Asked by: Lord Northbourne (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the proposal to change the status of all secondary schools in England to become academies would mean that those schools which are now maintained schools will no longer have an obligation to deliver sex and relationship education.
Answered by Lord Nash
The Government is clear that all schools should make provision for high-quality sex and relationship education, which is a vital part of preparing young people for life in modern Britain.
Academies, like maintained schools, must teach a broad and balanced curriculum and in respect of sex and relationship education, they must - under the terms of their funding agreement - have regard to the Secretary of State’s statutory Sex and Relationship Education guidance published in 2000.
The issue of statutory personal, social, health and economic education and sex and relationship education was raised during the Education Select Committee session in September. The Secretary of State agreed that we need to look again at how schools deliver high-quality personal, social, health and economic education including sex and relationship education. The Government is considering all the options and will come to a view in due course.
Asked by: Lord Northbourne (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to encourage and support maintained secondary schools in England and Wales to do more to prepare their pupils for the responsibilities of parenthood.
Answered by Lord Nash
We are clear that as part of schools’ duty to teach a broad and balanced curriculum, all young people should be provided with a curriculum that prepares them for success in adult life.
Schools are best placed to make decisions about the education of their pupils. Teachers are able to cover parenting skills in personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education lessons. The non-statutory programme of study for PSHE includes the roles and responsibilities of parents, parenting skills, the value of family relationships, and the impact of separation, divorce and bereavement on families.
The Department does not hold information on secondary schools in Wales. This is the responsibility of the Welsh Government.
Asked by: Lord Northbourne (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to introduce legislation to require all schools, including academies, to provide high quality sex and relationship education as part of their syllabus.
Answered by Lord Nash
Maintained secondary schools must continue to meet their existing statutory duties. All maintained secondary schools are required to teach sex and relationship education and we expect academies to teach it as part of a broad and balanced curriculum.
As announced in February, we will continue to keep the status of PSHE under review and work with a group of leading headteachers and practitioners to identify further action we can take to ensure that all pupils receive high quality, age appropriate PSHE and sex and relationship education.
When any school, including academies, teaches sex and relationship education, they must have regard to the Secretary of State’s statutory Sex and Relationship Education Guidance (2000). The guidance makes clear that all such lessons should be age-appropriate and that schools should ensure young people develop positive values and a moral framework that will guide their decisions, judgments and behaviour.
Asked by: Lord Northbourne (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether their proposal to change the status of all secondary schools in England to academies would mean that maintained schools no longer have an obligation to deliver sex and relationship education.
Answered by Lord Nash
Maintained secondary schools must continue to meet their existing statutory duties. All maintained secondary schools are required to teach sex and relationship education and we expect academies to teach it as part of a broad and balanced curriculum.
As announced in February, we will continue to keep the status of PSHE under review and work with a group of leading headteachers and practitioners to identify further action we can take to ensure that all pupils receive high quality, age appropriate PSHE and sex and relationship education.
When any school, including academies, teaches sex and relationship education, they must have regard to the Secretary of State’s statutory Sex and Relationship Education Guidance (2000). The guidance makes clear that all such lessons should be age-appropriate and that schools should ensure young people develop positive values and a moral framework that will guide their decisions, judgments and behaviour.
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; and what assessment they have made of the impact of extra-curricular activities in building self-confidence and interpersonal skills.
Answered by Lord Nash
All schools should equip young people with the necessary knowledge and skills to leave school prepared for life in modern Britain. We are working to support schools to develop character traits like self-confidence, motivation and resilience in their students. These traits that can be developed in pupils of any age and in every school through the development of a positive culture and ethos, and supported by a rich provision of classroom and extra-curricular activities.
We have invested £5 million in character education, including £3.5 million of grants for 14 projects and £1 million to the Education Endowment Foundation to build evidence and expand research into the most effective character education. We will continue to support schools in developing the character of their pupils without prescribing compulsory measures. In order to do this, we will develop an online digital platform which will share evidence, innovation, and examples of best practice in character education. We will also promote character education to schools and organisations through a new round of character awards.
Of course, many schools and organisations are already supporting children to develop their character in and outside the classroom and through programmes such as the National Citizen Service (NCS). We will be investing over a billion pounds over the next four years to make NCS a rite of passage and to guarantee every child a place on NCS.
Asked by: Lord Northbourne (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government why the Department for Education's research brief, <i>Factors associated with achievement: key stage 4</i>, does not mention whether they have considered the impact of domestic violence, alcohol addiction, drugs or parental mental health problems on children's lives.
Answered by Lord Nash
The aims of the research reported in Factors associated with achievement: key stage 4, were to assess the quality of the current measure of socio-economic deprivation used by the Department for Education and to identify potential alternative proxy indicators for deprivation.
The attached research brief and full report examines the relationship between attainment and household employment characteristics, including whether it is a single-parent household, and whether at least one parent was in full-time employment. This model was not included in the research brief because it was not considered a feasible alternative.
The background characteristics used in the research were collected as part of the first wave of the Longitudinal Survey of Young People in England (LSYPE), which did not ask questions directly addressing the other factors mentioned. The research was exploratory, but also pragmatic, examining a broad range of measures but also mindful that not all measures would be available to the Department in the future. Measures such as domestic violence, alcohol addiction, drugs or parental mental health problems are not collected by the Department and were therefore not included in this analysis.
Asked by: Lord Northbourne (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government why the Department for Education's research brief, <i>Factors associated with achievement: key stage 4</i>, does not make any reference to the family structure in which the child is growing up, and in particular makes no distinction between a child being brought up by both parents living together and a child living in a single-parent family.
Answered by Lord Nash
The aims of the research reported in Factors associated with achievement: key stage 4, were to assess the quality of the current measure of socio-economic deprivation used by the Department for Education and to identify potential alternative proxy indicators for deprivation.
The attached research brief and full report examines the relationship between attainment and household employment characteristics, including whether it is a single-parent household, and whether at least one parent was in full-time employment. This model was not included in the research brief because it was not considered a feasible alternative.
The background characteristics used in the research were collected as part of the first wave of the Longitudinal Survey of Young People in England (LSYPE), which did not ask questions directly addressing the other factors mentioned. The research was exploratory, but also pragmatic, examining a broad range of measures but also mindful that not all measures would be available to the Department in the future. Measures such as domestic violence, alcohol addiction, drugs or parental mental health problems are not collected by the Department and were therefore not included in this analysis.
Asked by: Lord Northbourne (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they define family income and household income, and whether family income includes the father's income whether or not he is living with his children and their mother.
Answered by Lord Freud
The Government does not have a single standard definition of family or household income. The definition used will vary depending on the particular circumstances under consideration.
The definition of household income in the National Statistics publication Households Below Average Income, which analyses the income distribution, is:
Total income from all sources of all household members including dependants.
This definition includes any income received by a household member from an absent parent or former partner.
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 or require maintained secondary schools to prepare young people, whilst they are still at school, for their probable future role as parents.
Answered by Lord Nash
This Government believes that schools are best placed to make decisions about the education of their pupils. Teachers can cover parenting skills in personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education lessons. The non-statutory programme of study for PSHE includes the roles and responsibilities of parents, parenting skills, the value of family relationships, and the impact of separation, divorce and bereavement on families.
Asked by: Lord Northbourne (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether Ofsted reports on whether secondary schools meet the objective of instilling self-confidence and social and emotional skills in their pupils when they carry out secondary school inspections.
Answered by Lord Nash
All schools should equip young people with the necessary skills to leave school prepared for life in modern Britain. Personal Social Health and Economic (PSHE) education has a vital role to play in this and we want all schools to put it at the heart of their curriculum.
This includes developing character traits like self-confidence, motivation and resilience. These traits support academic attainment, are valued by employers, and encourage young people to make a positive contribution to British society. Many schools are already doing this. The 27 schools and organisations that were winners of character awards in 2015 demonstrated excellence in the area. We will continue to support schools in developing these traits in pupils without prescribing compulsory measures. In order to do this, we are investing £5 million in character education, including £3.5m of grants for 14 projects and £1m to the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) to build evidence and expand research into the most effective character education.
Last September, Ofsted introduced a common assessment framework for the inspection of schools, early years and further education and skills remits. There is an overall effectiveness judgement underpinned by four graded judgements, one of which is a new judgement on personal development, behaviour and welfare. This aspect, therefore, will be graded and reported on in all school inspections.
Additionally, before making the final judgement on the overall effectiveness of all schools, Ofsted inspectors must evaluate the effectiveness and impact of the provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. This means that when judging the effectiveness of leadership and management, inspectors will consider the design, implementation and evaluation of the curriculum, ensuring breadth and balance and its impact on pupils’ outcomes and their personal development, behaviour and welfare.