Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of recent discussions on the case for schools in the United Kingdom to switch back from work sheets to text books.

The Department for Education has made it clear that a return to textbooks would support the new national curriculum. High-quality textbooks can prevent teachers from spending unnecessary time creating plans from scratch, and they provide well-planned stretching activities for pupils. England has very low textbook use compared with many other countries, including high-performing countries like Singapore, where mathematics textbooks play an important part in the success of their pupils. The efficacy studies of the Marshall Cavendish mathematics textbooks are compelling, and the Department is delighted that these textbooks are being adapted for the English market.