Born in 1969, Cleverly is 52 years old, which is older than the average for education secretaries, but he is a long way off being the oldest. Keith Joseph was 63.
Cleverly is the MP for Braintree in Essex. He is the first education secretary or minister of education to hail from the county since Rab Butler.
Like his predecessor, he was first elected in 2015. He has had a range of government roles, including as a cabinet minister without portfolio, as well as jobs at the Brexit department and Foreign Office. He was Conservative co-chair of his party from 2019 to 2020.
He is the third education secretary to serve in two days, following the promotion of Nadhim Zahawi and Donelan’s resignation. He is the fourth education secretary this academic year, and the eighth to serve in 10 years.
Born in Lewisham to a midwife and small business owner, Cleverly said seeing his parents’ hard work “showed him “the importance of supporting both the private and the public sector”.
He served in the army after leaving school, making him the first education secretary with a military background since Ken Baker. But his career was cut short by injury and he studied for a degree in business instead. Cleverly worked in magazine and digital publishing.
An often touchy subject, but as the role involves children so directly it will be mentioned at times: Cleverly has two children.
Cleverley attended private Colfe’s School in London, and has previously tweeted his pride in the school’s work getting ethnic minority students into Oxbridge.
He has defended sending his own children to private school, saying he’d “love to give everyone enough financial freedom” to make the same choice, and adding that he would not “play politics with the future life chances” of his children.
The MP got into a spat with the National Education Union in late 2018 and early 2019, calling on them to take down their “school cuts” website. He challenged the claim that 91 per cent of schools face funding cuts and wrote to the UK Statistics Authority, who agreed the statistic was “misleading”. But the NEU stood by its figures, saying the funding crisis was “very real”.
Cleverly said in 2007 he believed grammar schools “provide the best way for bright but poor children to get on in life”, adding: “Until a better way to aid social mobility comes along I will continue to support them.”
He appears to not have spoken on FE or skills issues during his time in parliament.
James Cleverly has been appointed as education secretary, becoming the third person to hold the title in two days.
His appointment follows the resignation this morning of Michelle Donelan, who was only appointed on Tuesday evening following the promotion of Nadhim Zahawi to the post of chancellor.
Donelan’s departure after 35 hours came after the resignations of schools minister Robin Walker, children’s minister Will Quince and skills minister Alex Burghart yesterday which left the DfE with just one minister, Baroness Barran.
Cleverly said that “as someone whose grandfather was a teacher and whose children are currently in the education system, I am incredibly passionate about education and proud to be appointed secretary of state.
“From childcare and exams results, to our schools white paper, T Levels and the rest of our revolutionary skills agenda, we have a huge amount of work to do and I am looking forward to getting on with the job. That means ensuring children, young people and their families continue to be supported – they have my full commitment.”
He said he looked forward to “engaging with our brilliant nurseries, social workers, schools, colleges, universities and all the staff working across these sectors to realise people’s potential – whatever their backgrounds or wherever they come from”.
Cleverley was first elected as a Conservative MP for Braintree in 2015. The role is his fifth since joining government in 2019, serving in the Department for Exiting in the EU and the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.
He had only been appointed minister of state for Europe and North America in the FCDO in early February.
Cleverly was also the deputy chairman of the Conservative party from 2018 to 2019.
Newly appointed education secretary Michelle Donelan has resigned after less than two days in the job.
Donelan was promoted from joint HE and FE minister to the top role on Tuesday evening.
But this morning she tweeted that she has handed in her resignation.
She told prime minister Boris Johnson: “I see no way that you can continue in post, but without a formal mechanism to remove you it seems that the only way that this is only possible is for those of us who remain in cabinet to force your hand.”
Donelan added: “While I remain very worried about the prospect of no ministers in the department as we approach results day – the impact on students is real – as you know yesterday I pleaded with you to do the right thing and resign for the sake of our country and our party, both are more important than any one person.”
— Michelle Donelan MP (@michelledonelan) July 7, 2022
This leaves only one education minister left – Baroness Barran – after the rest resigned yesterday.
Meanwhile, Zahawi says he took on the chancellor role “out of loyalty” but now the country “deserves a government that is not only stable, but which acts with integrity”.
“Yesterday, I made clear to the Prime Minister alongside by colleagues in number 10 that there was only one direction where this was going, and that he should leave with dignity.
“Out of respect and in hopes that he would listen to an old friend of 30 years, I kept this counsel private.
“I am heartbroken that he hasn’t listened and that he is now undermining the incredible achievements of this government at this late hour.”
More than 500 students and apprentices set to compete in a prestigious national skills competition in disciplines like bricklaying and culinary arts have been unveiled.
WorldSkills UK has today published the list of finalists (see here to download full list) competing across 60 of the 62 disciplines at the national finals in November, with competitors in with a shot at representing the UK in the ‘skills olympics’ in France in 2024.
The competition will showcase the skills of students and apprentices in a host of professions as diverse as fire alarm systems, floristry, restaurant service, beauty therapy, IT support, aircraft maintenance, plastering and website development among others.
In total, 518 people from across the UK will be competing in the 60 categories already confirmed, including 259 from England, 128 from Wales, 68 from Scotland and 63 from Northern Ireland.
Finalists in the stonemasonry and foundation skills (woodworking) competitions are set to be announced on Thursday, July 14.
Ben Blackledge, deputy chief executive of WorldSkills UK said: “I want to offer my congratulations to everyone who registered for our competitions this year, especially those who are now going on to compete in November’s finals.
“We are really excited to be taking the show on the road again this year with finals hosted by colleges across the UK. We hope seeing the finals in person or catching up with our online content will inspire more young people to develop their skills and have a go at one of our competitions next year.
“Our competitions and competition-based development programmes equip apprentices and students with the lifelong, world-class skills that will help increase UK productivity and competitiveness.”
According to WorldSkills UK, the competition has helped previous participants in their career progression, with 90 per cent saying their progression had improved as a result of the tournament and 86 per cent saying their personal and employability prospects had also been boosted.
The 47th WorldSkills international competition will take place in Lyon, France, in September 2024, where young vocational learners globally will compete. UK finalists in the national competition this year may have the chance to compete on the world stage then.
Skills minister Alex Burghart is the latest Conservative to resign from prime minister Boris Johnson’s government.
The Brentwood and Ongar MP followed colleagues in a string of resignations from ministerial positions, triggered by the high-profile resignations of Sajid Javid as health secretary and Rishi Sunak as chancellor of the exchequer on Tuesday evening.
They came as a result of the prime minister’s handling of the Chris Pincher allegations around groping.
Burghart tweeted this afternoon: “It is with great regret that I am today resigning as a minister in the Department for Education – I am very grateful to the Prime Minister for having given me the opportunity to serve.”
In a joint resignation letter with several other ministers, Burghart told Johnson: “You have had the most the most difficult task in a generation. We hugely admire your fortitude, stamina and enduring optimism. You can be rightly proud of the significant decisions which you have, by common acclamation, got right.
“However, it has become increasingly clear that the government cannot function given the issues that have come to light and the way in which they have been handled. In good faith, we must ask that, for the good of the party and the country, you step aside.”
It is with great regret that I am today resigning as a minister in the Department for Education – I am very grateful to the Prime Minister for having given me the opportunity to serve pic.twitter.com/mDJUksDGM8
Will Quince, Colchester MP and minister for children and families quit his DfE role on Wednesday morning, saying he felt he had “no choice” but to step down from “a job I love”.
Then followed Robin Walker, minister for school standards resigned from his ministerial role, in his letter saying the party has “become distracted from its core missions by a relentless focus on questions over leadership,” and has become “overshadowed by mistakes and questions about integrity”.
David Johnston has also resigned as parliamentary private secretary to the DfE ministerial team, saying he “cannot defend what has taken place these past few days – or indeed these past few months”.
Robert Halfon, chair of the education select committee, also said he has “lost confidence” in Johnson.
The mental health of students is a significant concern for further education settings. Around one in five 17- to 22-year-olds has an identifiable mental health condition.
All colleges reported having students with the following manifestations of mental health issues: self-harming, eating disorders, attempted suicide, and suicidal ideation/thoughts.
100% of colleges reported having students diagnosed with depression. 99% reported having students diagnosed with severe anxiety, 97% with bipolar disorder and 90% with psychosis.
85% of colleges reported an increase in students with disclosed mental health issues in the past three years – with 54% of colleges saying there were significant increases.
“Three lockdowns and the social distancing requirements of the pandemic have made the situation worse. Children and young people have struggled with the loss of normal social structures, being unable to socialise in person with peers and not being able to attend school or university. The need for teaching and assessment to take place virtually led to further stress because of the uncertainty it created about people’s futures. Research from the Centre of Mental Health shows that, in England, 1.5 million children and young people under 18 will need new or additional mental health support as a direct consequence of the coronavirus pandemic.”Children and Young People’s Mental Health
Pressures for the Further Education Sector
The FE Sector has been able to recruit Counsellors and Wellbeing Coaches to help with students who are facing any mental health issues. Student Mental Health is growing and the backlog of students who are waiting to see Counsellors and Coaches causes pressure in colleges.
The overall aim is to keep young people on the right track to enable them to achieve their career goals.
Funding
The situation for students’ mental health is not going away, in fact is increasing, and the education sector is desperate to find solutions to help our future generation.
There are very limited funds being allocated to the FE sector for this and they are now having to get creative to fund solutions.
IPS Ltd and Mindspace 24/7 can help provide solutions.
Even though covid-19 is not a news priority at present. The fact is the experience of the lockdown is still with students, many of them have experience very little exam conditions and only this year SATS Tests have been returned to schools and for the last two years GCSE and A levels results were taken from predictive grades.
Meaning for students returning to “normal” has provided immense pressure for them. On many occasions the government have said that funding will be available however the return of this has been limited, and the need is now not later.
As we all know its in your interest to spend allocations of funding, so the last thing that is wanted is to return funding and then receive a reduced allocation for the following academic year.
A college has recently purchased hourly credits from MindSpace24/7 for therapists to support mental health to extend the aids for students.
How can MindSpace 24/7 help?
In partnership with IPS Ltd, MindSpace 24/7, is committed to removing the barriers to access mental health and wellbeing services within colleges and universities for their students and employees. We have developed a system where students and teachers can access a fully qualified BACP counsellor, on video call or telephone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The access is almost instant and doesn’t require a GP appointment and the inevitable long waiting times.
MindSpace 24/7’s large team is highly skilled, with licensed counsellors and therapists who specialise in multiple areas including exam stress, anxiety, body dysmorphia, loneliness, relationship issues, sexual worries, life coaching, bullying and depression.
How this works
Further Education Colleges purchase credits which can then be allocated to your students by your college staff. The student will then be able to choose and book the therapist of their choice.
This extension of resources will provide an assistance to your Counsellors and Coaches and reduce any waiting time for students, meaning that students will have the help they need to focus on achieving their courses.
“Providing the resources to the education sector so that students can speak to someone at any time of day and night even out of term times is a breakthrough. We have all faced difficult times through lockdown and even now the there are many pressures that we face including fuel and food price increases.
The pressures for teenagers are always a struggle. However, they have had a tough journey in the transition from school to further education over the past few years, especially as covid-19 has created changes in the way that the processes take place and for teenagers this has continued to be stressful. Now, returning to exam conditions this year means that they have limited experience of this environment.
Moving forwards, we know that the education sector wants to make sure that their students are in a safe and strong environment and can easily provide aids for any mental health issues that they have. However, staff workloads are always pushed to a high capacity and we at MindSpace are able to ensure that there is an additional resource available.
IPS Ltd has always focused on being able to provide the education sector with stronger abilities, and now with the partnership of MindSpace 24/7, our combined offer is superb and we can go the extra mile to enable you to gain the best experience from us, your students in their college journey is positive and successful, and your staff have the resources they need so that they are providing quality and not quantity.” Robert Powell, Managing Director of IPS Ltd and MindSpace 24/7.
Contact us
If you would like to discuss how to purchase credits, with Mindspace24/7 further, please email info@mindspace247.com we can provide you with all the information and we can work with you don’t have to return funding.
We can help you take the steps to improve the lives of students, no matter what challenges they are facing in complete confidence.
Join our webinar
On Thursday 8th September 2022, 10.30 am – 11.30 am, MindSpace 24/7 would like to invite you and your colleagues to our FREE webinar, where you will learn more about our company offer and further information on how we can provide therapy resources for you.
You will meet some of our management team and there will be two guest speakers who will be providing you with sessions on laughter and meditation.
There will be a question and answer session where you are welcome to ask us any questions you have.
To register places for you and your colleagues click HERE.
Michelle Donelan becomes the third education secretary in just ten months, replacing Nadhim Zahawi who was promoted to chancellor following a wave of resignations over Boris Johnson’s leadership.
Before politics she worked in marketing for the Marie Claire magazine and the World Wrestling Entertainment.
Zahawi was appointed as education secretary in September, lasting just ten months in the role.
The moves follow a wave of resignations this evening – including health secretary Sajid Javid – from embattled Johnson’s government following his latest scandal.
Former foreign office permanent secretary Simon McDonald published a letter this morning making clear Johnson knew about a previous investigation into Chris Pincher, the ex-deputy whip.
It exposed claims by Downing Street that Johnson did not know about claims about Pincher before he quit last week over allegations of groping.
Neither Zahawi nor Donelan have commented yet. But Labour’s shadow secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “Tonight we reach the third education secretary of the academic year.
“Once again it’s clear that Tory ministers put themselves and their careers first. Our young people deserve so much better.”
Previous job: Vice Principal, Finance and Corporate Development
Interesting fact: Craig was once an extra in the 1979 Richard Gere movie, ‘Yanks’.
Kirsti Lord
Deputy Principal and Deputy CEO, Bishop Burton College
Start date: August 2022
Previous job: Deputy CEO, Association of Colleges
Interesting fact: Kirsti sang backing vocals for PJ Proby at the London Palladium and on Blackpool Pier on Easter Sunday this year and has read all six of Frank Herbert’s Dune series.
A tutor in the secure care sector and a mental health partnership between Liverpool Philharmonic and a local NHS trust are among the winners of this year’s Festival of Learning awards.
The annual awards, organised by Learning and Work Institute, select and celebrate inspiring stories from the world of adult education and lifelong learning. This year’s winners, a mixture of learners, tutors, employers and projects, were announced today at a ceremony at London’s City Lit.
Recipients also include FD Works, a Bristol-based financial services firm that won the employer award for its work connecting disadvantaged young people to work opportunities.
The winner of this year’s tutor award is Helen Sonnenfeld, who is part of a multi-disciplinary team with Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust working with learners with learning disabilities, mental health illnesses and personality disorders.
“What motivates me is being able to help people to achieve something that they didn’t think was possible,” Helen said.
The hallmark of the Festival of Learning Awards is the inspirational stories of the barriers learners have overcome to transform their lives.
Mica Coleman Jones is the winner of this year’s patron’s award, selected personally by L&W’s patron, HRH The Princess Royal.
Undiagnosed autism and an unstable home life left Mica with very few opportunities after school and college and was even temporarily homeless. Support from the Helena Kennedy Foundation helped to turn things around, and Mica is now studying for a masters so she can help others with special educational needs.
Shahida Aslam, director of operations at Helena Kennedy Foundation, said: “It has been a joy to see how far Mica has come since her first bursary in teacher training. I’m so proud to see her thrive while continuing to push herself. She hasn’t stopped raising her own ambitions, and it’s wonderful to see her helping to raise those of people around her too.”
Another learner celebrated at today’s ceremony was Joanne Matthews, who studies at Hillingdon Adult Community Learning in London, and is this year’s winner of the return to learning award.
A poor experience at school and a battle with mental health issues left Joanne with no qualifications and no confidence in her future prospects. Joanne describes the additional challenges of her gender transition and dyslexia as “debilitating” prior to her adult learning journey.
“Walking through the door of Hillingdon five years ago was one of the scariest things I have done, but my confidence has grown with the course I’m doing,” she said.
“If you told me five years ago that I would attend adult education classes and get qualifications, and be able to travel across London to volunteer to support those struggling in life, I wouldn’t believe you. Returning to learning has been transformative.”
And an unusual but innovative partnership between the Liverpool Philharmonic and Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust is the winner of this year’s president’s award.
The partnership has created ‘the life rooms’ project which delivers a range of arts courses and experiences which improve participants’ mental health, self-esteem and wellbeing.
One learner said: “Being involved with the Liverpool Philharmonic’s courses over the past year has inspired me to become more creative and built up my confidence to speak to more people. I’m also much better at expressing myself. I would never have done this without the support of the Liverpool Philharmonic and would encourage others to look towards music, creativity and adult learning to improve their health.”
Learning and Work Institute chief executive, Stephen Evans, says the Festival of Learning awards help make the case for greater investment in adult education: “As a country we must rise to some big challenges over the next decade and lifelong learning can help do that – contributing to achieving net zero, levelling up opportunity, improving health and wellbeing as the population ages and so much more. Investment in adult education is rising again, but will still be lower in 2025 than it was in 2010. We need to be much more ambitious for lifelong learning. Our award winners help make that case.”
This year the Learning and Work Institute is also providing a special recognition award to the Ukraine Adult Education Association. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, the association and its member organisations have mobilised to support defence and humanitarian efforts. Examples include online courses in first aid and tactical medicine, psychotherapeutic classes and courses on media literacy and spotting fake information.
More details for each of the Festival of Learning award winners are available from their website.
Pictured, top (left to right)
First row: Emma Smith, FD Works, Helen Sonnenfeld
Second row: Joanne Matthews, Shamim Hussein, Jo Wyard
