hear the need for change. 

But first let me just be clear - Ofsted has played an important role in raising standards over the last 30 years, and it will continue to do so for the next 30 as well. 

Accountability is an essential part of sustained improvement, and so are the judgements that parents recognise, and they play their role in that too. 

But I do, without doubt, want to see changes not just in what we value but in how we go about improving it. 

Because believe me I understand the job you do.

All too often I see and I hear school leaders doing what they know is in the best interests of their children and their school community, but they don’t get recognised, rewarded or paid for it, sometimes actually being penalised or downgraded for doing the right thing for their children. 

So I want to build a culture of collaboration not competition - recognition and value for doing the right thing and for changing lives especially for the most in need. 

And that’s what I mean when I say I want stronger emphasis on context. 

A greater recognition of real inclusion is about more than your data dashboard. 

That’s not as an excuse for when standards aren’t as they should be, but because we should be looking at what is really happening in schools and what progress is really being made. 

A supportive, self-improving system built on evidence. 

And that’s for Ofsted and my department too - communities of schools working together for their community of children. 

And as I said earlier, I won’t duck the difficult challenges. 

And rest assured, I won’t duck this either. 

So finally colleagues, I’m asking a lot of you, I know that change isn’t easy. 

But I also know that you didn’t go into teaching because it’s easy. 

You do it because it matters.  

And right now, what you do matters more than it ever has before. 

We’re at a turning point for our children and our country - the foundations are shifting before our eyes.

And, if we don’t react then a whole generation could end up being disconnected, and left behind. 

I am actually optimistic. I believe our children are our future, and they have every reason to be hopeful. 

So together, conference, let’s connect them to that future, let’s connect them to that hope, and let’s connect them to each other. 

Thank you.