Oral Answers to Questions

Clive Efford Excerpts

Monday 27th February 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gibb]

I am happy to give my hon. Friend that assurance. Ofsted does not require written lesson plans for every lesson. Michael Wilshaw, Her Majesty’s chief inspector, has made that absolutely clear.

[Clive Efford (Eltham) (Lab)]

One of the most demanding tasks that teachers do outside the classroom is marking books, which allows them to monitor the progress of pupils. The applications for free schools that I have seen have an average of 25 pupils per class. If we value teachers in all sections of our education system, should they not all be teaching classes of 25 pupils? If the Government are serious about reducing the work load of teachers, they should take that on board.

[Mr Gibb]

I would encourage schools that want to have smaller class sizes and more control over how they are run to adopt academy status.