University of East London Homepage

Ed Balls Delivers Keynote Speech at UEL’s Cass School of Education

Wednesday 14 April 2010

Ed Balls address students

The Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Rt Hon Ed Balls visited the University of East London (UEL) Cass School of Education this morning and addressed over thirty teacher training students and UEL staff about the importance of education in London.

Mr Balls was accompanied by Lyn Brown, Labour PPC for West Ham. He also met with UEL’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Patrick McGhee and was given a tour of the Cass School of Education.

Professor Patrick McGhee said: “The Sir John Cass School of Education is already one of London’s foremost centres for teacher training. Many of its alumni are working in local schools and it is a Category A provider for Secondary teacher training. UEL's teacher training provision will continue to go from strength to strength over the next few years as Schools and the country need diverse, high quality teaching professionals”.

Mr Balls engaged with students, answering challenging questions about teaching children with special needs and investment into education. He also praised the Cass School for its innovative methods in teacher training and state-of-the-art facilities.

Ed Balls said: “It’s great that UEL has so many people training as teachers here. It’s all about the quality of teacher training and raising aspirations – this is so important. Ofsted tells us that we currently have the best generation of teachers in our country. You can have a brand new building and great head-teachers but what makes the biggest difference is the teaching that takes place in the classroom.”

Accommodating almost 2,500 students, the School’s range of impressive facilities includes research and specially equipped teaching areas, a professional kitchen; a music, dance and drama studio; an ICT lab; an art, design & textiles studio; and science labs.

The school received a major grant from the Sir John Cass Foundation and this has helped it attain its status as a unique hub for teacher training and development as well as a community resource for children and schools around London.

Financed as part of UEL’s £170 million investment in estates over the last ten years, the Sir John Cass School of Education cost 10 million overall. Nationally, it plays a vital role in recruiting for the UK’s urgent need for maths and English teachers.

Notes to Editors

The University of East London (UEL) is a global learning community with over 28,000 students from over 120 countries world-wide. Our vision is to achieve recognition, both nationally and internationally, as a successful and inclusive regional university proud of its diversity, committed to new modes of learning which focus on students and enhance their employability, and renowned for our contribution to social, cultural and economic development, especially through our research and scholarship. We have a strong track-record in widening participation and working with industry.

Information for screenreader users:

For a general description of these pages and an explanation of how they should work with screenreading equipment please follow this link: Link to general description

For further information on this web site’s accessibility features please follow this link: Link to accessibility information