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7 Jan 2008 : Column 226W—continued
Languages: GCE A-Level
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will require all maintained schools and colleges with sixth forms to offer modern languages to A-level; and if he will make a statement. [174265]
Jim Knight: We have no plans to do so. Choice of which subjects to offer at A-level is a matter for schools to determine. We were pleased to see a small increase in the number of pupils studying languages at A-level in 2007. This shows that young people choosing to learn languages at GCSE are enthusiastic language learners who are more likely to continue learning post-16.
Literacy: Teaching Methods
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent guidance has been given to schools on the use of synthetic phonics; and if he will make a statement. [174263]
Jim Knight: The strong emphasis we have placed on the use of systematic phonics through the renewed Primary Framework is supported by a range of guidance and training.
We have provided Letters and Sounds, a high quality phonics training manual developed by the Primary National Strategy with support from Jim Rose, free to all primary schools. To help schools implement this we have provided, and continue to provide, training and guidance to local authorities for dissemination to schools.
Through the Communication, Language and Literacy Development Programme we provide guidance for all those involved in early literacy development: teachers, teaching assistants, head teachers and LA staff. In addition to training and guidance we provide a dedicated site which addresses the key aspects of quality first teaching of early reading.
As part of consolidating a firm understanding of the principles which underpin excellent phonic work we have determined a set of core criteria that define the
key features of an effective systematic phonics teaching programme. These build directly on Sir Jim Rose’s recommendations for
‘high quality phonic work’.
These, together with notes of guidance on how to apply them, are contained within Letters and Sounds and can also be accessed through our dedicated phonics site which provides an additional source of advice and information for schools and settings to draw on.
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what guidelines he has issued to Ofsted on monitoring the implementation of the recommendations of the Rose review. [174289]
Jim Knight: The Department has not issued guidelines to Ofsted on this matter. It has however asked Ofsted to conduct reviews of both early reading provision in schools, and its coverage as part of initial teacher training. These are expected to take place in the coming year.
Lord Adonis
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families whether Lord Adonis attended the academies seminar on 1 November 2007; and if he will make a statement. [168191]
Jim Knight: The seminar on 1 November was attended by a number of officials and a range of stakeholders in the academies programme. No Ministers attended this meeting.
Mandarin: Teachers
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many teachers with a language specialism in Mandarin Chinese qualified in the last 12-month period for which figures are available. [174290]
Jim Knight: Data relating to the language specialisms of Initial Teacher Training (ITT) trainees are not collected centrally.
In 2005/06 there were two postgraduate ITT trainees who gained Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) and had an undergraduate UK degree in a subject related to Mandarin. One trainee had an undergraduate degree in applied languages and the other in Chinese (modern).
There are currently no ITT courses which specialise in Mandarin only.
Members: Correspondence
Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families when he expects to reply to the letter of 16 October 2007 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton on Cedar Mount High School. [173127]
Jim Knight: I apologise that, due to an administrative oversight in the Department, you had not yet received a reply to your letter of 16 October 2007. A reply was sent on 10 December.
Personal Social and Health Education
Chris McCafferty: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what estimate he has made of the number of parents who opted their children out of personal social and health education in the latest period for which figures are available; [175205]
(2) what estimate he has made of the number of schools which did not include sex and relationships education in their personal social and health education curriculum in the latest period for which figures are available; [175206]
(3) how many (a) school nurses and (b) school nurses who teach sex and relationships education in schools there were in the latest period for which figures are available. [175207]
Jim Knight [holding answer 17 December 2007]: The Department does not collect data on the number of pupils withdrawn from personal, social and health education (PSHE). However, Ofsted's survey on SRE published in 2002 found that only 0.04 per cent. of pupils were withdrawn from the non-statutory aspects of SRE normally delivered through PSHE.
Similarly, the Department does not collect data or the number of schools who include SRE within PSHE, but departmental guidance on SRE (DfES, 2000) makes clear that schools should embed SRE within their programmes for PSHE.
In 2006 there were 1,129 school nurses with a school nurse qualification (an increase of 31.9 per cent. since 2004). Their involvement in the delivery of SRE is a decision for primary care trusts and individual schools. The Department recognises the unique contribution that school nurses make to SRE and encourages all those involved in classroom delivery to undertake the National PSHE: Continuing Professional Development Programme. This accredited programme supports standards in the delivery of PSHE teaching including sex and relationships education.
Primary Education: Standards
Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the levels of numeracy and literacy were among primary school leavers in (a) Uxbridge constituency, (b) each London borough and (c) England in each year since 1997. [171322]
Jim Knight: The information required is in the Library.
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the five (a) highest and (b) lowest performing primary schools in England were in each of the last 10 years in terms of (i) Key Stage 2 SAT results and (ii) value-added measures. [175213]
Jim Knight: The information required can be found in the achievement and attainment tables held in the House of Commons Library.
Primary Education: Teachers
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate his Department has made of the number of additional primary school teachers required in each of the next 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [169801]
Jim Knight: This Department is about to complete an exercise to forecast the number of teacher training places that will be needed during the next few years, and I will shortly be notifying these to the Training and Development Agency for Schools to enable it to begin allocating training places.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what proportion of primary teacher trainees who gained Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) were shown as in service in the database of teacher records at the end of the financial year three years after they gained QTS for each year from 1998; [174269]
(2) what proportion of secondary teacher trainees, in each subject for which there are initial teacher training targets, who gained Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) were shown as in service in the database of teacher records at the end of the financial year three years after they gained QTS for each year from 1998. [174270]
Jim Knight: The information is not available in the format requested.
The following table provides the percentage of full and part-time teachers who entered local authority maintained sector service in England in the year after qualification in March 1998 and 2003 and were still in
such service three years later, broken down by primary and for secondary by subject of initial teacher training.
| Retention rate of full and part-time teachers who entered local authority maintained( 1 ) sector service in England by the March after the year of their qualification( 2) ,1998 to 2003 and were still in service three years later in 2001 to 2006. | ||||||
| Three year retention rate (percentage) | ||||||
| 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005( 3) | 2006( 3) | |
| (1). Excludes Academies and CTCs. (2.) Includes teachers qualifying through college based routes to qualified teachers status, SCITTs and Open University but excludes employment based routes. (3) Provisional. Source: Database of teacher records | ||||||
There is also some information available from the Training and Development Agency (TDA) which provides the employment status of teachers six months after obtaining qualified teacher status (QTS). The following tables provide the information for primary schools and secondary schools by subject for each year from 1998-99 to 2005-06.
| Mainstream final year primary trainees employment status( 1,2,3) | ||||
| Percentage | ||||
| Number of final year mainstream primary trainees gaining QTS | Proportion of trainees gaining QTS who are known to enter a teaching post in a maintained school six months | Proportion of trainees gaining QTS who are known to enter a teaching post in a school with an unknown sector six months after gaining QTS after gaining QTS | Proportion of trainees gaining QTS who have an unknown destination | |
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