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Further Education Colleges
Mr. Chaytor:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans he has to
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encourage co-operation and joint planning between further education colleges and neighbouring schools in respect of (a) 14 to 16 year old students and (b) 16 to 19 year old students. [57667]
Mr. Mudie:
We are keen to see greater collaboration between schools and colleges. For 14 to 16 year olds we are encouraging innovative arrangements for work related learning through school-college links. We have also invited Local Education Authorities to bid under the new £500 million Social Inclusion: Pupil Support Grant for projects involving colleges to tackle truancy and exclusion from school.
For 16 to 19 year olds we are working closely with the Local Government Association, the Further Education Funding Council and other partners to promote co-operation between schools and colleges with the aim of increasing participation and achievement. We hope to make a further announcement in this area shortly.
Mr. Chaytor:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment he has made of the comparative costs of equivalent courses delivered by (a) further education colleges and (b) training and enterprise councils; and if he will make a statement. [57668]
Mr. Mudie:
Estimates of the funding costs of achieving various qualifications in school sixth forms, FE colleges and work-based training will appear in 'The Public Funding Costs of Education and Training for 16-19 Year Olds in England 1996-97'. This report is currently being finalised in collaboration with representatives of the FE sector, training and enterprise councils and other partner organisations, and will be published shortly.
Mr. Chaytor:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list the (a) names and (b) classifications of 11 to 18 schools with 50 or fewer sixth form students, together with the local authorities in which they are located. [57574]
Ms Estelle Morris:
The 1997 Secondary School Performance Tables contain the names and classifications together with the number of pupils aged 16 and over (which gives an indication of the size of a school's sixth form) of each 11 to 18 school in each LEA area in England. Copies of the tables are available in the Library.
Mr. Green:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many UK students had not been assessed for liability to pay tuition fees by 21 October. [58026]
Mr. Mudie:
This information is not collected centrally. However, the Department has written to all LEAs impressing on them the need to complete these assessments quickly.
Mr. Green:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how much the Government had spent on assessing the liabilities of non-UK EU university students to pay tuition fees by 21 October. [58025]
Mr. Mudie:
An amount of £327,000 had been spent by 21 October.
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Mr. Jenkins:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, pursuant to his answer of 19 October 1998, Official Report, column 1003-04, on the performance of maintained schools, if he will rank each local education authority in order of the cost for each (a) A level and (b) GCSE obtained. [57930]
Mr. Mudie:
Information on the costs of each qualification in maintained schools is not collected.
Mr. Hancock:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many new teacher posts have been created in each of the last five years in the primary phase. [55815]
Mr. Charles Clarke:
The numbers of new teacher posts are not held centrally. The total full-time equivalent number of teachers in service in the maintained nursery and primary sector in England for each of the last 5 years is given in the table.
| January | Full-time equivalent |
|---|---|
| 1994 | 197,600 |
| 1995 | 198,400 |
| 1996 | 199,600 |
| 1997 | 200,000 |
| 1998 | 198,400 |
LEAs that received grants to reduce infant classes have reported that an additional 1,500 teachers were recruited for infant classes in September 1998 to help deliver the class size pledge.
Social Affairs Council
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the outcome of the EU Social Affairs Council meeting on 27 October. [58318]
Mr. Andrew Smith: I attended the Council of Employment and Social Affairs Ministers in Luxembourg on 27 October.
The Commission presented its draft Employment Guidelines for 1999, its draft Joint Report on member states' implementation of their National Employment Actions Plans, and the Employment Rates Report. The Council broadly welcomed the proposed Guidelines. Detailed discussion of these documents will take place at Council meetings on 20 November and 1 December. The Guidelines and Joint Report will be put to the European Council for agreement in Vienna on 11-12 December. The Council also heard a report from the Chair of the Employment and Labour Market Committee on the timetable for producing employment reports in 1999.
The Council discussed a Presidency paper setting out the remaining areas for agreement on employee involvement within the proposed European Company Statute. The Presidency hopes to secure political agreement at the meeting of the Council on 2 December.
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The Council had an open debate on the Commission's Social Action Programme 1998-2000. Many delegations supported the Action Programme's emphasis on promoting employment and tackling unemployment. No conclusions were drawn.
The Council noted progress reports on the reform of the Standing Committee on Employment, the proposed Council Directive on protecting the health and safety of workers potentially at risk from explosive atmospheres, the proposed extension to students of Regulation 1408/71 (social security for migrant workers), and the negotiations for the second phase of the LEONARDO DA VINCI vocational training programme.
The Council also noted the Commission's intention to proceed with a draft Council Directive on information and consultation of workers at national level, and noted Presidency reports on the informal meeting of Women's and Social Affairs Ministers in Innsbruck in July and the recent symposium in Vienna on "A Society for All Ages".
Mr. Gareth R. Thomas:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many physical education teachers were employed by local education authorities and grant-maintained schools in each year since 1979. [55783]
Mr. Charles Clarke:
Full-time teachers in maintained secondary schools in England who were both teaching and had a post A-level qualification in physical education were as follows:
| Year | Number of teachers |
|---|---|
| 1983-84 | 22,000 |
| 1987-88 | 18,000 |
| 1991-92 | 17,000 |
| 1996-97 | 15,000 |
Source:
Secondary schools staffing surveys since 1979
Similar information for primary teachers is not available. However, primary teachers are trained to deliver the whole primary curriculum including physical education.
Teacher Training
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans he has to allow OFSTED to accredit initial teaching training courses either in whole or in part. [56213]
Mr. Charles Clarke: There are no plans to change the current statutory requirements which give the Teacher Training Agency (TTA) alone the power to accredit or de-accredit providers of initial teacher training. OFSTED will continue to be responsible for inspection of all initial training and TTA will continue to use information from inspections in making decisions about continued accreditation.
Mr. Willis:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many post-graduate certificate in education courses in individual institutions of higher education failed to recruit sufficient numbers and therefore did not proceed in each of the last six years. [56199]
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Mr. Charles Clarke:
Information on individual post-graduate certificate in education courses which did not proceed because of lack of recruits is not held centrally.
Dr. Lynne Jones:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what evaluation he has made of the standards of teaching achieved by those who have completed (a) a three year undergraduate degree, followed by a one year PGCE course and (b) a four year B.Ed or BA with qualified teacher status. [56150]
Mr. Charles Clarke:
To gain Qualified Teacher Status candidates on any form of initial training must achieve the same standards and have demonstrated a secure knowledge of the appropriate curricula. The Department has not undertaken any evaluation of the teaching of teachers trained through different routes. We expect the same high standard of all new teachers.
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