Oak National Academy

Baroness Hooper Excerpts

Thursday 12th January 2023 Grand Committee

[Baroness Hooper (Con)]

My Lords, I am grateful to have been allowed to make a brief intervention in the gap. I thank my noble friend Lord Vaizey for his introduction and the issues that he raised, with which I agree fully; indeed, I agree with most of what has been said in this debate, both in favour of Oak and what it has achieved as well as everything else. I declare my interest as the honorary president of BESA, the British Educational Suppliers Association, which represents the interests of many small and medium-sized businesses involved in edtech.

It seems to me that what is important is how children are taught and how well they are taught. To achieve the best possible results, it is also important that teachers are able to be creative and responsive to the needs of their pupils—as the noble Baroness, Lady Morris, clearly was—and not bound by rigid, inflexible rules. However, in saying this, I appreciate that some teachers are more in need of support than others. My question for my noble friend the Minister is this: what provision is made in teacher training courses for digital awareness, including ways in which edtech can support and supplement their teaching skills?

Education Technology: Oak National Academy

Baroness Hooper Excerpts

Monday 7th November 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

The procurement of materials for key stages 1 to 4 is largely discrete from the review. Oak will be providing resources only for key stages 1 to 4, and only digital resources. That procurement has just gone out, and we will wait to see what is delivered as a result.

[Baroness Hooper (Con)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as the honorary president of BESA, the British Educational Suppliers Association, whose members have grave concerns about the Oak proposals, and who are mainly highly motivated and innovative small and medium-sized enterprises. Has my noble friend had time to read today's Times Educational Supplement, which points out that four out of 10 of all lessons on Oak started by pupils are not finished, with the worst take-up in disadvantaged areas? Can she comment on that? Could not the funding allocated to Oak be better spent working with tools on solutions that they know work best for their pupils?

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I will look at the numbers to which my noble friend refers. I wonder whether she is referring to lessons delivered by Oak during the pandemic, when they were online and children were working from home. Obviously, the resources that the department is funding Oak to develop in future will be for teachers to deliver in the classroom—although it also provides a back-up and support in the event, God forbid, of another pandemic.

Plurilingual and Intercultural Education

Baroness Hooper Excerpts

Tuesday 18th October 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hooper (Con)]

My Lords, given that English is the most spoken language in the world and that Spanish, as a first language, is the second most spoken language, will my noble friend reassure me that priority will always be given to the teaching of Spanish?

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I thank my noble friend for her question. I am sure she will be pleased, as I am, to note that Spanish is now the second most popular modern foreign language at GCSE with almost 110,000 entries in the academic year 2020-21.

Schools Bill [HL]

Baroness Hooper Excerpts

Report stage & Lords Hansard - Part 1
Tuesday 12th July 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hooper (Con)]

My Lords, I support the noble Duke, the Duke of Wellington, in his Amendment 42. I declare an interest as a co-chairman of the All-Party Group on Dance, as well as having been a pupil of the Royal Ballet School so long ago that it was still then called the Sadler’s Wells Ballet School and it was not then a boarding school. I can vouch for the fact that the academic needs of the children were so well catered for—alongside our specialist ballet lessons, of course—that after I returned to my previous school after an experimental year in London, in digs at the tender age of 10, I actually skipped a year. So, these specialist schools have a very good and fine academic reputation, but they also have an important international reputation and attract international pupils and funding to this country. I hope my noble friend will consider this amendment very sympathetically.

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

My Lords, these amendments reflect the House’s interest in ensuring that the regulatory framework underpinning a fully trust-led system is fit for purpose. I will take Amendments 10 and 43 together, both of which have been tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Storey. As I have already explained, the Government intend to withdraw Clause 4, to which Amendment 10 relates. This will enable discussion with the sector as to how to implement local governance arrangements for schools in all trusts, as we set out in the schools White Paper. In addition, we have already committed to consulting on the exceptional circumstances in which a good school could request that the regulator agrees to the school moving to a stronger trust. It would be inappropriate, however, to pre-empt the outcome of those discussions and the planned engagement with the sector.

Brexit: Gibraltar

Baroness Hooper Excerpts

Tuesday 21st March 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hooper (Con)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as honorary president of the Friends of Gibraltar. This is a UK-based group which brings together Gibraltarians and others who have lived and served in Gibraltar and who are concerned about keeping in touch with what is going on on the Rock, politically, economically and especially in terms of its history and heritage. I am also a long-standing member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Gibraltar.

As an erstwhile member of the European Union Committee, I congratulate my noble friend Lord Boswell on the way in which he introduced this debate and his committee for its comprehensive, first class report. It succinctly and clearly covers the economic, border and sovereignty issues and the uncertainties resulting from our referendum decision. Although all our overseas territories have been affected in one way or another by Brexit, Gibraltar is the only one in Europe and is most at risk. I had always hoped that, under the umbrella of the European Union, it would have been possible to sort out some of the challenges and issues with Spain which have made life so difficult for Gibraltar in the past.

I also know Spain well and have many friends there. I find it hard to believe that the Spanish Government would try to exert undue pressure and heavy-handed controls during the period of the Brexit negotiations or, indeed, once we are out. I understand the fears. We have all had experience of the past, such as the queues and delays at the border and the airport problems. Let us hope that the newly arrived Spanish ambassador to this country will be watching or at least listening to this debate and the signals it sends out.

I welcome in particular the setting up of the dedicated joint ministerial council, and I trust that it will ensure, to some extent, a less uncertain feeling about the future for Gibraltarians. I hope that it will also give the Government of Gibraltar the realisation that the United Kingdom Government are giving Gibraltar a special place and space in the negotiations.

As has already been said, the key issue for Gibraltar is access to the single market and services, as well as the border issues and air flights. If a week is a long time in politics, two years gives us an opportunity to use ingenuity, imagination and circumstances as they change to find a solution. This has to be the main concern of the joint ministerial council. If the Minister could give us more information as to the council’s agenda, that would be very welcome.

My special interest in Gibraltar started when, after the first direct elections to the European Parliament in 1979, as a newly elected MEP, I was asked to be one of a small cross-party group to keep an eye on Gibraltar’s interests. That was when Sir Joshua Hassan was First Minister, and the late Lord Bethell led the group. At that time, the big issue for Gibraltarians was voting rights to the European Parliament. Eventually, a solution was found. I hope that those MEPs who benefit from Gibraltarian votes are also looking to protect Gibraltar’s interests.

It seems to me that anyone who knows Gibraltar loves Gibraltar and its people, and that must augur well for the future. Loyalty should be repaid by loyalty.

Education Bill

Baroness Hooper Excerpts

Wednesday 20th July 2011 Grand Committee

[Lord Sutherland of Houndwood]

My Lords, the amendments tabled by my noble friends Lord Quirk and Lord Ouseley belong closely together because you do not have to visit many primary schools with children of disadvantaged backgrounds to discover that one of their chief difficulties is lack of linguistic capacity when moving from reception into primary school. That is why I support the amendments, as I do the amendment tabled by my noble friend Lady Flather. In view of what I said earlier, I shall not repeat myself, but there is a definition of community cohesion, quoted by the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, from the Home Office, available at column 39 of volume 686 of Hansard.

[Baroness Hooper]

My Lords, my name is attached to Amendments 117 and 121, and I wish to associate myself with the remarks made by the noble Lord, Lord Quirk, with regard to Amendment 117. Both these amendments were intended to remind us of and to draw our attention to the importance of the teaching and learning of modern languages for communication skills, for understanding other people’s cultures, as an added value for employment purposes and to enable pupils to have a better understanding of their own language. I wish to make that rapid interjection to support these amendments.

[Baroness Perry of Southwark]

My Lords, my noble friend Lord Boswell of Aynho has asked me to flag up for Amendment 122ZA the requirement on schools to provide a continuity of careers guidance to young people with special needs, which can take them out of the purview of the school, and who can therefore be missed by Ofsted.

Education: Languages

Baroness Hooper Excerpts

Thursday 1st July 2010 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hooper]

My Lords, can my noble friend give more information about the scope and background to the Paris declaration and tell us if the United Kingdom is a party to it?

[Lord Hill of Oareford]

The background of the declaration is a report into the shortage of trained linguists and translators. I saw a figure somewhere in connection with this, which estimates that the value of translation services in the EU is €1 billion a year. It is a big market, which should provide lots of opportunities for trained linguists to benefit. I do not believe that the Government were involved in the process of the declaration.