Asked by: Lord Quirk (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have observed any correlation between bad behaviour in schools and the absence of a specified dress code for (1) pupils, and (2) teachers.
Answered by Lord Nash
The Government does not have any evidence of any correlation between bad behaviour in schools and the absence of a specified dress code for pupils and teachers.
The Department for Education has issued advice that strongly encourages schools to have a uniform, as it can play a valuable role in contributing to the ethos of a school and setting an appropriate tone. However, it is for the governing body of a school (or the academy trust in the case of academies and free schools) to decide whether there should be a uniform policy and other rules on appearance. This flows from the duties placed upon all governing bodies by statute to ensure that school policies promote good behaviour and discipline among the pupil body.
Dress codes for teachers are a matter for employers to determine, whether that is the governing body, academy trust or local authority. As part of the general terms and conditions of employment agreed with employees we would expect schools to consider an appropriate dress code, relevant to the individual setting, taking into account the requirements of the post.
Asked by: Lord Quirk (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, in respect of the latest two years for which figures are available, how many of the pupils excluded from academies were admitted to local authority schools.
Answered by Lord Nash
Information on the number of exclusions from academies in England in the 2010/11[1] and 2011/12[2] academic years is available in table 16 of the “Permanent and fixed period exclusions from schools in England” statistical first releases for each year.
Information on the number of excluded pupils that were admitted to local authority schools is not held by the Department.
Academies are bound by their funding agreements to comply with the statutory requirements on admissions and the Admissions Code as if they were a maintained school. Schools, including academies, cannot refuse to admit pupils on the grounds of past behaviour unless they have received two or more permanent exclusions.
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 May (WA 532) stating that the Ofsted Report for 2013 found there were 700,000 pupils in schools where behaviour is "just not good enough", how many of these pupils were (1) under 10, (2) between 10 and 13, (3) over 13, (4) in local authority schools, (5) in academies, and (6) boys.
Answered by Lord Nash
Ofsted's annual report (2012/13) indicates that around 700,000 pupils are in schools where behaviour needs to improve.
This figure is based on Ofsted's behaviour inspection judgement for 2013, which shows that nationally 8 per cent of schools in England are rated less than ‘good', and the number of pupils on roll in schools taken from the rounded January 2013 School Census Data. Information in the form requested is not held by the Department.
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 May (WA 532), of the just under a third of teachers who "did not have the confidence...to discipline pupils for unacceptable behaviour", what proportion of those teachers were in (1) primary schools, (2) secondary schools, (3) local authority schools, and (4) academies.
Answered by Lord Nash
29 per cent of secondary school teachers did not feel confident using disciplinary powers, compared to 17 per cent of primary school teachers. The Department for Education does not hold separate data for local authority schools and academies.
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 May (WA 533), if school exclusion data for the years 1980 and 1990 are not held by the Department for Education, from where they can be obtained.
Answered by Lord Nash
Permanent exclusions data was first collected in 1994/95. Information on fixed period exclusions was only collected from 2003/04.
Information on exclusion rates prior to 2005/06 was collected via the Termly Exclusions Survey rather than the School Census.
Asked by: Lord Quirk (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether it has been their policy for fixed-period exclusions from school to remain broadly constant over the past decade and for permanent exclusions to fall sharply year by year; if so, how they assess the outcome; and if not, how they account for the difference.
Answered by Lord Nash
Exclusion is a decision for headteachers alone to take. The Government does not set targets or expected levels for exclusion. Rather, the Government's policy is that headteachers need to ensure good discipline in schools, in the interest of all their pupils, and should feel confident in using exclusion where they believe this is warranted by a pupil's behaviour.