This Thank a Teacher Day, Wednesday 19th June, I paid tribute to teachers across the Henley Constituency, whose hard work means that more children are gaining the education they need to get on in life. The day is an annual opportunity to celebrate the huge difference teachers make to their students' lives and recognise how their hard work has improved standards in schools across the country.
66 more schools in Oxfordshire are now rated good or outstanding than in 2010, whilst 1.9 million more children are attending good or outstanding schools nationally. Thanks to the dedication of our teachers, children's reading and writing skills have improved, with 82 per cent of 6-year olds reading well now compared to only 58 per cent in 2012. These higher standards in our schools will transform children's chances in life, and are impossible without the work of teachers, teachers' assistants and support staff who all play an important role in delivering a world-class education for every child.
I am committed to supporting teachers and am pleased to see that the workforce has grown by 10,000 since 2010. I am also pleased to see a new Retention and Recruitment Strategy which will attract more people into teaching and ensure their workloads are reasonable. The Strategy will make it easier to become a teacher, reward teachers financially for staying on and launch a new two-year package of training and support for teachers at the beginning of their career, backed by £130 million year.
I said:
"I have a rolling programme of visiting the schools in my constituency and am impressed time and time again at the work that our teachers do. An inspirational teacher has a profound effect – not only on students' academic achievements, but on their self-confidence and ambition too. Great schools are made by great teachers. I am consistently struck by the dedication of teachers working in schools across the Constituency, doing all that they can to help all our children can fulfil their potential."
