Education: English Baccalaureate

Debate between Baroness Perry of Southwark and Lord Nash

Monday 14th December 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Perry of Southwark]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what impact the introduction of the English Baccalaureate has had on the number of young people studying science and mathematics.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education (Lord Nash) (Con)]

My Lords, all state-funded schools are required to teach science and maths to pupils up to the age of 16 as part of a broad and balanced curriculum. Since the introduction of the EBacc in 2010, the proportion of pupils taking GCSEs in maths has remained stable at 97%. For science counted in the EBacc, the proportion has increased from 63% to 74%. We have also had a substantial increase of 15% or more in the number of pupils taking maths and science at A-level.

[Baroness Perry of Southwark (Con)]

That is very good news indeed. Would my noble friend not agree that given the importance of these STEM subjects to the future careers of young people and, indeed, to the economy, it would be very profitable to continue the expansion of maths and science as compulsory subjects into the 17 and 18 year-old age group?

[Lord Nash]

I entirely agree with that, and we are ensuring that this happens for those who have not passed at grade C, certainly for maths. Obviously if pupils wish to continue with science, they can do so.

Education: Initial Teacher Training

Debate between Baroness Perry of Southwark and Lord Nash

Wednesday 14th October 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Nash]

It is important to point out that this is not quite the dramatic change that some people think. After all, at least 60% of the one-year postgraduate ITT course—which the vast majority of trainees go on through HEI—is already in-school. This year, nearly half the trainees will be going through a school-led system, and this Government trust schools and heads to be in charge of teacher improvement.

[Baroness Perry of Southwark (Con)]

Will my noble friend agree that probably the most important gift that teachers bring to their pupils is their knowledge of the subject they teach? Can he assure us that the new way of training teachers—through the school route—will still ensure that they have a strong mastery of and enthusiasm for the subject they teach?

[Lord Nash]

I agree entirely. Subject knowledge is one of the most important things that teachers must have. The Carter review, while saying that the overall effectiveness of ITT was pretty good, pointed out that this was one of the weak areas. Our reforms to the curriculum, by attracting more highly qualified teachers into the system, will result in our next generation of teachers having greater subject knowledge. We are already seeing this in A-levels, where over the last five years the number of students has increased by 13% in maths, 16% in physics and 17% in chemistry.

National Curriculum: Animal Welfare

Debate between Baroness Perry of Southwark and Lord Nash

Tuesday 24th February 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Nash]

If we offer all our children a really good education, which we are trying to do, they can make their minds up on these issues for themselves.

[Baroness Perry of Southwark (Con)]

Does my noble friend agree that when topics such as the use of animals in scientific experiments are dealt with in schools they should be dealt with in a balanced way, and that children should be able, as he has just said, to balance the various arguments on different sides?

[Lord Nash]

I entirely agree. Children taught properly should be able to balance all these arguments. They should be taught about argument and they should have enough scientific knowledge to understand what is happening.

Schools: Substance Abuse Education

Debate between Baroness Perry of Southwark and Lord Nash

Monday 2nd February 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Perry of Southwark (Con)]

Does my noble friend agree with me that schools cannot be expected to do everything on their own, and that it is vital that parents also play a part not only in monitoring what their children are doing when they are out in the evenings but in discussing these issues with them in an open and frank manner?

[Lord Nash]

I agree entirely with my noble friend that parents have a role to play. We have our CANparent trials. One thing that is very important for parents to instil into their children is a sense of routine, particularly in the evenings and late at night.

Schools: Foreign Languages

Debate between Baroness Perry of Southwark and Lord Nash

Monday 26th January 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Nash]

In April last year, we published a set of key principles for assessment, produced as a result of consultation on accountability. We also announced last May a new package of pupil assessment methods developed by teachers for their fellow teachers. Schools are able to develop whatever methodology of assessment they like. However, I will take note of what the noble Baroness says and look at that further.

[Baroness Perry of Southwark (Con)]

Will my noble friend tell me what the Government are doing to ensure a supply of well qualified and competent teachers of modern languages, both at primary and secondary level?

[Lord Nash]

I am delighted to answer my noble friend’s question. We have increased the bursary available to people with a first class degree in, for instance, languages, to £25,000. We are providing £2 million to fund nine projects across the country that will help primary and secondary teachers teach the new modern language curriculum at key stages 2 and 3. The National College for Teaching and Leadership facilitates an expert group for languages and also has a pilot scheme for subject enhancement in primary schools.

Schools: Arts Subjects

Debate between Baroness Perry of Southwark and Lord Nash

Tuesday 20th January 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Nash]

I am not entirely sure. I believe that it is next year, but I will come back to the noble Baroness on that.

[Baroness Perry of Southwark (Con)]

Does my noble friend agree that the introduction of the new Progress 8 measure will enable every child to have a broad and balanced curriculum—much more so than in the past?

[Lord Nash]

I agree entirely. We want every child to engage in a broad and balanced curriculum; Ofsted will inspect against that, and, as I have already said, many more options are now available through Progress 8. Previously we had what the shadow Secretary of State described as the “great crime” of the C/D borderline; we will now value many more subjects widely and will rate Bs to As and Es to Ds much more highly than we have in the past.

Employment: Young People

Debate between Baroness Perry of Southwark and Lord Nash

Wednesday 10th December 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Nash]

The noble Baroness makes a very good point. I am aware of her experience in this area. As the guidance notes, the area where one-to-one careers advice may be particularly appropriate is for pupils with learning disabilities. We will ensure that the careers company makes sure that all pupils get the opportunities for careers advice that they deserve.

[Baroness Perry of Southwark (Con)]

My Lords, I welcome the Statement addressing an issue which has been an area of such desperate failure in our education system for the past few years. Indeed, on the provision of advice by Connexions, I have not yet met a school which found that Connexions was useful or helpful to it in the work it was trying to do. Is it envisaged that this new company will enable employers to have an input into the syllabus for some of the major subjects of the curriculum? So often we hear from employers that what is taught is not helpful to them in employment. Will it go beyond their involvement in providing placements and advice, into some input into the syllabus for the main subjects?

Schools: Academies

Debate between Baroness Perry of Southwark and Lord Nash

Monday 27th October 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Nash]

The noble Baroness picks out some isolated examples. I point out to her, as I have before, that 36 of the 55 pre-warning notices that this Government have issued to academy sponsors have been to sponsors approved under the previous Government. This Government have considerably tightened up financial oversight and improved things such as control of grants. Of course, these figures are but nothing compared with the £10 billion overspend the National Audit Office tells us that the previous Government were heading for under the Building Schools for the Future programme.

[Baroness Perry of Southwark (Con)]

Will my noble friend tell us whether there is any information about the innovations and improvements that heads have been able to make since so many of them were given the freedom to manage their own budgets?

[Lord Nash]

My noble friend is quite right that there have been many examples of this, including more efficient purchasing, longer school days, greater freedom over the curriculum, the ability to employ subject-specific teachers in primary schools, the ability to find the money to engage more effectively with the professional communities and business, and the generation of income more effectively from their own facilities.

Schools: Admissions

Debate between Baroness Perry of Southwark and Lord Nash

Tuesday 21st October 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Perry of Southwark (Con)]

My Lords, have the Government made any assessment of how many parents are managing to get their children places in the schools of their choice?

[Lord Nash]

We have. The current rate is that 87% of parents get their children into the school of their first choice and 96% get them into their top three. As I said, we are intent on making sure that every school is as good as it can be.

Schools: Local Oversight

Debate between Baroness Perry of Southwark and Lord Nash

Monday 28th July 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Nash]

We have not yet gone as far as mandatory training. We have a high expectation that all governors will be trained where necessary and that they should be chosen for their skills. We brought in this big focus on skills rather than representation: governors may come from all walks of life, but they must have the expectation that they will be trained. We have also brought in tightening regulations so that where governing bodies feel that one of their governors needs training and they refuse to take that training, they can be suspended.

[Baroness Perry of Southwark (Con)]

Can my noble friend confirm for me and for the House that the overwhelming success of the vast majority of free schools and academies is the best evidence that allowing autonomy and freedom to schools and heads is the best way of raising standards?

[Lord Nash]

I am grateful to my noble friend for her comments. The overwhelming success of the programme is unarguable. Some 24% of free schools are rated outstanding, which makes them by far our highest performing group of schools; converter academies are far more likely to retain or increase their Ofsted rating at the next inspection; and sponsored academies are increasing their performance at a rate approximately twice that of other schools.

Education: Free School Funding

Debate between Baroness Perry of Southwark and Lord Nash

Monday 12th May 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Perry of Southwark (Con)]

Will my noble friend confirm that one of the most heartening aspects of the free schools programme is that every free school is opened only after extensive consultation with the local community? By the time the free school is open, it has huge community support, and the parents who have been involved in the setting up of the school have overwhelming enthusiasm and are greatly involved in the life of the school in a way that, in my experience, has been seen in very few local authority schools.

[Lord Nash]

I can confirm what my noble friend says. I encourage noble Lords from across the House to visit schools such as Dixons Trinity Bradford, Reach Academy Feltham, Canary Wharf College or ARK Conway Primary Academy, all of which have been rated outstanding within months of opening.

Education: Academy Chains

Debate between Baroness Perry of Southwark and Lord Nash

Wednesday 15th January 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Nash]

My Lords, it is absolutely clear that both trustees and directors of these companies must declare their interests in the accounts.

[Baroness Perry of Southwark (Con)]

My Lords, does my noble friend agree that the most important form of accountability is the accountability of the school to its pupils, and their parents, to raise the standards of achievement? The huge success that my noble friend has already described is surely evidence of the success of the accountability that has left academies accountable to their pupils to raise standards.

[Lord Nash]

I agree entirely with my noble friend. The sixth largest economy in the world cannot tolerate a system whereby our schools are rated in the 20s for developed countries. That is what our reform programme is all about improving.

Ofsted: Annual Report 2012-13

Debate between Baroness Perry of Southwark and Lord Nash

Wednesday 8th January 2014 Lords Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools (Lord Nash) (Con)]

My Lords, I am delighted that the chief inspector has focused attention on “lucky children”. Although 78% of schools are now good or outstanding—compared to 68% when we came into office—there are still too many unlucky children. Many of them attend schools up and down the country that have been failing for years and which we are now turning into sponsored academies. The performance of sponsored academies far outstrips that of other state schools. For instance, sponsored academies open for three years improved their GCSE results by 12% versus 5% for local authority schools. The Government’s extensive programme of reform is aimed at ensuring that all children are lucky enough to go to a good school.

[Baroness Perry of Southwark (Con)]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that heartening reply. Would he also join me in welcoming the chief inspector’s finding that children’s success in education is determined not by their background but by the quality of the school they attend and that lucky children are simply those who attend good schools? Does this not offer an end to the climate of low expectations for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, which for too long has bedevilled their opportunities?

[Lord Nash]

My noble friend is quite right. When the new chief inspector came into office, one thing that I thought he did very well was to abolish the appalling low-expectation term “satisfactory” and set much higher expectations for schools. It has clearly been proved through the academies programme and other schools that setting higher expectations for our children does work.

Children and Families Bill

Debate between Baroness Perry of Southwark and Lord Nash

Wednesday 6th November 2013 Grand Committee

[Baroness Perry of Southwark (Con)]

I have a great deal of sympathy with what the noble Baroness said. It is true that the excitement of the Bill is in the bringing together of these three services, but the noble Baroness’s argument has not answered the Minister’s point about giving priority to SEN children over children who are very sick with cancer or other diseases. It is inherent in the system that that problem will remain. We cannot, just by will, say that bringing them all together will somehow stop there being a different route for SEN children from that for other children, and that point has to be answered.

[Lord Nash]

The noble Baroness, Lady Morris, makes her point powerfully and well. I entirely agree with her about the necessity of changing the culture and that in some cases we may be dancing on the head of a pin and what matters is the practicality at the coal face. We need to make sure that we attempt to do this practically and fairly so that we do not unreasonably advantage one group of children over another, as my noble friend Lady Perry said. We will try to ensure that, with further dialogue between now and Report, we all understand where we are on this.