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Advanced Schools
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when she expects to decide where the new advanced schools will be located; what the time scale will be for establishing these schools; and if she will make a statement. [71001]
Mr. Miliband: We intend to establish a network of up to 300 advanced schools by 2006 and would want to see an initial group in operation from September 2003. Decisions about the location of these schools will be taken before next June. Advanced schools will be at the forefront of our drive to reform the education system and will provide opportunities for our best schools to lead the transformation of secondary education in their local areas.
Literacy Tests
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, pursuant to his answer of 2 July 2002, Official Report, column 243W, what research she has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated to corroborate trends in the results of the Key Stage 2 literacy tests. [70073]
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Mr. Miliband [holding answer 12 July 2002]: The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) has established an annual testing programme to provide data on pupils' attainment and progress in Years 3, 4 and 5. The data, collected and analysed by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NfER), augment those already available through the national curriculum tests at Year 2 and Year 6 and is reported in Ofsted's annual evaluation reports on the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies. Ofsted's report on the third year of the National Literacy Strategy said that:
"For Pupils in Year 4 and Year 5, the average age-standardised score was significantly higher in 2001 than 2000".
Overseas Teachers
Mr. Challen: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what her policy is on recruiting teachers for work in the UK from third world countries which are the aimed beneficiaries of the Education for All initiative. [69254]
Mr. Miliband: The Government are committed to helping developing countries achieve the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education by 2015. We recognise that in many countries this will mean a major increase in the supply and retention of well- trained teachers. The Government do not directly recruit teachers, either here or abroad. Neither do we actively encourage recruitment by others from developing countries. But suitable teachers choosing to come and work in England for a time are welcome. Some are likely to return to their home countries, taking with them valuable experience of initiatives such as the numeracy and literacy strategies. We are committed to making the experience of those overseas teachers who do choose to work here as productive and developmental as possible, not least to maximise the benefits to their home countries. We have introduced a Quality Mark scheme, which will badge agencies that demonstrate, among other things, good practice in the recruitment and induction of overseas teachers. And we have established a new Recruitment and Retention Unit in the Government office for London which will support London LEAs in improving the experience of overseas-trained teachers.
Foreign Teachers
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many overseas-trained teachers were teaching in English schools in 2001–02; and how many of these (a) have been and (b) are on the training scheme to allow them to receive qualified teacher status. [70630]
Mr. Miliband: Information on numbers of teachers with overseas qualifications is not available. In the 2001–02 academic year to date, 720 people have been awarded places on the special variant of the Graduate Teacher Programme that is available to overseas trained teachers who wish to gain Qualified Teacher Status.
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Mr. Woodward: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many foreign teachers were working in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in (i) St. Helens Metropolitan borough council area, (ii) Merseyside, (iii) the north-west and (iv) England in (A) 1997, (B) 1998, (C) 1999, (D) 2000 and (E) 2001. [70180]
Mr. Miliband: The information is not collected centrally.
Literacy and Numeracy
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of 11-year-olds meet the standard of (a) literacy and (b) numeracy for that age. [69302]
Mr. Miliband: The table shows the percentage of pupils who achieved level 4 or above in the Key Stage 2 tests in England in 2001.
| Percentage of pupils achieving level 4 or above | |
|---|---|
| English | 75 |
| Mathematics | 71 |
| Science | 87 |
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of pupils aged 11 met the standard of literacy for that age on (a) 1 May 1997, (b) 31 December 1998, (c) 31 December 2001 and (d) the latest date for which information is available. [69298]
Mr. Miliband: The available information is shown in the table. It shows the percentage of pupils who achieved level 4 or above in English in the Key Stage 2 tests in England since 1997. The tests were carried out in May each year.
| English | |
|---|---|
| 1997 | 63 |
| 1998 | 65 |
| 1999 | 71 |
| 2000 | 75 |
| 2001 | 75 |
Small Schools
Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, pursuant to the answer of 17 June 2002, Official Report, column 16W, on small schools, how much Small Schools Fund was allocated to each local education authority. [69336]
Mr. Miliband: The following table shows the amount of Small Schools Fund allocated to each local education authority in 2001–02 through the Standards Fund. The figures include both Government grant and local authority contributions.
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