Honorary
Doctorates |
Estelle Morris MP receives an Honorary Doctorate from Leeds Met
Leeds Met proudly presented the Right Honourable Estelle Morris MP with an Honorary Doctorate of Arts during the University’s graduation ceremonies 2004. In addition to an outstanding professional career in politics, now holding the position of Minister of State in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, she previously had a long and successful career as a teacher.
During the ceremony she said: “If you look at the history of Leeds Met what has shone out is its ability to adapt as history goes by. It started out as separate colleges but quickly adapted as Leeds and this area of the country changed.
“The growth in the number of students [at Leeds Met], which I believe has doubled over the last decade, is remarkable. I think this shows the trust the nation has in Leeds Met in asking and allowing them to educate our graduates.
“Although it will be individuals who walk across the stage nobody is that great that they have done it by themselves. Although it’s individuals who get a degree it is for all those who support you and care for you; in education...and across the years, there is nobody so good that they don’t need good teachers. We are able to say [here] to the support and teaching staff at Leeds Met, thank you for what you have done.”
Educated in Manchester, she went on to qualify as a teacher from Coventry College of Education and Warwick University. She remained in Coventry, teaching at an inner-city comprehensive school for the next eighteen years. During this period her professional vocation was matched by a strong political commitment. She became active in local politics and served as a member of Warwick District Council between 1979 and 1991, including leadership of the Labour Group for seven years. In 1992 Estelle Morris was elected Member of Parliament for Birmingham Yardley, which she continues to represent.
After becoming Leader of the Labour Party in 1994, Tony Blair was quick to identify her as an important proponent and effective communicator of the set of values for which ‘New Labour’ came to stand. He promoted her from Opposition Whip to Opposition Spokesperson for Education and Employment.
When Labour won power in May 1997 Estelle Morris continued to hold a portfolio in education, first in the area of school standards and then in 2001 as Secretary of State for the newly created Department for Education and Skills. A decade earlier she had still been in the classroom.
While her tenure of office presented a series of unusually awkward challenges, her departure from that post was greeted with rare sympathy. The Guardian noted that: “there was real shock and sorrow at Estelle Morris’s resignation, with unaccustomed tears in her department …” Since her return to the frontbench she has made a major contribution to the enhancement of British cultural life, an area which accounts for a significant part of academic provision within the Faculty of Arts and Society.
In addressing the graduands during the ceremony Estelle Morris said: “Those people receiving degrees today [from Leeds Met’s School of Health and Human Sciences] will go to work in the field of health and all those associated areas. They will be working in what has been referred to as the ‘public services’. I really want to confirm my commitment in how important the public services are. When you look at public services ... they underpin everything. The future will depend on how well we deliver these public services. If we don’t deliver them right I am not sure this will be a country I want to live in. I think that is the job of a generation. It is to make sure public services are delivered better to the next generation than they were to the previous one. If we do we will leave to others something better than we found. The great challenge of everybody who chooses to work in the public sector is to break through that barrier a little more.
“This is a time to celebrate that ... at Leeds Met you are putting some of the brightest and best into the public services.”
