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18 Oct 2007 : Column 1295W—continued
Curriculum: First Aid
Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will include the teaching of first aid within the national curriculum; and if he will make a statement. [154839]
Jim Knight [holding answer 10 October 2007]: There is already scope in the non-statutory Personal Social and Health Education (PSHE) framework for schools to explore safety and emergency procedures as part of the curriculum. At key stages 2 and 3, the framework suggests pupils should be taught
“basic emergency procedures and where to get help and support”.
At key stage 4 pupils should be taught to
“develop skills to cope with emergency situations that require basic aid procedures, including resuscitation techniques”.
Basic and emergency aid will continue to be part of the non-statutory framework when the new secondary curriculum is introduced from September 2008.
Departments: ICT
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many new (a) laptops, (b) mobile telephones and (c) personal digital assistant devices his Department and its predecessors have bought for the use of departmental Ministers following each Cabinet reshuffle since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [156738]
Kevin Brennan: The information is not held centrally and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Education Maintenance Allowance: Qualifications
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) how many pupils who received the education maintenance allowance gained qualifications in 2006, broken down by type of qualification gained; [158809]
(2) pursuant to the answer of 30 October 2007, Official Report, column 210W, how many pupils who received the education maintenance allowance while studying for A-levels completed their course of study, broken down by number of A-levels being taken by individual students; [158810]
(3) how many pupils who received the education maintenance allowance gained A-levels in 2006, broken down by (a) grade and (b) subject; [158811]
(4) how many pupils who received the education maintenance allowance completed their course of study since inception of the allowance, broken down by qualification sought; [158812]
(5) how many pupils who received the education maintenance allowance who were studying for A-Levels in (a) mathematics, (b) English language or literature, (c) physics, (d) chemistry, (e) biology, (f) a modern language and (g) another subject (i) completed their course of study and (ii) gained a qualification since inception of the allowance. [158813]
Jim Knight:
The Learning and Skills Council (LSG) is responsible for the operation of the education maintenance allowance (EMA) scheme. The LSC do not analyse attainment of EMA recipients by subject area or grade as the costs of extracting the data would
be disproportionate to the benefits. However, an analysis of the impact of EMA on participation and attainment has been commissioned by the LSC. The results of this analysis have been delayed due to data availability issues and are now due to be published in November 2007. A copy of these reports, with a summary of key findings, will be placed in the House Library when they are published.
Education: Citizenship
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what contribution his Department made to the National Foundation for Education Research's Citizenship Education Longitudinal Study; what steps he intends to take in response to its conclusions; and if he will make a statement; [159077]
(2) what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the statutory citizenship courses in schools. [159078]
Jim Knight: The Department has provided £1.57 million to fund the National Foundation for Education Research’s nine year longitudinal study into citizenship education due to be completed in November 2009. The findings from this study and the Ofsted Citizenship report “Towards Consensus? Citizenship in secondary schools” (2006) have helped to shape policy in this area. Both reports found that whilst remaining patchy in some areas, progress has been made in citizenship provision and it is adequate or better in 75 per cent. of schools. The Department has funded a self evaluation tool for schools to enable them to strengthen their citizenship provision.
Both reports point to teacher training continuing to be needed. We are addressing this issue both through providing places for initial teacher training (200 per year) and through the citizenship continuing professional development certificate (1200 teachers over the next two years).
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what estimate he has made of the number of teachers teaching citizenship who have not received citizenship-related training; [159079]
(2) what plans he has to recruit and retain teachers who specialise in teaching citizenship. [159082]
Jim Knight: The Department does not monitor all training courses undertaken by teachers, for example those provided by local authorities and commercial providers. We have made available over 200 ITT places per year for the last five years, and the published a CPD handbook for use by citizenship teachers. The Department has also supported a national dissemination effort to provide training on use of the handbook. Additionally, we are funding 1,200 citizenship continuing professional development (CPD) places in higher education institutions over 2006-07 and 2007-08 to enable citizenship teachers to broaden and deepen their subject knowledge. The CPD course will be evaluated by Ofsted. We continue to support the Association of Citizenship Teachers and work with a range of organisations to provide resources and support for teachers.
Education: Languages
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what guidance he has given to local education authorities on teaching foreign languages; and if he will make a statement. [158839]
Jim Knight: We have not issued formal guidance to local authorities on teaching languages but we have produced a range of guidance and support materials for schools which are disseminated to local authority language advisers through our networks—including the key stage 2 framework for languages and new schemes of work for primary schools. We have allocated £27.5 million funding to local authorities to support the delivery of primary languages in 2007-08 and the National Director for Languages wrote to each local authority with suggested models for using this funding.
The Secondary National Strategy and CILT, the National Centre for Languages have worked with local authorities to create 355 networks of secondary schools which are building on the key stage 3 framework guidance to raise achievement and improve teaching and learning at KS3.
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many schools in each London constituency offer tuition in (a) Cantonese and (b) Mandarin; and whether he has any plans to put Cantonese and Mandarin on the National Curriculum. [158840]
Jim Knight: The information requested on numbers of schools offering Mandarin and Cantonese is not available broken down by constituency. However, research conducted earlier this year for the Department by CILT, the National Centre for Languages showed that around 7-8 per cent. of all maintained secondary schools in England were providing some Mandarin teaching.
The National Curriculum for Modern Foreign Languages does not prescribe which languages schools should offer, However, from September 2008, the requirement that pupils at Key Stage 3 (ages 11-14) must first study a working language of the European Union will be lifted so that schools will be able to teach any major European or world language. Examples given in the new programme of study include Mandarin, although the choice of language is for schools to determine.
The national languages strategy set out an entitlement for all Key Stage 2 (7-11 year old) pupils to learn a language in class time by 2010. Schools can choose which languages they teach; including Mandarin and Cantonese. Research carried out by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) into language teaching in primary schools found that 1 per cent. of responding schools in London were teaching Chinese.
Examinations: Children
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what representations he has received on the number of educational tests and examinations that children and young people are required to sit; and if he will make a statement. [158838]
Jim Knight: The Department receives representations from stakeholders, in particular pupils and parents, about the numbers of tests and examinations which pupils are required to take. There are statutory assessments of each pupil's progress and attainment at the end of key stages 1, 2 and 3, In key stage 1, pupils are set at least one task in each of reading, writing and mathematics. Tasks can be taken at any time and enable teachers to be secure in their judgment of which level the child has reached. Assessment at key stages 2 and 3 involves tests in English, mathematics and science, and teacher assessments. Although there are no statutory requirements for assessment at the end of key stage 4, approximately 96 per cent. of 15-year-olds are entered for one or more full GCSE courses each year. The tests and examinations taken at the end of each key stage do not amount to an excessive burden on pupils or schools. For example, the key stage 2 tests amount to less than six hours, accounting for around 0.15 per cent. of available teaching time in the key stage, and the key stage 3 tests amount to less than eight hours, accounting for less than 0.2 per cent. of available teaching time in the key stage.
These tests and examinations provide objective and reliable measures of the standards secured by pupils at crucial stages in their development, and equip us with the best data possible to support our education system. In addition to assessment at the end of each key stage, schools monitor pupils’ performance during each key stage and it is for each school to decide whether to use tests as part of their monitoring arrangements.
Foster Care
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of local authority collection of information about informal fostering of children. [157944]
Kevin Brennan [holding answer 15 October 2007]: The Department has not assessed the effectiveness of the collection by local authorities of information about private fostering since this collection was introduced for the year ending 31 March 2005.
General Certificate of Secondary Education: Citizenship
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will introduce a full GCSE qualification in citizenship. [159075]
Jim Knight: New subject criteria for GCSE Citizenship Studies are being developed and will shortly be published by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. The new criteria will reflect the revised secondary curriculum and will enable full course GCSEs to be developed by awarding bodies for first teaching in 2009. There is a short-course GCSE in Citizenship Studies which is the fastest growing GCSE. There were 73,142 entries for the GCSE in 2007—an increase of nearly 19,000 on 2006 entries.
General Certificate of Secondary Education A Level: Mathematics
Mr. Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what percentage of pupils from (a) independent, (b) maintained and (c) grammar schools received a grade A in two of Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available. [148274]
Jim Knight: The information requested is not readily available and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
General Certificate of Secondary Education: Standards
Martin Linton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the most improved secondary school was in terms of the GCSE five A*-C score measure between 1999 and 2007; and if he will make a statement. [159013]
Jim Knight: Data for 2007 are not yet available, 2006 data have been used instead. For maintained schools, Phoenix High School, in Hammersmith and Fulham had the largest increase in the percentage getting 5 A*-C at GCSE between 1999 and 2006. The number of 15-year-old pupils(1) achieving 5 + A*-C at GCSE increased from 4 per cent. to 77 per cent. Only schools with a cohort size of 10 or more in both years were included in the analysis.
(1 )Aged 15 on the 31 August
Politics: Curriculum
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will take steps to support (a) hon. Members, (b) Parliament’s Education Service and (c) local authorities in the contributions that they make to the teaching in schools of the political literacy strand of the citizenship curriculum. [159076]
Jim Knight: The Department has funded a number of initiatives to promote political literacy through citizenship and to support MPs that wish to be more involved in schools. Working with the Hansard Society and the parliamentary education unit, we have supported the development of the MPs in Schools pack, which prepares pupils for a visit from their local MP. The Hansard Society, with DCSF backing, has also developed the “Headsup” website, an online forum that assists teachers in delivering political literacy, and also MPs who can use it to consult with their younger constituents; the “Big Ben” and “All That! teaching resource, which gives teachers and pupils an inside view of Westminster through interviews with MPs and Peers as well as archived footage from Parliament; and “Y Vote Mock Elections”, which aim to actively engage students with the electoral process. DCSF has also funded a programme of MP mentoring, where MPs work directly with trainee citizenship teachers to help them with their knowledge of Parliament so that they can teach the political literacy element of citizenship with confidence. In addition, DCSF set up and funded the Association for Citizenship Teaching (ACT) to work with teachers and local authorities to provide training and help to spread good practice.
Pupil Exclusions
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families which are the 200 schools with the highest number of permanent and temporary exclusions over the last 10 years. [156633]
Kevin Brennan: A list of the 200 schools with the highest number of permanent exclusions for the years 1997/98, 2000/01, 2003/04, 2004/05 and 2005/06 has been placed in the Library.
Only three years of data relating to fixed period exclusions are currently available. The first year for which information on fixed period exclusions is available relates to the 2003/04 academic year. Due to underlying changes in the data collection, information on fixed period exclusions is not available for maintained primary and special schools for 2005/06. A list of the 200 schools with the highest numbers of fixed period exclusions in 2003/04, 2004/05 and 2005/06 has also been placed in the Library,
The lists of schools which have been provided here do not necessarily relate to schools with the highest rates of exclusions.
Pupils: Citizenship
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what plans he has to enable schools to assist students to get involved in their communities, particularly through volunteering, as part of the citizenship curriculum. [159074]
Jim Knight: The revised Citizenship curriculum at Key stages 3 and 4 provides that pupils should have opportunities to
“participate in different forms of individual and collective action, including decision-making and campaigning and participate in both school-based and community-based citizenship activities”.
Additionally, Over the next three years, v the independent charity launched to implement the recommendations of the Russell Commission, will be investing over £70 million in a new framework for youth action and engagement through its recently announced National Youth Volunteering Programme (NYVP). This programme will not only fund new opportunities, but it will also create a v presence in every local authority area in England, working with local organisations to deliver high quality volunteering placements. It will also establish a framework for the recognition and accreditation of youth volunteering opportunities, so that young people who give up their time for the benefit of their communities will have their achievements acknowledged and celebrated.
Pupils: Mathematics
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what plans he has to allow pupils who have not mastered basic numeracy skills (a) to have extra tuition and (b) not to be required to take GCSE in mathematics. [159041]
Jim Knight: The Department is planning two separate, but related one-to-one tuition programmes, which are designed to raise standards in mathematics:
one-to-one tuition to help 300,000 children who have fallen behind in mathematics by 2010-11. We are currently planning how this should be delivered and will use lessons learned from the tuition element of the Making Good Progress pilot, and from other existing individual intervention programmes, to inform this.
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