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11 Dec 2008 : Column 275W—continued
Education and Skills Act 2008
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how he plans to monitor compliance by schools with the provision of section 81 of the Education and Skills Act 2008. [242007]
Beverley Hughes: The amendments made by Section 81 to schools' duties in respect of providing a programme of careers education and providing access to guidance and reference materials on 16-18 education and training and careers opportunities, will be underpinned by statutory guidance. This will include “Principles” of impartial careers education. We will provide support for schools to help them to assess their performance against the principles including on getting feedback from young people and their parents on the quality of the information and advice that they have received.
The quality and accessibility of the impartiality of the information and advice provided by schools will be considered as part of the inspection process. The school Self Evaluation Form asks schools to evaluate “the quality and accessibility of impartial information and guidance to learners in choosing courses and programmes and, where applicable, career progression”.
Inspectors will consider responses in evaluating how well learners are guided and supported as part of assessing the overall quality of provision.
Local authorities have strategic responsibilities for IAG provision through their responsibility for convening 14-19 partnerships and will also have a strong interest in ensuring that schools adhere to the principles.
GCSE
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what percentage of children obtained five good GCSEs including English and mathematics, excluding equivalents, in each year since 1997. [240620]
Jim Knight: The information requested is given in the table below:
| Number of pupils achieving 5 GCSEs only at grades A*-C including English and maths | Percentage of pupils achieving 5 GCSEs only at grades A*-C including English and maths | |
| Note: The 2008 data are provisional and subject to change. | ||
Please note that the data for 2005-07 are based on pupils at the end of KS4 and years 2003 to 1997 are based on 15-year-old pupils at the start of the academic year.
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) how many and what percentage of (a) boys and (b) girls in (i) pupil referral units, (ii) alternative provision and (iii) special schools obtained at least five A* to C including English and mathematics at GCSE in 2008; [240621]
(2) how many and what percentage of (a) boys and (b) girls in (i) pupil referral units, (ii) alternative provision and (iii) special schools obtained at least five A* to C GCSEs in 2008; [240622]
(3) how many and what percentage of (a) boys and (b) girls in (i) pupil referral units, (ii) alternative provision and (iii) special schools obtained at least one C grade or above at GCSE in 2008. [240623]
Jim Knight: Information on the attainment of pupils in alternative provision is not available.
Provisional information on pupils in pupil referral units and special schools can be found in table 5 of the following Statistical First Release:
DCSF: GCSE and Equivalent Results in England, 2007/08 (Provisional)
Schools get the opportunity to amend their results during the checking exercise before the revised data are published in January 2009.
GCSE: Disadvantaged
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what proportion of children obtained five GCSEs at grades A* to C including English and mathematics in schools (a) with fewer than 10 per cent., (b) with more than 20 per cent. and (c) with more than 50 per cent. free school meals pupils in the last three years. [Official Report, 13 January 2009, Vol. 486, c. 3MC.] [240610]
Jim Knight: The information requested is given in the following table:
| Percentage of pupils achieving five GCSEs at grades A*-C including English and mathematics | ||
| School FSM band | 2006 | 2007 |
2008 data will only be available as of 11 December 2008.
Please note that prior to 2006 the five GCSEs at grades A*-C including English and mathematics indicator was not available at school level.
National Curriculum Tests
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what proportion of 14 year olds (a) not in care and (b) in care achieved level five in English, mathematics and science at key stage 3 in each year since 1997. [241728]
Jim Knight: The OC2 data collection collects information on a range of outcomes for looked after children from local authorities. This information has been published in the Statistical First Release “Outcome Indicators for Children Looked After, Twelve months to 30 September 2007—England” (SFR 08/2008), which is available on the Department’s website via the following link:
This publication contains figures for the period 2005-07.
Information on attainment in schools can be found in table B which shows the number eligible to sit KS3 tests and the number and percentage who have achieved at least level 5 in English, mathematics and science.
Information on the attainment of looked after children was first collected in 2000, figures for earlier years are also published on the Department’s website and can be found via the following links:
Figures for 2002-04 are available in volume reference (03/2005) here:
Figures for 2000-01 are available in volume reference (DH/VOL(OUT)01) here:
Pre-school Education: Teachers
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many (a) male and (b) female teachers there are in (i) Sure Start centres and (ii) nursery schools. [240595]
Beverley Hughes:
The Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey collects information on staff working with children and young people. The data are not available in the form requested. The following table shows, for each type of setting, what proportions of paid staff were male and female. In 2007, 2 per cent. of paid staff were male and 98 per cent. were female in each of the following types of setting: full day care children's centres; nursery schools; primary schools with
nursery and reception classes. In primary schools with reception but no nursery classes 1 per cent. of paid staff were male and 99 per cent. were female.
| Male and female staff by type of setting, 2007 | ||
| Percentage | ||
| Proportion of paid male staff | Proportion of paid female staff | |
| Source: DCSF Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey, 2007. | ||
The Children's Workforce Development Council (CWDC) is taking the lead in a national campaign to highlight the children's workforce. One of the main aims of the campaign is to encourage men into the sector. Also, recruitment activity around Early Years Professional Status includes focus on engaging with and generating interest among men, particularly fathers.
Schools
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much his Department has spent on upgrading or rebuilding school buildings in (a) the North East, (b) Tees Valley district, (c) Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency and (d) England since 1997. [242415]
Jim Knight: The Department is responsible for schools in England, and allocates resources on a local authority basis. Accordingly, information is kept on a local authority rather than on a constituency basis.
During the period 1996-97 to 2007-08, total capital allocations for school building upgrade and rebuilding were in (a) the North East £1,807 million, (b) Middlesbrough £77 million, (c) Redcar and Cleveland £128 million, (d) England £31,446 million.
Schools: Buildings
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families with reference to the written Ministerial Statement of 13 November 2008, Official Report, columns 61-62WS, on secondary school improvement, what schools are classified as coasting in each local authority; and if he will make a statement. [241850]
Jim Knight: This is a local authority led initiative and it will be down to each authority to identify the schools that will most benefit from the support and challenge set out in the strategy document.
The document, Gaining Ground, can be found at
Science: Schools
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps his Department plans to take to improve teaching provision for science in schools. [242373]
Jim Knight: The Government announced in January 2008 a £140 million strategy to educate the next generation of scientists and mathematicians and help recruit and train more science and mathematics teachers. Much work is underway to improve the number of specialist teachers, this includes:
increasing the value of the teacher training bursary for science graduates to £9,000 in September 2006, and the ‘Golden Hello’ for new science teachers rose to £5,000 for trainees who trained on PGCE and equivalent courses from September 2005;
continuing to recruit science graduates into teaching with incentives for providers of £2,000 per recruit to attract more physics and chemistry teachers;
offering courses to enhance physics and chemistry subject skills for those entering teaching who do not have a recent degree, or who have a related degree, in the subject;
piloting accredited courses to give existing science teachers without a physics or chemistry specialism the deep subject knowledge and pedagogy they need to teach these subjects effectively, those who gain accreditation will receive a £5,000 incentive. These courses are to be rolled out nationally from July 2009;
setting up a mentoring scheme to support newly qualified science teachers which is to be piloted from July 2009;
introducing a new cadre of science specialist higher level teaching assistants to support teachers;
funding the Student Associate Scheme in which science undergraduates spend time in school supporting teachers; and
establishing the Transition to Teaching programme to get employers to encourage talented staff to retrain as secondary school teachers in physics, chemistry, ICT and mathematics.
The Government are also committed to improving the quality of teaching and learning. The Secondary National Strategy provides continuing professional development for science teachers focused on raising pupils’ attainment. In partnership with the Wellcome Trust we have set up a national network of Science Learning Centres to provide professional development for science teachers, technicians and other science educators. The training focuses on encouraging innovative and exciting teaching practice that will enthuse and inspire young people. Together with the Wellcome Trust and industry, we are funding ‘Project Enthuse’ to enable science teachers to experience high quality professional development in contemporary science at the National Science Learning centre over the next five years and DCSF is also funding Impact Awards available to teachers attending the regional Science Learning Centres.
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