We don't want confrontation, but we can't afford to back off reforming public services

Ivan Lewis, education minister

"These have been the priorities for the first term and will be the building blocks for the second and hopefully third term.

"There has also been a massive extra investment into school buildings. For 20 years before we had allowed our children to be educated in sub-standard, inferior buildings."

And he says that the government is still fired by the same belief that education is about promoting social justice and laying the foundations for economic progress.

But there are clouds on the horizon � and the clearest concern is the disaffection of the teaching profession and the long-term problem of teacher shortages.

Antagonism

There will be announcements on reducing teachers' workload in the next few weeks, Mr Lewis promises.

And he says that "re-modelling the teaching profession" will be a key target for the current administration, with the likelihood that teachers will be supported by other types of staff, such as classroom assistants and learning mentors.

Five years ago, it would have been difficult to predict the current antagonism between the Labour Government and the teaching profession � but Mr Lewis promises there will be no going back.

"We don't want confrontation, but we can't afford to back off reforming public services, because the public have very high expectations and we're expected to deliver. And we can't allow any vested interests to get in the way of that."

'Results not rhetoric'

He has an equally tough line on "silly season strike threats" made at this year's union conferences, promising that "we won't be bullied or intimidated into giving a small core of union activists what they think is right".

Another challenge ahead, he says, is to tackle the hard core of disruptive pupils who cause problems in the classroom and on the streets.

And he says that in this second term of office there is a greater awareness that parents will not be allowed to shirk their responsibilities for their children's misbehaviour.

There will also be a much more targeted approach to managing disruptive children.

From September, every permanently excluded child will have a full-time education, he says.

And there will be more places available in support units to allow teachers to withdraw disruptive pupils from mainstream classes.

In the inner-city areas where truancy is worst, there will be a designated professional for every pupil judged to be at risk of falling into crime and delinquency.

Also on the second term agenda, he says, will be raising standards in the early years of secondary schooling, increasing the number of specialist schools and expanding the vocational opportunities for the 14 to 19 age group.

But he acknowledges that there is a pressure from the public to see results rather than rhetoric.

"At the end of the day, it's delivery that matters, it�s people's everyday experiences of change in their schools and communities."