Kelly to highlight parental role
New Education Secretary Ruth Kelly is preparing for her first speech since taking over at the Department for Education and Skills (DfES).
Ms Kelly is due to address a delegation of educational figures at the North of England conference, to be held in Manchester on Thursday.
She is expected to place parental responsibility at the heart of her speech, with the rights of parents to obtain a high quality education for their children as a major theme.
While she will tell delegates that parents’ rights will have a central role in her vision for the future of the education system, she is also expected to call for more input from parents into their children’s education.
It is understood that Ms Kelly will put the onus onto parents, rather than schools, to ensure that their children are well-behaved and will tell parents that they have a duty to help their children learn.
Although the platform has been used by some of her predecessors to announce major reform programmes, the Education Secretary is unlikely to reveal any big policy changes, nor will she comment on the Government’s response to the Tomlinson review.
Despite speculation earlier in the week that Ms Kelly would concentrate on the possibility that popular schools might be expanded, it is now understood that she will instead focus on greater choice between increasingly diverse schools, taking the opportunity to champion the Government’s specialist schools programme.
