Sheffield Institute of Education praised by former Schools Minister

8th August 2016

The former Minister of State for Schools, David Laws, has given his seal of approval to Sheffield Hallam University's Sheffield Institute of Education (SIOE).

Mr Laws, a former Liberal Democrat MP and member of the Coalition Government from 2012-15, during which time he was also Minister of State for the Cabinet Office, was visiting SIOE following its launch earlier this year. During his visit, Mr Laws discussed current issues in education such as teacher and schools workforce training, CPD, and recruitment with SIOE's Director Professor Sam Twiselton, and also met with academic staff and students across the new state-of-the-art Charles Street building. Mr Laws is now Executive Chairman of the new Education Policy Institute, an independent and evidence-based research institute that aims to promote high quality education outcomes for all children and young people. Mr Laws said: "The SIOE has shown a commitment to improve the quality of teacher education to make sure it's a career-long process and is also contributing to those parts of the country where there is underperformance in education to help bring those areas up to a higher level of attainment. "I think it's vital we have these types of institutes to help improve quality of research, to ensure higher levels of training in teacher education and to provide innovative ideas operating between national government and school organisations." Professor Twiselton said: "The SIOE is valued by national policy makers in Whitehall and Westminster - not simply for delivering teacher and broader education and research, but shaping how it is conceptualised, developed and used. "Our work with national policy makers and links with regional colleagues in all areas of education mean that we lead and influence teaching workforce policy as well as practice at local and national level. "As former Schools Minister, it was really useful to share our vision for the SIOE with David - while also getting his insight and discussing our shared values around research-based shaping of education policy. We now look forward to working with him and the Education Policy Institute in the future." You can also view a video of the visit here.