Education: School Leavers

Baroness Massey of Darwen Excerpts

Wednesday 16th January 2013 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Massey of Darwen]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the statement by the Confederation of British Industry that pupils leaving school should be “rounded” and “grounded”; and, what steps they plan to take to ensure education policies support that objective.

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

My Lords, the Government welcome the CBI’s report. We share the view that all pupils should leave school prepared for the next stage of their life in education or work. Our reforms to qualifications, the review of the national curriculum, the raising of the participation age and the introduction of a pupil premium for disadvantaged pupils all testify to this. The academies and free schools programmes give head teachers the freedom they need to achieve the CBI’s vision.

[Baroness Massey of Darwen]

I thank the noble Baroness for that response but does she believe that the Government understand the importance of pupils developing emotional and social skills and that such skills enhance academic learning? I cannot believe that they do understand that because we have now been waiting for well over a year for a review of the curriculum, as well as for a review of personal, social and health education in schools, which has not appeared. Can she say where this review has got to?

[Baroness Garden of Frognal]

My Lords, I pay tribute to the noble Baroness’s expertise in this subject and to her support for PSHE, which I know is widely shared around this Chamber. It is true that we have not yet announced the outcomes from the PHSE review, which has been extended to take account of the review of the national curriculum. Perhaps I may reassure the noble Baroness by saying that, in its latest report, Ofsted said that 75% of the schools it visited were providing good or outstanding PSHE education. Therefore, although it is not statutory, that figure is encouraging. However, we shall of course be monitoring the situation.