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6 Oct 2008 : Column 490W—continued
General Certificate of Secondary Education
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many pupils took GCSEs in (a) media studies, (b) psychology and (c) law in each year since 1997, broken down by type of school. [221760]
Jim Knight: The information required for the last three years is given in the following table. Figures for earlier years can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
| Comprehensive | Selective | Modern | Other maintained | Independent | Total | |
| (1) Figures suppressed due to small numbers. Note: Figures relate to pupils at the end of Key Stage 4. | ||||||
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the answer of 21 July 2008, Official Report, column 929W, on children: disadvantaged, how many and what proportion of (a) all pupils and (b) pupils eligible to receive free school meals did not attain any GCSE grades higher than a D in each year since 1997-98. [223713]
Jim Knight: Information on free school meals was first collected in 2002. Figures are provided as follows for 2002 and for the latest year 2007. Information for the intermediate years can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Updated figures have been provided for 2007. So, the 2007 figure differs from that previously given in the answer of 21 July 2008, Official Report, column 929W.
The figures cover maintained schools only.
The 2007 figures are for pupils at the end of key stage 4, the 2002 figures are for 15-year-olds.
138,340 pupils did not attain any GCSE grades higher than a D in 2006/07. This was 23.1 per cent. of pupils at the end of key stage 4 in maintained schools.
34,176 pupils eligible to receive free school meals did not attain any GCSE grades higher than a D in 2006/07. This was 44.6 per cent. of eligible pupils at the end of key stage 4 in maintained schools.
132,061 pupils did not attain any GCSE grades higher than a D in 2001/02. This was 24.2 per cent. of 15-year-olds in maintained schools.
34,128 pupils eligible to receive free school meals did not attain any GCSE grades higher than a D in 2001/02. This was 45.9 per cent. of eligible 15-year-olds in maintained schools.
Headteachers: Early Retirement
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many (a) headteachers and (b) deputy headteachers took early retirement in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [223719]
Jim Knight: The information is not available in the format requested.
The following table provides the number and percentage of leadership group teachers, head, deputy and assistant head teachers, employed in local authority maintained schools in England who took early retirement in each of the last three years.
| Leadership group teachers( 1) early retirements( 2) from local authority maintained schools—coverage: England | ||
| Number | Percentage( 3) | |
| (1) Includes head teachers, deputy head teachers and assistant head teachers. (2) Includes teachers retiring under the premature and actuarially reduced pension arrangements. (3) The percentage rate is calculated from the number of early retirements divided by the headcount number of leadership group teachers, of all ages, recorded in service in January of the year in question. (4) All years are provisional and subject to slight revision due to the addition of retrospective awards and suspension of pension benefits where teachers return to service. Note: Numbers are rounded to the nearest 10. Source: Database of Teacher Records (retirement numbers) and Annual Survey of Teachers in Service and Teacher Vacancies, 618g, (teacher numbers) | ||
Languages: Primary Education
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what percentage of primary school children are being taught a foreign language; and if he will make a statement. [223718]
Jim Knight: Ongoing research commissioned by the Department shows that in 2007, 84 per cent. of primary schools in England taught languages to pupils in Key Stage 2 (ages 7-11). This represented an increase of 14 percentage points since the same survey was carried out in 2006. We do not know how many pupils this represents as not all primary schools teach languages to all year groups in Key Stage 2.
Similar research carried out in 2002 showed that 44 percentage of primary schools were then teaching languages.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) how many primary school language teachers were recruited in each year since 2005; and if he will make a statement; [223720]
(2) how many (a) primary teachers and (b) primary teaching assistants have been given training to teach foreign languages to their pupils since 2005; and if he will make a statement. [223721]
Jim Knight:
The information given in the table shows recruitment to initial teacher training courses in primary modern languages. In total nearly 4,000 trainees have gone through these courses, with more to be trained
over the next few years. The Training and Development Agency is also working with teacher training institutions to provide additional routes to boost the primary work force teaching languages. They are also developing a pilot programme of retraining modules for secondary language teachers to support language development in primary schools.
The Government fund the British Council to run the Primary Teacher Project, through which primary teachers undertake a two-week programme of language tuition through a partner institution in Europe, to develop their confidence and linguistic competence. Some 300 teachers went on this programme in 2007-08 and it is planned that around 400 will do so in 2008-09.
Teachers can also be supported through the increased funding we have given through local authorities to support the delivery of primary languages—£32.5 million in 2008-09, up from £27.5 million in 2007-08. Schools can use this for a variety of purposes, including to pay for in-service training for teachers and teaching assistants, or for upskilling primary teachers. CILT, the National Centre for Languages, also runs training courses for local authority staff and schools.
| Number of new entrants on primary modern foreign language ITT courses between 2005/06 and 2007/08 | |||
| Total number of new entrants | |||
| ITT subject | 2005/06 | 2006/07 | 2007/08( 1) |
| (1) Provisional. Notes: 1. Figures for mainstream trainees include Universities and other HE institutions, SCITT and OU, but exclude employment based routes. 2. Figures for 2007/08 are provisional and are subject to change. 3. Figures include trainees who are re-sitting all or part of their ITT programme. 4. Figures trainees on courses of one to five year durations. 5. Figures are individually rounded to the nearest 10 and may not sum. Source: TDA ITT Trainee Number Census | |||
Information on Higher Level Teaching Assistant (HLTA) specialisms has recently started to be collected by the Training and Development Agency. The available data indicate that in 2007/08 there were some 40 HLTAs in primary schools specialising in modern foreign languages.
No other information is centrally collected on the training provided to teachers and teaching assistants to teach foreign languages to pupils.
Languages: Secondary Education
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many secondary schools have set a benchmark to increase the number of key stage 4 pupils taking a modern language; and if he will make a statement. [223722]
Jim Knight:
Since my reply of 12 November 2007 to the hon. Member no further research has been carried out concerning this benchmark. However at the end of
September we will start a three-year evaluation, reporting in July 2011, looking at what impact the measures recommended in the Languages Review have had on take up at key stage 4, including looking at how many secondary schools have set the 50-90 percentage benchmark.
National Curriculum Tests
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) which organisations submitted a bid for the current contract to mark key stage two and three standard assessment tests; [221903]
(2) how much each organisation that submitted a bid for the current contract to mark key stage 2 and 3 standard assessment tests proposed to charge to deliver the contract. [221904]
Jim Knight: The administration and marking of national curriculum tests is a function of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) which is delivered independently of Government. The National Assessment Agency (NAA) is responsible for the marking process. I have therefore asked David Gee, Managing Director of the NAA, to write to the hon. Member. A copy of his letter has been placed in the Library.
Letter from David Gee, dated 18 September 2008:
The Secretary of State for Education, the Rt Hon Ed Balls MP, has asked me to write to you concerning two recent parliamentary questions pertaining to the organisations that submitted bids for the contract to provide external marking and data collection services for key stage 2 & 3 national curriculum tests.
The organisations who submitted bids for the National Curriculum Tests contract were Capita, Edexcel, ETS, Logica CMG, Research Machines (RM), and Harcourt. These were shortlisted to Edexcel, ETS and LogicaCMG. Bids were received from Edexcel and ETS. LogicaCMG declined to submit a final bid.
The amount each bidder proposed to charge is commercial in confidence and the NAA is therefore not in a position to provide the information you seek. If this situation changes, or if the organisations concerned publicly state their involvement in the procurement process and the nature of their bid, I will write to you again.
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the oral statement of 22 July 2008, Official Report, column 680, on SATS, what factors Ofqual took into account in determining that the quality of marking of this year's key stage 2 and key stage 3 national curriculum tests was at least as good as in previous years. [223073]
Jim Knight: The remit of Ofqual is to regulate the national curriculum assessments to ensure that standards are maintained and assessments are fair and effective. Ofqual operates independently from Government, and I have asked Kathleen Tattersall, chair of Ofqual, to write to the hon. Member. A copy of this letter will be placed in the Library.
Letter from Isabel Nisbet, dated 15 September 2008:
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