Education Bill

Additional memorandum submitted by The Department for Education (E 79)

CLAUSE 20

Reference: EBCC/2011/Note 6

To aid the Committee’s consideration of the Education Bill, this note provides further information on the delegated powers in clause 20.

CLAUSE 20

Policy statement

1. The challenge facing our education system is not merely to improve year-on-year, but to keep pace with the best education systems in the world. We therefore need to be able to compare ourselves internationally. If our school participation rates in international studies are not high enough, there is a risk that data on comparative educational performance is invalidated and public money spent on conducting the studies is wasted.

2. Our intention is to use the powers in this Bill to secure school participation in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) survey, Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS). In the future there may be new international surveys developed in which we may wish to take part. The Secretary of State could consider using this power to direct participation in any such future surveys.

March 2011