����Vlog

The education secretary has defended her efforts to recruit 6,500 new teachers, telling MPs that the latest version of the policy is “entirely consistent” with Labour’s manifesto commitment.

Bridget Phillipson faced MPs this morning to discuss her recent work on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), teacher recruitment and curriculum reform.

In the session, Ms Phillipson also described phone pouches, one popular way of complying with the government’s no-phone policy, as “expensive” and a “commercial enterprise”.

She was joined at the Commons Education Select Committee session today by the Department for Education’s permanent secretary, Susan Acland-Hood.

Here are five things we learned from the education secretary’s parliamentary accountability session:

1. 6,500 teacher goal ‘consistent’ with original pledge

The number of teachers working in schools in England has fallen by 1,900 year-on-year, the latest statistics show.

When asked why primary teachers were not included in the 6,500 new teachers target, as ����Vlog revealed last year, Ms Phillipson attributed it to falling pupil rolls.

“But we have seen more teachers in the places we need them most,” she told MPs.

Ms Phillipson also said that the current policy is “entirely consistent” with Labour’s manifesto commitment.

The original line in Labour’s 2024 stated: “Recruit 6,500 new expert teachers in key shortage subjects, support areas that face recruitment challenges and tackle retention issues”.

2. Phone pouches are a ‘commercial enterprise’

The government made a ban on phones in school statutory earlier this year.

Asked about her support for “not seen, not heard” phone policies, Ms Phillipson said that she is “clear that children should not have access to their phones in the school day”, but she recognises that there are “different approaches”.

However, she also acknowledged that “some schools choose not to spend vast amounts of money on expensive pouches”.

Ms Phillipson added: “Some choose to, and they work well. But this is a commercial enterprise, let’s be clear.”

She told MPs: “I don’t think I should be in the business of micromanaging individual decision making by school leaders.”

Ultimately, she said that headteachers should have “flexibility in decision making in responding to what works best for their setting”.

3. ‘Stronger role’ for councils in managing SEND provision

Ms Phillipson was also quizzed about the government’s reforms of special educational needs and disabilities support.

She told MPs: “Given the failures that we have all experienced as members of Parliament, I do understand the nervousness that parents will feel, but I do believe in the system we have set out.”

While Ms Phillipson said that she recognises the importance of “redress” and the “opportunities to put things right”, the government wants to see a “reduction in that adversarial system that too many parents experience”.

The will now no longer name a school or placement for a child, under the government’s proposals.

Ms Phillipson said this is because the tribunal could sometimes name a school place in a setting even in scenarios where “a school is heavily oversubscribed and...don’t feel they can safely offer that provision”.

She also wants to see a “stronger role” for local authorities in managing and delivering specialist provision within their local area.

“It is a big feature of our work as a department at the moment to hold local authorities to account for the work that they are doing,” the education secretary added.

The government has already informed councils that it will withdraw services from those local authorities that fail to deliver SEND reforms, ����Vlog revealed earlier this year.

4. Why no Year 8 maths test?

The education secretary also responded to concerns that the Year 8 reading test could add to teacher workload and pressure on students.

“My expectation is that over time it will make the job of teachers easier,” Ms Phillipson said. “Because if you identify young people who are struggling with their reading more quickly and put in place support, that will open up the whole of the curriculum.”

In the landmark curriculum and assessment review, published in November, Professor Becky Francis also suggested a Year 8 maths test.

However, the Department for Education did not back this recommendation because there “is a limit to...what we can ask of schools”, Ms Phillipson said.

5. AI tutoring showing ‘promising results’

Asked about the government’s plans to introduce AI tutors for disadvantaged pupils, Ms Acland-Hood said that she does not want education to be “replaced by robots”, and that AI tutoring is “complementary to good quality, teacher-led tutoring”.

Ms Acland-Hood added: ”[The project] is specifically designed to involve really detailed, close co-creation between schools and companies and really detailed evaluation.”

She said she has also seen early evidence that shows “promising results” for the combination of AI and human tutors.

However, a government contract cast doubt on the current offer for AI tutors, calling the evidence base “limited”.

��