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16 Jul 2003 : Column 341W—continued
Asset Management Plan Survey
Sir Sydney Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when he will publish the results of the 2003 Asset Management Plan Survey. [125348]
Mr. Miliband [holding answer 14 July 2003]: Allowing for late returns from some authorities, and for appraisal and analysis of the data, we plan to publish the results early in 2004.
Science Teachers
Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether the proposed National and Regional Centres for Excellence in Science Teaching will be required to provide in service training opportunities to enable practising teachers to develop their skills in out of classroom teaching in biology and other scientific disciplines. [125269]
Mr. Charles Clarke: Our plans, in partnership with the Wellcome Trust, to establish a national network of science learning centres are progressing well. The national centre and up to nine regional centres will provide a range of continuing professional development opportunities for teachers of primary, secondary and post-16 science teachers, technicians and other support staff in the science classroom. We anticipate that, over time, the centres will help teachers to develop their skills in out of the classroom teaching.
In addition, the Department's 'Growing Schools' initiative has worked with hundreds of schools to develop best practice in the use of the outdoor classroom for a range of curriculum subjects, including science at each key stage.
Vulnerable Children
Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what guidance is issued to (a) local education authorities and (b) schools on supporting children from homeless families in priority need. [124684]
Mr. Miliband: There has been no guidance issued from the Department for Education and Skills to local education authorities or schools specifically on supporting children from homeless families in priority need. We have, however, provided guidance to all local education authorities on use of the Vulnerable Children Grant, worth £84 million, which is to be used to help a range of groups of vulnerable children, some of whom may be homeless.
We shall be setting out our future vision for children's services in the forthcoming Green Paper.
Citizenship
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what the standards for citizenship are in respect of (a) assessment, (b) instruction, (c) pupil attainment and (d) academic content; and what the standards are for the other key stage four statutory subjects; [125016]
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- (2) if he will assess the effectiveness of teaching citizenship within existing personal, social and health education programmes [125014]
(3) if he will assess the extent to which schools (a) recognise the aims and purposes of citizenship as a statutory subject and (b) relate these to the broader aims of the school, as prescribed in the Ofsted report, National Curriculum: planning and implementation 2002–03; [125015]
(4) if he will make a statement on the progress of pupils' knowledge, understanding and skills in citizenship since it became a statutory subject. [125017]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: National Curriculum subjects, including citizenship education, have clear requirements for what must be taught and the standards of attainment at the end of each key stage (see www.nc.uk.net). A range of teaching and learning methods are described in the QCA schemes of work for citizenship (see www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/schemes). Schools can adopt a range of approaches including discrete lessons; whole school activities; and teaching through existing subjects such as Personal, Social and Health education.
Assessment and reporting arrangements are similar to other national curriculum subjects. Teachers must conduct pupil assessment at key stage 3 and report pupils progress in key stage 1 and 2 to parents. GCSE (Short Course) in Citizenship Studies has been developed to give pupils the opportunity to obtain a recognised qualification. QCA has developed guidance for schools on assessment (see www.qca.org.uk). It is a year since the introduction of citizenship as a statutory subject in secondary schools and pupils need time to develop the required knowledge, understanding and skills in the subject. The Department is committed to continuing to monitor the introduction of citizenship education, to provide schools and teachers with the additional support they may need. The Department has commissioned the National Foundation for Educational Research (NfER) to conduct an eight year longitudinal study, to consider the impact of the subject on pupils' knowledge, understanding and skills in citizenship. It will also consider the impact on schools understanding of the aims of citizenship education and how they relate to wider school ethos and planning. The NfER longitudinal study and Ofsted section 10 inspections regime will provide effective progress reports on a range of models of delivery, including through Personal, Social and Health Education.
Class Sizes
Mr. Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children aged (a) five, (b) six and (c) seven were in class sizes of over 30 in each year since 1996–97 to 2002–03. [125231]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: The available information is shown in the following table.
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| 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 (16),(17),(18) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of pupils in classes with 31 or more pupils | 476,822 | 485,311 | 356,586 | 176,962 | 35,813 | 10,263 | 16,399 |
| Percentage of pupils in classes with 31 or more pupils | 29.0 | 29.3 | 21.9 | 11.0 | 23 | 0.6 | 1.1 |
| Number of classes with 31 or more pupils | 14,584 | 14,826 | 10,960 | 5,487 | 1124 | 325 | 515 |
| Percentage of classes with 31 or more pupils | 23.9 | 24.2 | 17.8 | 8.7 | 1.8 | 0.5 | 0.9 |
(15) Classes as taught during a single selected period in each school on the day of the census in January.
(16) Includes reception classes due to an underlying change in the data collection.
(17) Only 88 of the 515 large classes had no excepted pupils or were engaged in ordinary teaching sessions which meant they did not comply with Class Size regulations,
(18) provisional
Source:Annual Schools' Census
Mr. Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average class sizes were in (a) primary and (b) middle schools in Leicestershire Local Education Authority since 1991–92. [125250]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: The information requested is shown in the table.
| Leicestershire LEA | ||
|---|---|---|
| Primary | Middle(20) | |
| 1992(21) | 25.8 | 24.3 |
| 1993(21) | 26.1 | 24.5 |
| 1994(21) | 25.8 | 24.6 |
| 1995(21) | 26.5 | 23.8 |
| 1996(21) | 26.7 | 25.4 |
| 1997(21) | 26.7 | 25.0 |
| 1998 | 26.9 | 25.1 |
| 1999(22) | 26.7 | 25.7 |
| 2000(22) | 26.7 | 26.1 |
| 2001(22) | 26.3 | 26.6 |
| 2002(22) | 25.9 | 25.7 |
| 2003(22),(23) | 26.4 | 25.6 |
(19) Classes as taught during a single selected period in each school on the day of the census in January.
(20) Middle deemed secondary schools only as there are no middle deemed primary schools in Leicestershire LEA.
(21) Before local government reorganisation, Leicestershire LEA also incorporated Leicester City, Rutland and rest of Leicestershire
(22) After local government reorganisation
(23) Provisional
Source:Annual Schools' Census
Deprivation Indices
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the index of deprivation is in each local education authority. [125162]
Mr. Miliband: The Education Formula Spending Share has a top up to reflect significant deprivation or additional educational needs. The additional educational needs index uses the following data:
- The proportion of children in families in receipt of Income Support/Jobseekers allowance
The proportion of children in families in receipt of Working Families Tax Credit and Disabled Persons Tax Credit
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The proportion of children for who English is not their mother tongue (in the primary and under five calculation)
The proportion of children in low achieving ethnic groups (in the secondary calculation)
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