I was a union member in my youth as well and I went on strike, and I don't think it solved anything. It only made the situation worse for everyone involved.

I'm a decentralizer. I believe in trusting professionals.

Children themselves know they are being cheated. Ultimately we owe it to our children. They are in school for 190 days a year. Every moment they spend learning is precious. If a year goes by and they are not being stretched and excited, that blights their life.

There is a slam-dunk case for extending foreign language teaching to children aged five. Just as some people have taken a perverse pride in not understanding mathematics, so we have taken a perverse pride in the fact that we do not speak foreign languages, and we just need to speak louder in English.

Effective teacher support in my mind is the same thing as effective management. Our teachers need strong management, just like anyone in any profession.

I first began to read religious books at school, and especially the Bible, when I was eleven years old; and almost immediately commenced a habit of secret prayer.

As a child, I had a teacher who told me, 'Look, Anne, one person can't make a difference.'

In these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education.