Today’s publication of the Government’s long-awaited Schools White Paper marks an important moment, setting out ambitious plans to strengthen our education system.

Last year, when the Prime Minister met with Mission 44, young people, our partners and our Founder, Sir Lewis Hamilton, he made commitments to us to build a more inclusive education system. We are pleased to see those commitments reinforced in today’s publication – and we are already working with government and partners to help turn that ambition into action.

But the real test now is not what is written in the paper, but what changes in classrooms across the country and delivery will define whether this moment leads to meaningful change for young people.

Read our CEO, Jason Arthur’s statement below:

We welcome the government’s publication of the Every Child Achieving and Thriving white paper and its focus on attendance, engagement and inclusion.

At Mission 44, we’ve consistently called for urgent action to tackle disadvantage in our education system – so we welcome the government’s target to close the disadvantage gap and their ambition to build a system that supports every young person to succeed, raising standards while widening opportunity.

We also welcome the clear recognition that achieving this means addressing attendance. With 32 million days of lost learning in 2023/24 – hitting our most disadvantaged students the hardest – absence is one of the greatest barriers to equal opportunity. Setting a national target to recover millions of lost school days is an important signal of intent, but meeting it will depend on sustained support for schools and families, early intervention at key transition points and a relentless focus on keeping the most vulnerable young people engaged in learning.

The move to secondary school should be a moment of excitement, not disengagement so we welcome the focus on transition and the recognition that, without the right support, a dip in engagement can set the tone for years to come.

The government’s soon-to-be-published Pupil Engagement Framework needs to address this challenge head on and provide the meaningful guidance schools need to support every pupil to achieve and thrive in the classroom. However, for this framework to make a difference, it must be matched with dedicated resource and support for delivery.

We welcome the measures outlined in the teacher workforce strategy. Teacher recruitment targets have been missed in 12 of the last 13 years, too many teachers are leaving the profession early in their careers and there are troubling disparities faced by minority background teachers throughout their careers. However, to fully address this situation, additional targeted action on the structural inequalities in access, progression and workplace culture will be necessary.

Classrooms and corridors hold first-hand insight into what drives belonging, disengagement and lost learning. Decisions about young people’s futures are most effective when they are shaped by their own lived experiences. Amplifying youth voices sits at the core of our work at Mission 44 and we want to work with the Government to ensure that the consultation phase of this work centres the experiences of young people – and acts as a trial phase for how the government can roll out continual engagement with young people when shaping the policies that impact their education, wellbeing and long term success.

We look forward to working with the Department for Education and the wider Government to ensure this strategy delivers better outcomes for young people. That means building a future where every child feels included, supported and able to thrive in school.