Asked by: Lord Baker of Dorking (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government which institutions were responsible for devising the curriculum of each T Level currently being taught.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
T Levels are based on employer-led standards, with the initial, outline content developed by panels of employers and other experts. A list of panel members who developed outlines for T Levels for delivery between 2020 and 2023 can be found in the attachment. Over 250 employers of all sizes have been involved in the design and content of T Levels. This, alongside the industry placement element of the course, equips more young people with the skills, knowledge, and experience to access skilled employment or further study, and ensures the course content meets the needs of employers.
The content and assessment approach for each T Level is then further developed by the awarding organisations contracted to develop each T Level. T Level providers decide how best to develop a curriculum that ensures students are able to progress in their learning, undertake a large industry placement and succeed in the assessments for the core and specialist learning. Providers can access free support for issues around curriculum design and assessment from the T Level Professional Development offer. In addition, the T Level Support for Schools and Colleges website offers a range of support for providers to guide them through the implementation of T Levels, including information on delivery of the classroom aspects of T Levels. The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) is currently reviewing the support for providers offered by Awarding Organisations in advance of the second generation of T Levels, which has included consideration of teaching and assessment resource requirements. IfATE is also working with Awarding Organisations to ensure the materials are clearly signposted on their websites.
Asked by: Lord Baker of Dorking (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many students enrolled at Further Education Colleges at the ages of 14 and 15 in the years (1) 2018, (2) 2019, (3) 2020, (4) 2021, (5) 2022, and (6) 2023.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The number of students enrolled at further education colleges of academic aged[1] 14 and 15 in the 2017/18 to 2022/23 academic years[2] were as follows:
Academic Year | Number of students aged 14 and 15 |
2017/18 | 3,726 |
2018/19 | 4,089 |
2019/20 | 4,140 |
2020/21 | 3,956 |
2021/22 | 3,887 |
2022/23 | 4,532 |
[1] Age as of 31 August in the relevant academic year.
[2] Complete data for the academic year 2022/2023 is not available yet. This data is as of 1 May 2023.
Asked by: Lord Baker of Dorking (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many of entrants for T Level examinations in 2022 were studying in FE colleges.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not have available data on how many students sat T Level assessments in 2022 at institutional level. The department expects T Levels to be included in school and college performance tables from 2024 which should include student numbers.
Of the 164 providers that are currently delivering T Levels, 105 are Further Education (FE) colleges. The department has selected a relatively small number of high performing providers for the first years of T Level delivery to ensure T Levels are high quality courses from the very start.
The number of FE providers delivering T Levels is increasing year on year, and the department expects student numbers to grow significantly over the next few years.
Asked by: Lord Baker of Dorking (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential effects of technology such as ChatGPT on examinations in England where students are permitted access to books.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is assessing the risks and opportunities of recent developments in large language models. The new technology has the potential to improve access and outcomes across the education system.
The department will continue to work with the Office for Students, the Office for AI, and Ofqual to build our understanding and inform future plans.
Schools, colleges and universities have policies in place to identify and respond to cheating in assessment. The department expects schools and colleges to ensure the integrity of their assessment processes and take action if any student is found to be cheating.
Schools, colleges and universities are best placed to decide what technology they need to meet their requirements in relation to their educational contexts.
The department will keep its programme of measures under review to ensure the best means in addressing the risks and opportunities AI presents are identified, including continuing to establish a strong evidence base for technology in education.
Asked by: Lord Baker of Dorking (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential effects of technology such as ChatGPT on the teaching and assessment of students in (1) Further Education, and (2) universities.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is assessing the risks and opportunities of recent developments in large language models. The new technology has the potential to improve access and outcomes across the education system.
The department will continue to work with the Office for Students, the Office for AI, and Ofqual to build our understanding and inform future plans.
Schools, colleges and universities have policies in place to identify and respond to cheating in assessment. The department expects schools and colleges to ensure the integrity of their assessment processes and take action if any student is found to be cheating.
Schools, colleges and universities are best placed to decide what technology they need to meet their requirements in relation to their educational contexts.
The department will keep its programme of measures under review to ensure the best means in addressing the risks and opportunities AI presents are identified, including continuing to establish a strong evidence base for technology in education.
Asked by: Lord Baker of Dorking (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential effects of technology such as ChatGPT on the assessment of students.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is assessing the risks and opportunities of recent developments in large language models. The new technology has the potential to improve access and outcomes across the education system.
The department will continue to work with the Office for Students, the Office for AI, and Ofqual to build our understanding and inform future plans.
Schools, colleges and universities have policies in place to identify and respond to cheating in assessment. The department expects schools and colleges to ensure the integrity of their assessment processes and take action if any student is found to be cheating.
Schools, colleges and universities are best placed to decide what technology they need to meet their requirements in relation to their educational contexts.
The department will keep its programme of measures under review to ensure the best means in addressing the risks and opportunities AI presents are identified, including continuing to establish a strong evidence base for technology in education.
Asked by: Lord Baker of Dorking (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential effects of technology such as ChatGPT on school teaching and homework.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is assessing the risks and opportunities of recent developments in large language models. The new technology has the potential to improve access and outcomes across the education system.
The department will continue to work with the Office for Students, the Office for AI, and Ofqual to build our understanding and inform future plans.
Schools, colleges and universities have policies in place to identify and respond to cheating in assessment. The department expects schools and colleges to ensure the integrity of their assessment processes and take action if any student is found to be cheating.
Schools, colleges and universities are best placed to decide what technology they need to meet their requirements in relation to their educational contexts.
The department will keep its programme of measures under review to ensure the best means in addressing the risks and opportunities AI presents are identified, including continuing to establish a strong evidence base for technology in education.
Asked by: Lord Baker of Dorking (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many schools in (1) 2019–20, (2) 2020–21, and (3) 2021–22 so far, have offered their students (a) 5, (b) 6, (c) 7, (d) 8, (e) 9, (f) 10, (g) 11, or (h) 12, GCSEs.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not hold information on the subjects offered by individual schools. However, the department does publish the number of entries into GCSE subjects, which can be used as a guide to how many schools offer these qualifications.
The number and percentage of state-funded schools with pupil entries into at least 5 to 12 different GCSE subjects in academic years 2019/20 and 2020/21 is in the attached document. This does not necessarily mean that in the schools that entered pupils into at least 5 different GCSE subjects, that any one pupil was entered into all the different GCSEs.
The data is not available for the 2021/22 academic year because the department does not yet hold information on what exams were taken in this year.
Asked by: Lord Baker of Dorking (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many schools in (1) 2019–20, (2) 2020–21, and (3) 2021–22 so far, have provided internet access to disadvantaged students.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government has provided support for over for over 130,000 families to get online through uplifts in mobile data and 4G wireless routers. This included partnering with the UK’s leading mobile operators to provide free data to help over 33,000 disadvantaged children get online and delivering over 100,000 4G wireless routers for pupils without connection at home. Schools may also have made their own plans to provide internet access to disadvantaged children and information on this is not held by the department.
Asked by: Lord Baker of Dorking (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many ENTHUSE bursaries were approved in the years (1) 2020–21, and (2) 2021–22 so far, in both (a) primary, and (b) secondary, schools.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
During the period 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021, 346 primary teachers and 333 secondary and post-16 teachers were supported by a Department for Education funded Enthuse bursary.
During the period 1 April 2020 to 31 July 2020, there were no Department for Education-funded Enthuse bursaries awarded to support the cost of teachers attending face-to-face Continuing Professional Development, in line with government guidance on social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the period 1 April 2021 to 18 March 2022, 685 primary teachers and 781 secondary and post-16 teachers were supported by a Department for Education-funded Enthuse bursary.