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28 Apr 2008 : Column 195W—continued
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the performance of (a) school sixth forms and (b) sixth form colleges in relation to A-levels; and if he will make a statement. [201406]
Jim Knight: Level 3 (equivalent to two or more A-levels) is broadly similar, once young people's prior attainment at Level 2 (equivalent to five GCSEs A*-C) is taken into account.
Internal analysis shows the average Level 3 attainment score per qualification entry for a sixth form college student is around 2 points higher than for a school sixth-form student, with a similar level of prior attainment. Across a three A-level package of qualifications, the average difference in attainment would be around 6 points which is the equivalent of around a third of a grade. While this difference is statistically significant it is small.
Sixth-form colleges and larger school sixth forms—either operating individually or as part of a consortium—do an outstanding job and are popular with parents and students. We want to encourage more high quality provision of this type, often working in partnership, in order to overcome England's unacceptably low participation rate in education beyond GCSE. Collaboration between schools, and between schools and colleges, will be essential to ensuring that we have a high quality offer for all young people and to support the successful delivery of the 14-19 reform programme.
General Certificate of Secondary Education
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what proportion of pupils gaining five A* to C GCSEs, including English and mathematics, were awarded five C grades in 2007; [200326]
(2) what proportion of pupils gaining five A* to C GCSEs, including English and mathematics, were awarded a C grade in both English and mathematics in 2007. [200328]
Jim Knight: This information can be provided only at a disproportionate cost.
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many otherwise eligible pupils were not entered for any GCSE examinations in the last year for which figures are available. [200329]
Jim Knight: There were 12,178 (1.88 per cent.) out of a total of 649,159 eligible pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 not entered for any GCSE examinations in the 2006/07 academic year.
However, only 3,099 (0.48 per cent.) out of a total of 649,159 eligible pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 were not entered for any GCSE or equivalent examinations in the 2006/07 academic year. This includes other qualifications approved for use pre-16 such as NVQs, Key Skills and Entry Level Qualifications.
Further information on GCSE examination entry and achievement can be found in the Statistical First Release 'GCSE and Equivalent Examination Results in England 2006/07' available at:
Mr. Laws:
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many year 11 children did
not achieve (a) five A* to C GCSEs and (b) five A* to C GCSEs, including English and mathematics, in each year from 1997 to 2007; and if he will make a statement. [201065]
Jim Knight: The available information is in the following table:
| Percentage who did not achieve | Number of students who did not achieve (thousand) | ||||
| Total number of pupils( 1) (thousand) | 5+ A*-C grades | 5+ A*-C grades 5+ A*-C grades inc. English and mathematics GCSEs | 5+ A*-C grades | 5+ A*-C grades 5+ A*-C grades inc. English and mathematics GCSEs | |
| 1. Number of pupils on roll aged 15 at the start of the academic year or from 2004-05 end of Key Stage 4 figures are the number of pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 in that academic year. 2. Percentages from 1996-97 include GCSEs and GNVQs. 3. Percentages from 2003-04 include GCSEs and other equivalent qualifications approved for use pre-16. | |||||
Further information on GCSE examination achievement can be found in the Statistical First Release 'GCSE and Equivalent Examination Results in England 2006-07' available at:
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what targets he has set for the proportion of pupils achieving (a) five A* to C GCSEs and (b) five A* to C GCSEs including English and mathematics by (i) 2010 and (ii) 2020; and if he will make a statement. [201075]
Jim Knight: The existing suite of Public Service Agreements (PSAs) targets expires this year, and as part of the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR), a new set of PSAs and national targets is to be delivered by 2011. No formal GCSE targets are due for delivery in 2010.
There are currently no formal targets set for 2020, although the Children's Plan, launched last December, sets out the ambition that by 2020 at least 90 per cent. of young people should achieve the equivalent of five higher GCSEs at age 19.
In addition, the new PSA targets have a dual focus on ensuring that pupils reach the levels expected for their age in both English and mathematics (threshold targets) and improving the rates of progress made by pupils from ages 5 to 16 (new progression targets) with increased attention to achieving faster progress for underachieving groups such as children in care and minority ethnic pupils.
The progression targets will be a major factor in helping all pupils—regardless of their background and circumstances—to realise their potential in English and mathematics in particular. By 2011 we want to see a 15 percentage point improvement in the number of pupils making two levels of progress in English and a 13 percentage point improvement in those making two levels of progress in mathematics between Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4.
The Key Stage 4 (GCSE) threshold target is for 53 per cent. of pupils to achieve 5A*-C GCSEs (and equivalent), including GCSEs in both English and maths by 2011.
In the Budget announcement of 12 March 2008, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced new funding to bring forward by a year to 2011 the Government's ambition for no school to have less than 30 per cent. of its pupils achieving 5 A*-C at GCSE, including English and maths. This programme is called the National Challenge.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what assessment he has made of the likely effect on pupils' average GCSE grades of moving to modular GCSEs from September 2009; and if he will make a statement; [201085]
(2) what proportion of GCSEs will be examined in modular form in (a) 2008, (b) 2009, (c) 2010 and (d) 2011; and what proportion were so examined in 2005. [201086]
Jim Knight: It has been open to awarding bodies to propose either linear or modular GCSEs for a considerable time. In 2005 around 27 per cent. of GCSE specifications on which young people were examined were modular. Following changes to GCSE science specifications for first teaching in 2006, around 35 per cent. of specifications are now modular and these will apply to qualifications awarded up to 2010.
GCSE criteria for all subjects other than English, mathematics, ICT and science were revised in 2007, and the provisions allowing either linear or modular GCSEs remained unchanged. Awarding bodies have recently submitted new GCSE specifications for accreditation for first teaching in September 2009. It is not possible to say what proportion of GCSE specifications examined in 2011 will be in modular form until decisions have been taken on accreditation by Ofqual, the independent regulator of
qualifications. The outcome of the accreditation process will be made public in the summer.
It is Ofqual's responsibility, as regulator, to ensure that standards are maintained so that students achieve the appropriate grade based on their knowledge, understanding and skills, regardless of whether the specification they are studying is modular or not. All GCSE specifications require that students undertake at least 40 per cent. of their assessment at the end of the
course, and students are only able to retake individual modules of their GCSEs once.
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what percentage of eligible pupils were not entered for an English, mathematics, science nor foreign language GCSE in each year since 1997. [201239]
Jim Knight: The readily available information is as follows:
There were 367.2 thousand pupils, approximately 57 per cent. of eligible pupils, who were not entered for English, mathematics, science and a modern language GCSE at the end of Key Stage 4 in the 2006/07 academic year.
There were 332.7 thousand pupils, approximately 52 per cent. of eligible pupils, who were not entered for English, mathematics, science and a modern language GCSE at the end of Key Stage 4 in the 2005/2006 academic year.
There were 269.8 thousand pupils, approximately 43 per cent. of eligible pupils, who were not entered for English, mathematics, science and a modern language GCSE at the end of Key Stage 4 in the 2004/05 academic year.
Further information can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The latest information on GCSE examination entry and achievement can be found in the Statistical First Release “GCSE and Equivalent Examination Results in England 2006/07” available at:
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of Key Stage 4 pupils achieved no GCSEs at grade C or higher in each year from 1997 to 2007. [201306]
Jim Knight: The information requested is in the following table.
| Percentage of pupils achieving no GCSEs at grade C or higher | Number of pupils achieving no GCSEs at grade C or higher (to the nearest 100) | |
| Note: Figures up to and including 2003/04 are based on 15-year-old pupils (age at start of academic year, i.e. 31 August). Figures from 2004/05 onwards are based on pupils at the end of Key Stage 4. | ||
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