Asked by: Gideon Amos (Liberal Democrat - Taunton and Wellington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the Review of Religious Education (a) considers a (i) broad and (ii) balanced range of (A) academic, (B) educational and (C) community perspectives and (b) is not disproportionately influenced by submissions from any single lobby.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment review, chaired by Becky Francis CBE. The Review aims to ensure a rich, broad, inclusive and innovative curriculum that readies young people for life and work. The Review is being informed by evidence, data, and in close consultation with education professionals and other experts, parents, children and young people, employers, universities and trade unions. This includes over 7,000 responses to the public call for evidence and a range of research and polling.
The Review Group published its interim report in March 2025, which is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6821d69eced319d02c9060e3/Curriculum_and_Assessment_Review_interim_report.pdf.
The Group will publish its final report with recommendations, including recommendations for religious education, this autumn.
Asked by: Gideon Amos (Liberal Democrat - Taunton and Wellington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to review the eligibility criteria for the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund to ensure that adoptive families whose children were not previously looked after by a local authority can access therapeutic support, in the context of the complex (a) emotional and (b) psychological needs those children may have.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) is targeted at children who were previously looked after by a local authority, as the local authority maintain a statutory responsibility to these children. Local authorities may still provide support for other children where appropriate, including any adopted children who were not previously looked after, using alternative funding streams. Eligibility and budget considerations for the ASGSF are assessed as part of the broader spending review discussions.
Asked by: Gideon Amos (Liberal Democrat - Taunton and Wellington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of revising the requirement for a grade 4 in GCSE maths for entry into teacher training, in cases where applicants hold postgraduate qualifications in relevant subjects but did not achieve that grade in maths at school.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The department is committed to protecting the quality of teachers and the profession’s status. The initial teacher training (ITT) criteria set out the requirements for all ITT courses leading to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). All accredited ITT providers must ensure that entrants to these courses have achieved a standard equivalent to a grade 4 in the GCSE examinations in English and mathematics (and science, for primary trainees).
The entry requirements aim to ensure that entrants to ITT have demonstrated their achievement of a minimum standard of educational attainment, and for primary trainees that they demonstrate an acceptable level of subject knowledge in the core subjects of the national curriculum.
It is the standard, not the certificate, that matters. Applicants who are otherwise suitable but have not successfully achieved a GCSE grade 4 may be given an opportunity to show that they can meet the required standard either by taking an equivalence test or by offering other evidence of attainment, which should demonstrate a similar level and breadth. It is for accredited ITT providers to decide whether an applicant’s qualification is of a standard equivalent to GCSE grade 4.