Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made on developing updated guidance for schools on tackling sexual harassment.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department has previously committed to non-statutory guidance on sexual harassment, sexual violence and violence against women and girls. This is pending whilst the department carries out the review of the Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) statutory guidance, and the department will be considering how best to support teachers in this area.
A draft of the amended RSHE statutory guidance will be published for consultation as soon as possible. The department will take responses carefully into account, including any relating to content on sexual harassment and violence, in finalising new guidance prior to publication.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of schools in (a) Oxford, (b) Oxfordshire, (c) the South East and (d) England are expected to offer A-Levels in modern foreign languages in the next five years.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department does not produce future trends of the number of students taking specific qualifications, or future trends in the number of schools or colleges offering specific qualifications.
The department recognises the importance of the study of languages in Britain and is taking steps to increase the number of pupils studying languages at GCSE level and beyond. This is particularly important given that languages were made non-mandatory in 2004. The department’s Language Hubs programme is comprised of 15 lead hub schools across England, all of which will work with other schools in their area to improve standards of language teaching, in line with recommendations of the Teaching Schools Council’s 2016 modern foreign languages pedagogy review.
Managed by the National Consortium for Languages Education, the programme provides high-quality teacher Continuing Professional Development and includes improving transition from key stage 2 to key stage 3, increasing opportunities among disadvantaged pupils to study languages, and increasing the access to home, heritage, and community languages.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of future trends in the level of student uptake in A-Levels in modern foreign languages in (a) Oxford, (b) Oxfordshire, (c) the South East and (d) England.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department does not produce future trends of the number of students taking specific qualifications, or future trends in the number of schools or colleges offering specific qualifications.
The department recognises the importance of the study of languages in Britain and is taking steps to increase the number of pupils studying languages at GCSE level and beyond. This is particularly important given that languages were made non-mandatory in 2004. The department’s Language Hubs programme is comprised of 15 lead hub schools across England, all of which will work with other schools in their area to improve standards of language teaching, in line with recommendations of the Teaching Schools Council’s 2016 modern foreign languages pedagogy review.
Managed by the National Consortium for Languages Education, the programme provides high-quality teacher Continuing Professional Development and includes improving transition from key stage 2 to key stage 3, increasing opportunities among disadvantaged pupils to study languages, and increasing the access to home, heritage, and community languages.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of future trends in the level of student uptake for GCSE level modern foreign languages in (a) Oxford, (b) Oxfordshire, (c) the South East and (d) England.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department does not produce future trends of the number of students taking specific qualifications, or future trends in the number of schools or colleges offering specific qualifications.
The department recognises the importance of the study of languages in Britain and is taking steps to increase the number of pupils studying languages at GCSE level and beyond. This is particularly important given that languages were made non-mandatory in 2004. The department’s Language Hubs programme is comprised of 15 lead hub schools across England, all of which will work with other schools in their area to improve standards of language teaching, in line with recommendations of the Teaching Schools Council’s 2016 modern foreign languages pedagogy review.
Managed by the National Consortium for Languages Education, the programme provides high-quality teacher Continuing Professional Development and includes improving transition from key stage 2 to key stage 3, increasing opportunities among disadvantaged pupils to study languages, and increasing the access to home, heritage, and community languages.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of schools in (a) Oxford, (b) Oxfordshire, (c) the South East and (d) England are expected to offer A-levels in (i) art and design, (ii) dance, (iii) drama, (iv) music, (v) film studies and (vi) media studies in the next five years.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department does not produce future trends of the number of students taking specific qualifications, or future trends in the number of schools or colleges offering specific qualifications.
The requirement on all state-funded schools to teach a broad and balanced curriculum encompasses the arts. Alongside drama as part of the English curriculum and dance as part of the physical education curriculum, music and art and design, remain important pillars of the knowledge-rich national curriculum. This is also reflected in the reformed GCSEs and A levels in art and design, dance, drama, music, film studies and media studies which were introduced for first teaching from 2015 for A levels and from 2016 for GCSEs. The government also introduced parallel reforms to Technical Awards at level 2 to ensure these were high-quality and fit-for-purpose.
Examining recent trends over the past five years, between 2019 and 2023, around half of pupils at Key Stage 4 have taken at least one approved arts qualification, which includes GCSEs set out above and Technical Awards.
The department has committed over £714 million of funding between 2016 and 2022 in a diverse portfolio of music and arts education programmes to ensure all children, whatever their background, have access to a high quality education in music and arts. Over and above school core funding, the department will continue to invest around £115 million per year in cultural education up to 2025.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of future trends in the level of student uptake for A-level (a) art and design, (b) dance, (c) drama, (d) music, (e) film studies and (f) media studies in (i) Oxford, (ii) Oxfordshire, (iii) the South East and (iv) England.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department does not produce future trends of the number of students taking specific qualifications, or future trends in the number of schools or colleges offering specific qualifications.
The requirement on all state-funded schools to teach a broad and balanced curriculum encompasses the arts. Alongside drama as part of the English curriculum and dance as part of the physical education curriculum, music and art and design, remain important pillars of the knowledge-rich national curriculum. This is also reflected in the reformed GCSEs and A levels in art and design, dance, drama, music, film studies and media studies which were introduced for first teaching from 2015 for A levels and from 2016 for GCSEs. The government also introduced parallel reforms to Technical Awards at level 2 to ensure these were high-quality and fit-for-purpose.
Examining recent trends over the past five years, between 2019 and 2023, around half of pupils at Key Stage 4 have taken at least one approved arts qualification, which includes GCSEs set out above and Technical Awards.
The department has committed over £714 million of funding between 2016 and 2022 in a diverse portfolio of music and arts education programmes to ensure all children, whatever their background, have access to a high quality education in music and arts. Over and above school core funding, the department will continue to invest around £115 million per year in cultural education up to 2025.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of schools in (a) Oxford, (b) Oxfordshire, (c) the South East and (d) England are expected to offer GCSEs in (i) art and design, (ii) dance, (iii) drama, (iv) music, (v) film studies and (vi) media studies in the next five years.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department does not produce future trends of the number of students taking specific qualifications, or future trends in the number of schools or colleges offering specific qualifications.
The requirement on all state-funded schools to teach a broad and balanced curriculum encompasses the arts. Alongside drama as part of the English curriculum and dance as part of the physical education curriculum, music and art and design, remain important pillars of the knowledge-rich national curriculum. This is also reflected in the reformed GCSEs and A levels in art and design, dance, drama, music, film studies and media studies which were introduced for first teaching from 2015 for A levels and from 2016 for GCSEs. The government also introduced parallel reforms to Technical Awards at level 2 to ensure these were high-quality and fit-for-purpose.
Examining recent trends over the past five years, between 2019 and 2023, around half of pupils at Key Stage 4 have taken at least one approved arts qualification, which includes GCSEs set out above and Technical Awards.
The department has committed over £714 million of funding between 2016 and 2022 in a diverse portfolio of music and arts education programmes to ensure all children, whatever their background, have access to a high quality education in music and arts. Over and above school core funding, the department will continue to invest around £115 million per year in cultural education up to 2025.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of future trends in the level of student uptake for GCSE level (a) art and design, (b) dance, (c) drama, (d) music, (e) film studies and (f) media studies in (i) Oxford, (ii) Oxfordshire, (iii) the South East and (iv) England.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department does not produce future trends of the number of students taking specific qualifications, or future trends in the number of schools or colleges offering specific qualifications.
The requirement on all state-funded schools to teach a broad and balanced curriculum encompasses the arts. Alongside drama as part of the English curriculum and dance as part of the physical education curriculum, music and art and design, remain important pillars of the knowledge-rich national curriculum. This is also reflected in the reformed GCSEs and A levels in art and design, dance, drama, music, film studies and media studies which were introduced for first teaching from 2015 for A levels and from 2016 for GCSEs. The government also introduced parallel reforms to Technical Awards at level 2 to ensure these were high-quality and fit-for-purpose.
Examining recent trends over the past five years, between 2019 and 2023, around half of pupils at Key Stage 4 have taken at least one approved arts qualification, which includes GCSEs set out above and Technical Awards.
The department has committed over £714 million of funding between 2016 and 2022 in a diverse portfolio of music and arts education programmes to ensure all children, whatever their background, have access to a high quality education in music and arts. Over and above school core funding, the department will continue to invest around £115 million per year in cultural education up to 2025.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate of the number and proportion of schools that will offer GCSE qualifications in modern foreign languages in each of the next five years in (a) Oxford, (b) Oxfordshire, (c) the South East and (d) England.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department does not produce future trends of the number of students taking specific qualifications, or future trends in the number of schools or colleges offering specific qualifications.
The department recognises the importance of the study of languages in Britain and is taking steps to increase the number of pupils studying languages at GCSE level and beyond. This is particularly important given that languages were made non-mandatory in 2004. The department’s Language Hubs programme is comprised of 15 lead hub schools across England, all of which will work with other schools in their area to improve standards of language teaching, in line with recommendations of the Teaching Schools Council’s 2016 modern foreign languages pedagogy review.
Managed by the National Consortium for Languages Education, the programme provides high-quality teacher Continuing Professional Development and includes improving transition from key stage 2 to key stage 3, increasing opportunities among disadvantaged pupils to study languages, and increasing the access to home, heritage, and community languages.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the document entitled Draft terms of reference for the Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group, what updates her Department has provided on relevant developments in its area of work to that group since 2019.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Government condemns and strives to tackle all forms of discrimination, prejudice, and harassment, and the department is committed to working with other government departments to achieve this. Ministers and officials have regular discussions with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities over a range of issues. More broadly, I refer the hon. Member to the answer of 2 March 2024, Official Report, PQ 16019 on tackling anti-Muslim hatred.
Every school and further education provider should actively promote the shared values, including mutual respect and tolerance for those of different faiths and beliefs. The department has published advice on promoting these values and made resources available on challenging anti-Muslim hate on the Educate Against Hate website, which can be accessed here: https://www.educateagainsthate.com/.
The department has also published the ‘Preventing and Tackling Bullying’ guidance, which directs schools to organisations who can provide support with tackling bullying related to race, religion and nationality. This guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/preventing-and-tackling-bullying.
The department is providing over £3 million of funding, between 10 August 2021 and 31 March 2024, to five anti-bullying organisations, which includes projects to tackle hate-related bullying on the basis of race and faith.
Ministers and departmental officials continue to work closely with Muslim groups, such as Tell MAMA, as the leading national organisation monitoring and supporting victims of anti-Muslim hatred. The department is committed to understanding this issue and to actively assess incidents affecting the Muslim community. The department welcomes guidance produced by Universities UK, which focuses on tackling anti-Muslim hatred. Further information on tackling anti-Muslim hatred can be found here: https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/what-we-do/policy-and-research/publications/tackling-islamophobia-and-anti-muslim.