David Blunkett Quotes

Before this government came to power, many failing schools were simply allowed to drift on in a pattern of continuing failure. The government is determined to break that pattern and is successfully doing so.

I'm clear that we do need to improve what's happening in our schools.

We need to drive down requirements for the schools. In the 19th century, we increased the quality of the schools by higher education saying, 'You can't come in unless you have these skills, unless you've taken these courses.' We did that in Wisconsin when I was there, it helped to transform the secondary school system.

We need innovation in education and dedication to the task before us.

I am an education ambassador, mainly working with schools.

No Child Left Behind's fourth-grade gains aren't learning gains, they're testing gains. That's why they don't last. The law is a distraction from things that really count.

The No Child Left Behind Program was an incentive to the schools to get their kids up to snuff on math and science and reading.

When I talk to teachers they tell me the things they'd most like from any government are a reduction in bureaucracy, support to help ensure good discipline and a reformed Ofsted.

I'm not one of those who thinks the only way to fix what's wrong with American education is to throw more money at it. We also need to do it much better.

Scholarships that allow students to get a good education are important, but first we want to measure the progress that the schools are teaching our students, we want to hold them accountable for the progress, we want to hold the schools accountable for teaching the young people in America.

The main thing I am interested in is my experience as a teacher.

I do think that a school day that matches the work day makes a lot of difference for working families, but the big driver of this effort is education. Period. We have a lot of students not gaining the skills they need, and it is pretty clear that school does not offer enough time to get that job done.

If American schooling is inadequate now, just imagine how much more obsolete it will be when today's kindergarten students graduate from high school in just 12 years.

School district policies and practices have not kept pace with student and teacher needs.

Being a teacher is back-breakingly difficult work. It is also extremely important work.

Instead of just giving lip service to improving our schools, I will actually put the kids first and the teachers union behind in giving our kids better teachers, better options and better choices for a better future.

Schools should be held accountable for results.

If you want to reform schools, don't do it with testing. We used to say, "If you want elephants to grow, you don't weigh the elephants. You feed the elephants." Children will not grow unless they get quality instruction.

For many years we have spent a great deal of effort and money on school reform. Yet where are we today?

There has been a great challenge in improving educational achievement. It's a long-term issue, not a short-term one. It includes everything from getting more parents involved to addressing issues of poverty and improving what happens in the classroom.

It's hard to improve public education - that's clear.

Real parent engagement means establishing meaningful ways for parents to be partners in their children's public education from the beginning - not just when a school is failing. The goal should be to never let a school get to that point.

Competitive programs such as Race to the Top provide incentives for communities to develop new solutions for old problems. Because of Race to the Top, states have raised their standards and committed to fixing schools that have persistently failed students.

I just think it would be interesting. I already applied to be a substitute teacher.

We have to fix the education system.