Asked by: Lord Quirk (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Nash on 22 October 2014 (HL2025), on the need to improve the productive use of classroom time following the raising of the school-leaving age in September 2013 and his comment that, "inevitably it will take time for such far-reaching changes to take effect", what evidence they yet have that such changes have begun to take effect.
Answered by Lord Nash
Recent evidence suggests that the 16 to 19 funding and study programme reforms are now beginning to have a measurable impact on student provision.
Latest official figures[1] show the proportion of 16 year olds in education or apprenticeships at the end of 2013 was 93.8%. These figures reflect the first cohort impacted by raising the participation age and therefore suggest the policy is having a positive impact.
The number of students studying in full time education in academic year 2013 to 2014 has increased by 35% on the previous year.
In the same period, the number of students studying advanced (level 3) qualifications has increased by 11% and in year data suggests that 16 to 19 student enrolment in English and maths is better than expected with 89% of students without C grades in English and/or maths continuing their study in FE institutions.
Additionally, in September 2014 the government published a list of approved Applied General and Tech Level qualifications, improving the quality and relevance of vocational qualifications subjects on offer.
[1] Participation in education, training and employment, age 16 to 18 Statistical First Release https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/participation-in-education-training-and-employment-age-16-to-18
Asked by: Lord Quirk (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Nash on 14 July 2014 (WA 103), what evidence they yet have of improved behaviour of school pupils, following their issue of "updated behaviour advice" in February 2014.
Answered by Lord Nash
In February 2014, following results of the Teacher Voice survey (2013) which showed that one in three secondary school teachers lacked confidence in their powers to discipline pupils, we updated our behaviour advice to make clear the range of sanctions that it is permissible for schools to deploy for poor behaviour. This update was aimed to reassure teachers of their powers to discipline pupils and increase teacher confidence to confront poor pupil behaviour.
The Teacher Voice survey funded by the Department for Education was repeated in May 2014, just three months after the behaviour advice was updated. The majority of teachers (74 per cent) said that the standard of pupil behaviour in their school is ‘good’ or ‘very good’. This is broadly similar to the findings for 2013 and an increase of 4 percentage points on the respective figure for 2008.
In addition, the Ofsted Annual Report published in December 2014 shows that 83 per cent of schools have behaviour that is good or better. We aim to repeat the same behaviour questions in future waves of the Teacher Voice survey in order to measure change in pupil behaviour over time.
Asked by: Lord Quirk (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, during the consultation period that preceded the issue of the current National Curriculum, they took account of the expectation in education systems in continental Europe that teachers are well-informed on the nature of vocabulary and lexical semantics and that they will give separate prominence in mother-tongue teaching; and if so, why they did not include such an emphasis in the National Curriculum of this country.
Answered by Lord Nash
The review of the English National Curriculum involved consideration of the curricula of high-performing jurisdictions around the world in which English is the medium of instruction. The high-performing jurisdictions selected for the review, which included looking at how vocabulary development was approached, were all outside continental Europe. The analysis for the review was extended to some non-Anglophone jurisdictions in order to assess how different jurisdictions define expectations around the reading of literature in their curricula. The eight European non-Anglophone jurisdictions selected were Denmark, Estonia, France, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal and Poland.
The report from the review of what we can learn from the English, mathematics and science curricula of high-performing jurisdictions can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-the-national-curriculum-in-england-what-can-we-learn-from-the-english-mathematics-and-science-curricula-of-high-performing-jurisdictions
Asked by: Lord Quirk (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Nash on 14 January (HL3982 and HL3983), where in any of the National Curriculum documents of recent years there appear Programmes of Study on vocabulary that provide the degree of informed and specialised detail together with clear guidance on progression accorded to spelling and grammar.
Answered by Lord Nash
Vocabulary development is embedded with the information on grammar in the section of the National Curriculum framework document entitled ‘Vocabulary, grammar and punctuation’, which also sets out the terminology that pupils should be taught to use to discuss their writing.
The National Curriculum framework does not contain a separate programme of study for vocabulary, nor did it in draft form. Vocabulary development is instead emphasised and integrated throughout the programmes of study, and linked to reading, writing and spelling. Reading widely and often, together with reading for pleasure, is also reinforced throughout the programmes of study, and attention to the quantity and quality of reading will support vocabulary development.
The National Curriculum framework sets a clear expectation that teachers develop pupils’ vocabulary actively, building systematically on pupils’ current knowledge.
Asked by: Lord Quirk (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Nash on 14 January (HL3983), why the section of the National Curriculum in England framework document entitled "Vocabulary, Grammar and Punctuation" contains detailed material on the latter two subjects but nothing on the first.
Answered by Lord Nash
Vocabulary development is embedded with the information on grammar in the section of the National Curriculum framework document entitled ‘Vocabulary, grammar and punctuation’, which also sets out the terminology that pupils should be taught to use to discuss their writing.
The National Curriculum framework does not contain a separate programme of study for vocabulary, nor did it in draft form. Vocabulary development is instead emphasised and integrated throughout the programmes of study, and linked to reading, writing and spelling. Reading widely and often, together with reading for pleasure, is also reinforced throughout the programmes of study, and attention to the quantity and quality of reading will support vocabulary development.
The National Curriculum framework sets a clear expectation that teachers develop pupils’ vocabulary actively, building systematically on pupils’ current knowledge.
Asked by: Lord Quirk (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, with reference to the National Curriculum in England framework document published in December 2014, why in the section "Vocabulary, Grammar and Punctuation" there is nothing on vocabulary.
Answered by Lord Nash
The importance of vocabulary development is emphasised and integrated throughout the National Curriculum framework. This covers both general vocabulary development and the subject-specific language that pupils need to be able to use to progress in, for example, mathematics and science. Both the reading and writing domains of the English programmes of study emphasise the importance of building pupils’ vocabulary, so they understand and can use a wide range of words.
The approach to developing vocabulary is first through securing word reading and comprehension and second through pupils developing an understanding of how words and meaning can be created using prefixes and suffixes. Morphology and etymology are emphasised at Key Stage 2 to further develop pupils’ capacity for understanding and developing vocabulary. This is brought together in the appendix covering vocabulary, grammar and punctuation, which also sets out the terminology that pupils should be taught to use to discuss their writing.
The National Curriculum Framework document was updated in December 2014 to include the new science programmes of study for Key Stage 4. The English programmes of study remain unchanged since their original publication in September 2013 for Key Stages 1-3 and June 2014 for Key Stage 4.
Asked by: Lord Quirk (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the statement in the National Curriculum in England framework document published in December 2014 that "pupils' acquisition and command of vocabulary are key to their learning and progress across the curriculum" in the section "vocabulary development", why under the section on programmes of study there is no programme for vocabulary.
Answered by Lord Nash
The importance of vocabulary development is emphasised and integrated throughout the National Curriculum framework. This covers both general vocabulary development and the subject-specific language that pupils need to be able to use to progress in, for example, mathematics and science. Both the reading and writing domains of the English programmes of study emphasise the importance of building pupils’ vocabulary, so they understand and can use a wide range of words.
The approach to developing vocabulary is first through securing word reading and comprehension and second through pupils developing an understanding of how words and meaning can be created using prefixes and suffixes. Morphology and etymology are emphasised at Key Stage 2 to further develop pupils’ capacity for understanding and developing vocabulary. This is brought together in the appendix covering vocabulary, grammar and punctuation, which also sets out the terminology that pupils should be taught to use to discuss their writing.
The National Curriculum Framework document was updated in December 2014 to include the new science programmes of study for Key Stage 4. The English programmes of study remain unchanged since their original publication in September 2013 for Key Stages 1-3 and June 2014 for Key Stage 4.
Asked by: Lord Quirk (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the Ofsted Annual Report of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills 2013–14, with respect especially to (1) secondary schools (a) tolerating bad behaviour, (b) failing to challenge the most able, and (c) providing inadequate careers guidance, and (2) further education institutions (a) showing weakness in the teaching of English and mathematics, and (b) failing to provide useful careers advice<i>.</i>
Answered by Lord Nash
We welcome Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector’s report which highlights continuing improvement in schools and further education. The report shows that there are now over a million more children being taught in good and outstanding schools than in 2010. The Chief Inspector is right to highlight areas which require further improvement and these matters will form part of the regular discussion between ministers and Ofsted. As part of its role, the Commons Education Select Committee will be taking evidence from the Chief Inspector about the Annual Report at its hearing on 28 January 2015 and we will consider the evidence from that session as part of our ongoing discussions with the Chief Inspector. As a government we are committed to ensuring high standards in schools across the country.
Asked by: Lord Quirk (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Nash on 23 October (HL2026), why students without grade C maths and English whose school leaving age was raised in 2013 will have to wait until September 2015 for the new core maths level 3 and will be without a special "stepping stone" qualification in English.
Answered by Lord Nash
The new core maths qualification is designed for students who have already achieved a GCSE grade C and wish to continue studying maths but not necessarily at AS/A level.
Qualifications are already available for students that have not achieved a GCSE C grade in either maths or English but are not yet ready to retake their GCSE.
A list of 263 stepping stone qualifications for teaching from September 2014 was published on 17 July and is updated regularly. 178 of those qualifications are specifically for English, 79 for maths and 6 combined.
Asked by: Lord Quirk (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they will take to address the concerns of HM Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills, Sir Michael Wilshaw, that schools "faced with an influx of children from other countries" need to be given "the resources and capacity to deal with it".
Answered by Lord Nash
As part of our plan for education the Government is ensuring that local authorities have the resources and flexibility to provide the school places needed by their communities.
We are giving councils £5 billion to spend on new school places over the course of this parliament and have announced a further £2.35 billion to create the places needed by September 2017. This has already enabled local authorities to create 260,000 additional pupil places between May 2010 and May 2013, with many more in the pipeline for September 2015.
Funding for the day-to-day running of a school is based primarily on the number of pupils in the school. Local authorities are able to allocate additional funding for pupils with particular needs – including pupils for whom English is not their first language.