Asked by: Lord Northbourne (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to build self-confidence in children and young people in secondary schools, especially those who do not perform highly in academic subjects.
Answered by Lord Nash
The Government has high aspirations for all children. In order to achieve their potential all children need strong academic skills as well as a complementary set of character attributes, such as resilience and grit, which underpin success in education and employment. That is why we have invested £5 million to expand the capacity of schools and voluntary organisations to deliver character education.
The Government is also committed to expanding the National Citizen Service so that every 16 and 17 year old is guaranteed a place on the programme. Participation in the National Citizen Service gives young people the chance to develop skills for work and life beyond school.
Asked by: Lord Northbourne (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government to what extent it is their policy that maintained secondary schools and academies have a duty to develop the social and interpersonal skills of all pupils in their care.
Answered by Lord Nash
Schools have a duty to promote the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of their pupils. This may be done through the curriculum, extra-curricular activities, or the whole school ethos. Personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education is a non-statutory subject that can contribute to the development of pupils’ social and interpersonal skills. All schools should teach PSHE, drawing on good practice, and we have made this expectation clear in the introduction to the new national curriculum.
We also want to ensure that all young people develop a range of skills and attributes, such as team-working, resilience and grit, which underpin success in education and employment. This is why the Department for Education is investing £5 million to expand the capacity of schools and voluntary organisations to deliver character education.
The Department for Education has published guidance on promoting the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils for both maintained and independent schools, which can be found online.
Asked by: Lord Northbourne (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to encourage and support maintained secondary schools in enabling all pupils, including those who are not academically talented, to develop the confidence and interpersonal skills that will help them towards success and wellbeing in adult life; and what steps they plan to take in the future.
Answered by Lord Nash
We have high aspirations for all children. In order to achieve their potential all children need strong academic skills, but also a strong set of complementary skills that will set them up for life in modern Britain. Schools should balance the provision of a rigorous academic curriculum with a broad range of additional activities, such as sport, volunteering and cultural activities, to develop character, resilience, confidence and interpersonal skills.
The Department for Education has committed £3.5 million as part of the Character Innovation Fund (announced in spring) to support 14 projects designed to help create a generation of confident, resilient young people. We have also made
£1 million available to the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) to expand research into the most effective ways that character can be developed.
The DfE has invested over £460 million from 2012-2016 in a diverse portfolio of music and arts education programmes that improve access to the arts for all children regardless of their background and to develop talent across the country. This includes support for music education hubs which provides opportunities for children and young people to play in ensembles and develop singing strategies. Through playing a musical instrument, young people can learn perseverance and discipline and develop confidence, team-working and leadership skills.
Through the primary PE and sport premium, over £300 million of ring-fenced funding was paid direct to schools across academic years 2013/14 and 2014/15 to improve PE and sport. The Government has committed to continue this funding of £150 million a year until 2020. Independent research found that over 70% of schools used the funding to provide more extra-curricular activities and offer a wider range of sports. Through competitive sport young people can learn teamwork, perseverance, self-control, and sportsmanship.
Asked by: Lord Northbourne (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that extra-curricular activities such as team games, art, music, drama and adventure challenges are encouraged and appropriately funded in schools.
Answered by Lord Nash
We have high aspirations for all children. To enable all young people to realise their potential we want schools to help ensure they are well-rounded, confident, resilient and happy. Schools must provide opportunities and encourage their pupils to develop a wider set of skills to help them not only exceed at school, but prepare them to go on to contribute positively to the economy and to society as fully engaged citizens.
Schools are a fantastic asset in local communities, and we are encouraging schools to extend their childcare offer to parents. We have simplified the rules and aligned staffing requirements for before/after school care and holiday provision. This makes it easier for schools to offer extra-curricular activities out of school hours.
As part of Ofsted school inspections, inspectors will consider how schools supplement the formal curriculum with extra-curricular opportunities for pupils to extend their knowledge and understanding and improve their skills in a range of artistic, creative and sporting activities.
Through the primary PE and sport premium, over £300 million of ring-fenced funding was paid direct to schools across academic years 2013/14 and 2014/15 to improve PE and sport. The Government has committed to continue this funding of £150 million a year until 2020. Independent research found that over 70% of schools used the funding to provide more extra-curricular activities and offer a wider range of sports. Schools also made changes to the costs of extra-curricular PE and sports – a third of these reduced the costs to attend, and a fifth made some clubs free to attend.
The department has invested over £460 million from 2012-2016 in a diverse portfolio of music and arts education programmes that are designed to improve access to the arts for all children regardless of their background and to develop talent across the country. This includes support for music education hubs which provides opportunities for children and young people to play in ensembles and develop singing strategies.
Over £450,000 has been provided to Debate Mate across three academic years to support their programme of after-school debate clubs. Debate Mate clubs are aimed at disadvantaged young people in years 5-10 and aim to encourage personal empowerment, increase academic achievement and develop life skills.
Asked by: Lord Northbourne (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government why the sex and relationships education portion of the national curriculum focuses on sexual relationships and does not equally focus on relationships such as that between a mother and her young child, or relationships in the workplace.
Answered by Lord Nash
Personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education is a non-statutory subject that can encompass many areas of study, including the importance of healthy relationships and how to identify those relationships which are unhealthy. This applies to all the relationships that young people have with their friends, peers and families. We expect all schools to provide PSHE.
All maintained secondary schools are also required to provide sex and relationships education as part of the basic curriculum and must have regard to the Secretary of State’s guidance, published in 2000. The guidance recognises that there are strong and mutually supportive relationships outside marriage and that pupils should learn the significance of different relationships as key building blocks of the wider society in order to prepare them for life in modern Britain.
Asked by: Lord Northbourne (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have, if any, to publish a statement of their objectives for education in secondary schools in the maintained sector, in particular their objectives regarding academic achievement and preparing pupils for wellbeing in adult life and for their prospective roles in the workplace and as parents.
Answered by Lord Nash
The government wants all young people to leave school prepared for life in modern Britain. This means ensuring that young people achieve academically, have the knowledge and skills to make safe and informed decisions, and develop personal and emotional wellbeing.
Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education supports the teaching of all subjects across the school curriculum. In the introduction to the national curriculum we made it clear that all schools should make provision for PSHE, drawing on examples of good practice.