Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Department for Education

Oral Answers to Questions

Ben Howlett Excerpts
Monday 25th April 2016

(8 years ago)

Commons Chamber
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Baroness Morgan of Cotes Portrait Nicky Morgan
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The hon. Lady ought to take note of Andreas Schleicher, the deputy director for education and skills at the OECD, who says:

“What our data do show is that school systems which offer a greater deal of school autonomy tend to have higher performance, but they do not say anything about trends…I view the trend towards academies as a very promising development in the UK, which used to have quite a prescriptive education system, if you look at this through international comparison”.

I think we should take note of the international evidence.

Ben Howlett Portrait Ben Howlett (Bath) (Con)
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As a school governor at the Bath Studio School, which is a member of a multi-academy trust, I must declare an interest. I have seen for myself the amazing performance that is being improved as a result of being a member of that academy chain. Will the Secretary of State join me in welcoming the continued success of academies in Bath, and does she agree that having an increasing number of good and outstanding schools will ensure that our standards match those of our international competitors?

Baroness Morgan of Cotes Portrait Nicky Morgan
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I had the pleasure of visiting The Bath Studio School with my hon. Friend, and it was excellent and inspiring for the young people there. Some 1.4 million more children are in schools rated good or outstanding than in 2010. We intend to push on with that.