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26 Mar 2007 : Column 1306W—continued
Teaching Methods
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 26 February 2007, Official Report, column 1026W, on teaching methods, what the size was of the effect on pupils’ learning which was found by the research into the effectiveness of drawing connections between different subjects and areas; and whether the effect was statistically significant. [125263]
Jim Knight: Research suggesting that drawing connections between different subjects and areas of the curriculum is an effective approach which impacts on pupils’ learning is part of a wider body of research work into the principles of effective teaching. An overall effect size for this approach is not currently available.
For example, Ellis et al. (1996) conducted a research review to determine the principles of effective teaching. Ten principles were developed from the evidence base, of which one was teaching that highlights the similarities between topics and curriculum subjects. Askew et al. (1997) found that highly effective teachers of numeracy were those who, among other things, made connections between different areas of maths and different ideas in the same area of maths. Hall and Harding (2003) found that effective literacy teachers balanced direct teaching of basic literacy skills with wider, more contextually-grounded literacy activities, often linked with other curriculum areas.
Askew, M., Brown, M., Rhodes, V., Wiliam, D. and Johnson, D. (1997). “Effective teachers of numeracy”. Final report. London; King’s College London.
Ellis, E.S., Worthington., L. A. and Larkin, MJ. (1996) “Research synthesis on effective teaching principles and the design of quality tools”. Worthington National Center to Improve the Tools of Educators.
Hall, K. and Harding, A. (2003) A systematic review of effective literacy teaching in the 4 to 14 age range of mainstream schooling. In: “Research Evidence in Education Library”. London: EPPI-Centre, Social Science Research Unit, Institute of Education.
Truancy
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what definition his Department uses of truancy; [129642]
(2) what targets his Department has for reducing truancy. [129643]
Jim Knight [holding answer 23 March 2007]: Truancy is generally considered to be unjustified absence from school, usually without parental knowledge or consent.
The Department does not set targets for reducing truancy because we are concerned about all forms of problem absence, including parentally condoned or encouraged absence, and because there is no satisfactory direct measure of truancy. Unauthorised absence is often taken to be a proxy for truancy, but it is an imperfect measure because it also includes lateness, some term time holidays and absence which parents have not yet explained. It is also well known that unauthorised absence tends to rise when schools take a tougher line on absence generally, as it has done in recent years, without necessarily reflecting any underlying increase in truancy.
That is why the Department has moved away from focusing narrowly on rates of unauthorised absence. We are now focusing our efforts on reducing persistent absence, including persistent truancy, in schools where this problem is most acute and where a small minority of pupils miss significant amounts of their schooling. This is proving highly effective. Last year, our targeted challenge and support in 198 secondary schools helped to reduce the number of pupils in those schools with high levels of unauthorised absence by 27 per cent. to reduce the average rate of absence in those schools by 0.63 percentage points and the average rate of unauthorised absence by 0.89 percentage points.
Building on that success, we are now focusing on providing challenge and support to 436 secondary schools with high levels of persistent absence.
Volunteering: Young People
James Brokenshire:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much has been raised from
private sector supporters to assist in meeting the recommendations of the Russell Commission on Youth Volunteering. [128267]
Edward Miliband: I have been asked to reply.
The independent charity v has, to date, received pledges of over £20 million in match fund projects through partnership with the private sector with £7.5 million matched on a pound-for-pound basis. The remaining pledges will be matched once suitable projects are identified and established. The match fund projects have created over 43,000 volunteering opportunities.
Home Department
Antisocial Behaviour Orders
Mr. Malik: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the re-offending rate is for individuals with an anti-social behaviour order in (a) Dewsbury constituency and (b) England and Wales. [121083]
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what percentage of individuals made subject to an anti-social behaviour order have since been convicted of a criminal offence. [121854]
Mr. McNulty: ASBOs are civil orders and not an offender management tool so the information is not collected centrally.
Numbers of ASBOs proved in court to have been breached are monitored centrally and these numbers together with breach rates are shown in the following table.
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