PISA Results

Debate between Lord Gove and Conor Burns

Tuesday 3rd December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

I had the opportunity to talk to Minister O’Dowd several months ago, when I also talked to the Welsh Education Minister. It is striking that Northern Ireland is broadly at the same level as England in these results but Labour-run Wales is significantly behind. I think that we can draw the appropriate conclusions about that. I hope to visit Northern Ireland in the new year to talk to head teachers and others about how we can work together to ensure that our examination systems are aligned in a way that promotes social mobility across all these islands in the interests of a truly united kingdom.

[Conor Burns (Bournemouth West) (Con)]

I thank my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for yesterday meeting Kate Forbes, an excellent young English teacher from Bourne academy in my constituency, to discuss her ideas for the implementation of grammar in the secondary system. It is people like Miss Forbes, who share his determination that the child should come first, whom we should be listening to in implementing his reforms.

[Michael Gove]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. It was a pleasure to meet the teacher from his constituency, who is wholly committed to implementing the reforms we have introduced, utterly committed to raising standards for every child and, to my mind, representative and emblematic of the idealistic and supremely talented young people now entering teaching.

Post-16 Education Funding

Debate between Lord Gove and Conor Burns

Monday 28th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

It is our intention to make sure that the number participating continues to increase. As I pointed out in my statement, the number of 16 to 18-year-olds not currently in education, employment or training fell in the last quarter. I hope that the number of apprenticeship starts to be revealed later this week will show that that strong trend is continuing encouragingly.

[Conor Burns (Bournemouth West) (Con)]

What message does the Secretary of State have to colleges such as the Bournemouth and Poole college in my constituency, which were so profoundly let down by the decision under the last Government to withdraw the funding for their capital project through the Learning and Skills Council? That means that young people aspiring to go to that college will now be taught in temporary classrooms. Is there anything the Secretary of State can say to reassure them about their future?

Schools White Paper

Debate between Lord Gove and Conor Burns

Wednesday 24th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Conor Burns (Bournemouth West) (Con)]

What plans does my right hon. Friend have to ensure that when teachers are training more time is spent in the classroom than in the lecture theatre?

[Michael Gove]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. The example of teaching schools can reinforce the already high standards in many new entrants to the profession. We know that the best teachers are those who are intellectually capable, and those who learn from others. The best way to improve as a teacher is to observe great teachers and to be observed by great teachers. That is why we are moving towards a system of teaching schools, which replicates the virtues of teaching hospitals.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Gove and Conor Burns

Monday 12th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his question and for showing me the great courtesy of calling me before the weekend to explain precisely the question that he would ask. We will have the opportunity to meet one on one later this week to discuss the precise circumstances of the school that he mentions. I or one of my ministerial team will certainly join him in a visit to that school, to provide the head, teachers and parents with all the information that they need to ensure that in future we do everything possible to help to support them and the great work that they do.

[Conor Burns (Bournemouth West) (Con)]

T6. I thank my right hon. Friend for visiting St Michael’s primary school in Bournemouth with me last week. If the head teacher of St Michael’s, Mr Bob Kennedy—or, indeed, any other head teacher—were to ask him what excuse could be given for spending £60 million of local authority Building Schools for the Future money on consultants rather than the front line, what on earth would he say in reply?

[Michael Gove]

It was a pleasure to meet my hon. Friend and the teachers who were doing such outstanding work at St Michael’s. It was a fantastic school, and a pleasure to visit.

If a head teacher were to ask me why the last Government spent so much money on consultants rather than on teachers, for once I would be dumbstruck.

Education Funding

Debate between Lord Gove and Conor Burns

Monday 5th July 2010 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

I take the right hon. Lady’s point, but I have made it clear that there are rules-based criteria by which we have made our judgment, based on whether schools have reached financial close. As the hon. Member for Eltham (Clive Efford) made clear earlier, not only was there speculation in the press, but it was also the case that before the general election the Minister of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton (Mr Gibb), made it clear that it was unlikely that we would be able to proceed with those projects that had not reached financial close. Once again, I appreciate that the different stages of the Building Schools for the Future programme have led to confusion. However, I am sure that the right hon. Lady, like many other Members who care about their constituents, will be aware of the precise stage that projects have reached in her area and the local authority area that covers it.

[Conor Burns (Bournemouth West) (Con)]

Will my right hon. Friend confirm that some of the projects that he has put on hold today were in a position to be signed off by the previous Government before the general election? Is it not also the case that the shadow Education Secretary knew a lot more about what would and would not be possible when he was running his Department than he seems to know now, when he is running for his party leadership?

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to make the point that there was a mismatch between the commitment to rebuild or refurbish so many schools and what any member of the Labour Cabinet would have known to be the true state of the public finances.