“For too long, further education has been allowed to stagnate,” said the Prime Minister in a keynote speech at Policy Exchange marking the launch of the Augar Report, a review of Post-18 Education and Funding which she described as a “major landmark” for education policy. She appeared with Rt Hon Damian Hinds MP, the Education Secretary, and Philip Augar, who thanked the Government for ““asking the right question” on tertiary education and commissioning his report.

Amanda Spielman, HM Chief Inspector for Education, Children’s Services and Skills, spoke at Policy Exchange on “Ties that Bind: British Values, citizenship and the role of education as social glue”.

Policy Exchange was delighted to host the launch of Rt Hon Nicky Morgan MP’s new book ‘Taught Not Caught: Educating for 21st Century Character’. As Education Secretary from 2014-16, Nicky Morgan announced a GBP3.5m programme promoting classes and extra-curricular activities that build “grit” and “resilience” in a generation of schoolchildren. In her new book, she reveals why she believes that building characterful children has a positive impact on academic attainment and argues that public awareness of character education needs to be raised, so it is clear to those in the education system that this is a priority and they will support it.

Education improvement is a key objective of policy makers and educationalists around the world. To address this need Tim Oates CBE, Cambridge Assessment’s Director of Assessment Research and Development, has led research into and now written A Cambridge Approach to Improving Education – using international insights to manage complexity where he sets out his findings and guiding principles for policy makers. He addressed Policy Exchange, the UK’s most influential think tank on education in the past 15 years, to outline his findings and further the debate on how best to improve education here, and around the world. His talk was followed by a response from UCL’s Dr John Jerrim.