| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
8 Oct 2007 : Column 389W—continued
Further Education: Disadvantaged
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what information his Department collects on the proportion of pupils aged 16 to 18 years in (a) further education colleges and (b) school sixth forms from highly deprived groups. [154338]
Jim Knight: Information is available using matched administrative data and eligibility for free school meals at age 15 as a proxy for deprivation. Of those 16-18 year olds in further education colleges and maintained school sixth forms in 2005/06, 13 per cent. and 7 per cent. respectively were eligible for and claiming free school meals at age 15.
Further Education: Finance
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps he is taking to bring funding levels for 16 to 18-year-olds in further education colleges up to the funding levels in schools; and if he will make a statement. [154008]
Jim Knight: The LSC has made a series of changes to funding arrangements which have already reduced the gap by 5 per cent. Further work is already in hand that will reduce the gap by a further 3 per cent. from 2008.
Changes made include increasing college funding rates by 1 per cent. more than school sixth form funding rates in 2004/05 and 2005/06; removing, from 2006/07, in-year adjustment for school sixth forms to bring them into line with college funding arrangements; and, from 2006/07, collecting pupil-level data from school sixth forms on retention and attainment.
GCE A-Level: Standards
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of whether absolute A-level standards have changed over the last 20 years, pursuant to the comments of the Chair of the Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education; and if he will make a statement. [154786]
Jim Knight:
A-levels, like other qualifications, are tightly regulated and standards monitored by the
independent Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA). The Committee on Examination Standards chaired by the Director for Education at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) concluded in 2004 that no examination system at the school or other level is so tightly or carefully managed.
Claims that A-levels have got easier have been investigated and refuted on numerous occasions since the 1990s, first by Ofsted and then by QCA. It is not possible to make a simple comparison between exam papers from one or two decades ago with papers today: pupils learn different things today because the world is a different place, with employers demanding different skills. The improvements we have seen in success rates at A level are a result of record investment, 30,000 extra teachers, double the number of support staff and billions invested in rebuilding crumbling schools. The further improvements planned for A-level as part of our 14-19 reforms, to be introduced in 2008, will provide further stretch and challenge for the most able pupils and ensure A-levels remain robust qualifications that are respected internationally. Success at A-level today is no less demanding than it was in the past.
General Certificate of Secondary Education
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will set a target for 80 per cent. of pupils to pass five or more GCSEs at A-C grade by 2020; and if he will make a statement. [154714]
Jim Knight: Standards in secondary schools have risen dramatically. 2007 data are not yet available but in 2006 58.5 per cent. of pupils achieved five good GCSEs—an increase of 13.4 percentage points since 1997. Over 86,000 more pupils achieved five good GCSEs last year compared with 1997 and 62,000 more achieved five good GCSEs including English and maths compared with 1997. We are on track to meet the 2008 target of 60 per cent. of pupils achieving five good GCSEs and we expect that healthy trajectory to continue.
Targets are an essential part of the Government’s commitment to raising educational standards. The existing set of public service agreement (PSA) targets linked to raising attainment covers the period up to 2008. We expect to be announcing shortly a new set of PSA targets for the spending review period up to 2011.
Home Education: General Certificate of Secondary Education
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of the proportion of children educated at home who were entered for GCSEs/A-levels in each of the last three years; and what assessment he has made of how their results compared with those educated at school. [154756]
Jim Knight: We have not made any estimates of the proportion of children educated at home who were entered for public examinations nor how their results compared with those educated in school.
Literacy: Finance
Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what funding (a) is and (b) is planned to be made available for initiatives that encourage parents to assist their children in learning to read. [154017]
Beverley Hughes: The Department is currently funding Booktrust £8.7 million to deliver Bookstart and £1.22 million to deliver Booktime in 2007-08.
Bookstart delivers book packs to babies aged between six to nine months, 18 months and three years. By encouraging parents and carers to become more actively involved with their child's learning and development through the sharing of books, Bookstart seeks to improve children's communication, language and literacy skills and to improve children's personal, social and emotional development.
The new Booktime initiative will enable every child entering a reception class in autumn 2007 to receive a free copy of FunnyBones by Janet and Allan Ahlberg. Booktime promotes reading for pleasure and encourages parents and carers to read aloud to their children and help foster a love of reading at this key stage in their child's education and development.
The new Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills is responsible for family literacy, language and numeracy which has been a national initiative since 1994. This initiative is designed to enable parents and their children to improve their literacy and numeracy skills together. That Department will be developing a family literacy, language and numeracy programme (with a focus on literacy and numeracy) for parents of children aged 0 to four, based on the early years foundation stage. It will also be developing information packs for use by parents with literacy, language and numeracy skills needs to help them maximise the potential of the free books to be given to five and 11-year-old children in the 2007 autumn term.
Ofsted: Information Officers
Mr. Gauke: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many press officers are employed by Ofsted. [154556]
Jim Knight: This is a matter for Ofsted. HM Chief Inspector, Christine Gilbert, has written to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply has been placed in the Library.
Letter from Christine Gilbert, dated 17 September 2007:
Your recent parliamentary question has been passed to me, as Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, for a response.
The Press Office currently has 5 staff in post: 1 Head of News, 1 Senior Press officer and 3 Press Officers.
A copy of this reply has been sent to Jim Knight MP, Minister of State for Schools and Learners and will be placed in the Library of both Houses.
Parenting Orders
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many parenting orders were issued as a consequence of pupil non-attendance at schools in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [153970]
Kevin Brennan: The Department started to collect data regarding parenting orders (in cases of non-attendance and exclusion from school) from September 2004. Between 1 September 2004 and 13 April 2007, local authorities reported 1,183 parenting orders being made by the courts following a prosecution for failing to ensure regular school attendance. The data are collected in period three times a year as follows:
| Number | |
Additional data on parental responsibility measures are provided at local authority level and are published at:
Primary Education: Mathematics
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what criteria the review of primary and early years mathematics teaching led by Sir Peter Williams will adopt for giving weight to submissions received. [154606]
Jim Knight: It will be for Sir Peter Williams to determine what weight he gives to submissions to the review of mathematics teaching in primary schools and early years settings. However, Sir Peter Williams will consider all submissions received and there will be opportunities for a wide range of stakeholders to contribute. Specific focus will be given to those submissions which relate directly to the terms of reference for the review, which are as follows:
Through examination of the available evidence including international best practice and through engagement with the teaching profession, the Primary Maths Review will consider and make recommendations in the following areas:
What is the most effective pedagogy of maths teaching in primary schools and early years settings. That consideration should include instructional methodologies, teaching and learning strategies, and lesson designs that are most effective in helping children to progress in their learning.
What range of provision best supports children across the full ability range, including the most gifted. The highest priority should be given to those who are not progressing fast enough to reach national expectations. The review should specifically make recommendations to inform the development of an early (age 5 to 7) intervention programme for children who are failing to master the basics of numeracy—“Every Child Counts”—as recently announced by the Prime Minister.
What conceptual and subject knowledge of mathematics should be expected of primary school teachers and early years practitioners, and how should initial teaching training and continuing professional development be improved to secure that knowledge.
What is the most effective design and sequencing of the mathematics curriculum. Recommendations in this area should inform a future review of the primary curriculum as a whole.
How should parents and families best be helped to support young children’s mathematical development.
Primary Education: Play
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what average length of time per week children at key stage 1 spend on free play. [153838]
Jim Knight: We do not collect information on the average length of time per week children at key stage 1 spend on free play.
Private Education: Fees and Charges
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what his latest estimate is of the level of inflation in private sector school fees; and if he will make a statement; [154617]
(2) what benchmarking analysis he has conducted of the average level of annual fees for schools in the private sector in England, broken down by (a) (i) primary and (ii) secondary schools and (b) (i) boarding and (ii) non-boarding schools in each year since 1990-91; and if he will make a statement. [154708]
Jim Knight: As part of the annual school census of independent schools my Department collects information related to the lowest and highest annual fee charged per pupil. We do not project inflation increases in school fees, nor have we undertaken any analysis of the historic level of independent school fees. These fees are a matter for individual schools and are just one of the factors parents consider when looking at which schools meet their particular circumstances.
Pupil Exclusions
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many fixed period exclusions there were per pupil in 2005-06. [154279]
Jim Knight: The readily available information is given in the table.
For the 2005-06 school year, information on fixed period exclusions was collected from secondary schools only. For the 2006-07 school year this coverage will extend to primary and special schools.
| Maintained primary, secondary and special schools( 1,2) : Number of fixed period exclusions by type of school—England, 2003-04 to 2005-06( 3) | |||
| 2003-04( 3,4) | 2004-05( 4) | 2005-06( 5) | |
| n/a = not available (1) Includes middle schools as deemed. (2) Includes maintained special schools. Excludes non-maintained special schools. (3) In 2003-04, information on fixed period exclusions was collected for the first time. (4) Information on fixed period exclusions has been derived from Termly Exclusion Survey returns. (5) For the 2005-06 school year, information on fixed period exclusions from secondary schools was collected via the School Census for the first time (the Termly Exclusions Survey has been discontinued). For exclusions during 2006-07, information on fixed period exclusions will also be collected from primary and special schools. (6) The number of fixed period exclusions expressed as a percentage of the total number. (7) The number of fixed period exclusions expressed as a percentage of the number (headcount) of all pupils (excluding dually registered pupils) in January each year. Note: Totals may not appear to equal the sum of component parts bemuse numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. Source: Termly Exclusions Survey and School Census | |||
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |