Asked by: Lord Quirk (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to increase the number of talented young people entering the teaching profession.
Answered by Lord Nash
Teaching is a hugely popular career and there are currently more teachers in England’s classrooms than ever before and record levels of top graduates entering the profession.
In order to support recruitment in 2016/17, we have increased postgraduate bursaries, which put a premium on degree class, to attract top graduates in English Baccalaureate subjects including physics, mathematics, chemistry, biology, computing, modern foreign languages and geography. Prestigious scholarships, worth £30,000 for physics and £25,000 for mathematics, chemistry or computing, are also available to talented graduates with a first or 2:1 degree who are passionate about their subject and have the potential to be inspirational teachers. We are also continuing to fund Teach First and their mission to get the best graduates into challenging schools.
We are spending £67 million to recruit an additional 2,500 mathematics and physics teachers and boost the skills of 15,000 existing non-specialist teachers. This package includes new undergraduate courses that provide students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects the option to train to teach alongside their academic studies, and paid internships in teaching to increase opportunities for STEM undergraduates to experience teaching before they commit to it as a career.
We also run a programme of marketing activities to explain the benefits of a career in teaching and attract young people into the profession. This includes communicating with young people via the “Get into Teaching” website, digital advertising and activity on social media. Department officials attend more than 40 graduate recruitment events each year where they meet one-to-one with students, setting out the benefits of a career in teaching.
Asked by: Lord Quirk (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government which areas of the country are most at risk of an actual or projected shortage of teachers in schools.
Answered by Lord Nash
The government is committed to making teaching an attractive career for talented people, and will continue to support schools recruit and retain the brightest and best teachers. At a national level, our indicators show that the system overall is recruiting and retaining a sufficient number of teachers to meet demand. However, we fully recognise that, as the economy improves, schools face a challenge to recruit teachers, with schools in certain areas, such as coastal and rural areas, often facing greater difficulties.
We are supporting schools through policies that help them to attract and retain good teachers, such as reducing unnecessary workload, tackling poor pupil behaviour, and increasing pay flexibility.
Asked by: Lord Quirk (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress is being made to attract more male recruits to teaching, especially in primary schools.
Answered by Lord Nash
We value diversity in the workforce and want to attract high quality teachers from both sexes. Recent figures show that, while 15% of full-time equivalent teachers in publicly- funded primary schools in England are male, the proportion of men starting primary initial teacher training programmes in 2014/15 is 21%, the highest proportion since comparable records were first maintained in 2008/09.
Asked by: Lord Quirk (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the criticisms of GCSEs by the High Master of St Paul’s School who was reported in the press on 18 August as saying that "one size doesn’t fit all" and that "the curse of GCSE is that the size on offer fits no one".
Answered by Lord Nash
The government’s plan for education is designed to help every student, regardless of their background, develop the knowledge, skills and values to prepare them for life in modern Britain. That is why we are reforming GCSEs and A levels to be robust and rigorous, to match the best education systems in the world and to keep pace with universities’ and employers’ demands.
We have also introduced gold-standard technical and vocational qualifications, ensuring our young people can choose from a wide range of academic and vocational courses.
The government has consulted extensively with a range of educational stakeholders including the teaching sectors and employers.
Asked by: Lord Quirk (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of any correlation between classroom behaviour and classroom seating arrangements.
Answered by Lord Nash
The government is committed to ensuring that all teachers are trained to tackle serious behaviour issues as well as low-level classroom disruption. We have not undertaken a formal assessment of any correlation between classroom behaviour and classroom seating arrangements; however Sir Andrew Carter’s recent review of initial teacher training (ITT) content identified that some training courses are insufficiently robust in terms of training teachers to manage poor pupil behaviour. That is why we have invited Tom Bennett, a renowned behaviour expert, to lead an expert group to develop core content on behaviour management for ITT. His group will consider how best to promote their recommendations to ITT providers.
All qualified teachers are required to meet the Teachers’ Standards, which include specific requirements for developing and demonstrating effective behaviour management skills. This includes setting clear rules and routines for behaviour in classrooms, and taking responsibility for promoting good and courteous behaviour both in classrooms and around the school.
Asked by: Lord Quirk (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the recent remarks by Tom Bennett regarding the inadequacy of teacher training with regard to managing behaviour in the classroom.
Answered by Lord Nash
The government is committed to ensuring that all teachers are trained to tackle serious behaviour issues as well as low-level classroom disruption. We have not undertaken a formal assessment of any correlation between classroom behaviour and classroom seating arrangements; however Sir Andrew Carter’s recent review of initial teacher training (ITT) content identified that some training courses are insufficiently robust in terms of training teachers to manage poor pupil behaviour. That is why we have invited Tom Bennett, a renowned behaviour expert, to lead an expert group to develop core content on behaviour management for ITT. His group will consider how best to promote their recommendations to ITT providers.
All qualified teachers are required to meet the Teachers’ Standards, which include specific requirements for developing and demonstrating effective behaviour management skills. This includes setting clear rules and routines for behaviour in classrooms, and taking responsibility for promoting good and courteous behaviour both in classrooms and around the school.
Asked by: Lord Quirk (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government in what specific ways they plan to promote recommendations on classroom control by Tom Bennett to teachers.
Answered by Lord Nash
The government is committed to ensuring that all teachers are trained to tackle serious behaviour issues as well as low-level classroom disruption. We have not undertaken a formal assessment of any correlation between classroom behaviour and classroom seating arrangements; however Sir Andrew Carter’s recent review of initial teacher training (ITT) content identified that some training courses are insufficiently robust in terms of training teachers to manage poor pupil behaviour. That is why we have invited Tom Bennett, a renowned behaviour expert, to lead an expert group to develop core content on behaviour management for ITT. His group will consider how best to promote their recommendations to ITT providers.
All qualified teachers are required to meet the Teachers’ Standards, which include specific requirements for developing and demonstrating effective behaviour management skills. This includes setting clear rules and routines for behaviour in classrooms, and taking responsibility for promoting good and courteous behaviour both in classrooms and around the school.
Asked by: Lord Quirk (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Nash on 22 October 2014 (HL2025), on the need to improve the productive use of classroom time following the raising of the school-leaving age in September 2013 and his comment that, "inevitably it will take time for such far-reaching changes to take effect", what evidence they yet have that such changes have begun to take effect.
Answered by Lord Nash
Recent evidence suggests that the 16 to 19 funding and study programme reforms are now beginning to have a measurable impact on student provision.
Latest official figures[1] show the proportion of 16 year olds in education or apprenticeships at the end of 2013 was 93.8%. These figures reflect the first cohort impacted by raising the participation age and therefore suggest the policy is having a positive impact.
The number of students studying in full time education in academic year 2013 to 2014 has increased by 35% on the previous year.
In the same period, the number of students studying advanced (level 3) qualifications has increased by 11% and in year data suggests that 16 to 19 student enrolment in English and maths is better than expected with 89% of students without C grades in English and/or maths continuing their study in FE institutions.
Additionally, in September 2014 the government published a list of approved Applied General and Tech Level qualifications, improving the quality and relevance of vocational qualifications subjects on offer.
[1] Participation in education, training and employment, age 16 to 18 Statistical First Release https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/participation-in-education-training-and-employment-age-16-to-18
Asked by: Lord Quirk (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Nash on 14 July 2014 (WA 103), what evidence they yet have of improved behaviour of school pupils, following their issue of "updated behaviour advice" in February 2014.
Answered by Lord Nash
In February 2014, following results of the Teacher Voice survey (2013) which showed that one in three secondary school teachers lacked confidence in their powers to discipline pupils, we updated our behaviour advice to make clear the range of sanctions that it is permissible for schools to deploy for poor behaviour. This update was aimed to reassure teachers of their powers to discipline pupils and increase teacher confidence to confront poor pupil behaviour.
The Teacher Voice survey funded by the Department for Education was repeated in May 2014, just three months after the behaviour advice was updated. The majority of teachers (74 per cent) said that the standard of pupil behaviour in their school is ‘good’ or ‘very good’. This is broadly similar to the findings for 2013 and an increase of 4 percentage points on the respective figure for 2008.
In addition, the Ofsted Annual Report published in December 2014 shows that 83 per cent of schools have behaviour that is good or better. We aim to repeat the same behaviour questions in future waves of the Teacher Voice survey in order to measure change in pupil behaviour over time.
Asked by: Lord Quirk (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, during the consultation period that preceded the issue of the current National Curriculum, they took account of the expectation in education systems in continental Europe that teachers are well-informed on the nature of vocabulary and lexical semantics and that they will give separate prominence in mother-tongue teaching; and if so, why they did not include such an emphasis in the National Curriculum of this country.
Answered by Lord Nash
The review of the English National Curriculum involved consideration of the curricula of high-performing jurisdictions around the world in which English is the medium of instruction. The high-performing jurisdictions selected for the review, which included looking at how vocabulary development was approached, were all outside continental Europe. The analysis for the review was extended to some non-Anglophone jurisdictions in order to assess how different jurisdictions define expectations around the reading of literature in their curricula. The eight European non-Anglophone jurisdictions selected were Denmark, Estonia, France, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal and Poland.
The report from the review of what we can learn from the English, mathematics and science curricula of high-performing jurisdictions can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-the-national-curriculum-in-england-what-can-we-learn-from-the-english-mathematics-and-science-curricula-of-high-performing-jurisdictions