Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Goole and Pocklington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to implement the Augar recommendations to deliver a fairer higher education system.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The government will consider the panel’s recommendations carefully and will conclude the review at the Spending Review. The government has not yet taken decisions with regards to the recommendations put forward.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Goole and Pocklington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the National Literacy Trust report, Children, young people and digital reading, published on 30 April 2019, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the report's conclusions on the literacy benefits of children reading both digital and print formats.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department welcomes the National Literacy Trust’s research on reading in both print and digital forms. The Department wants children to develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information, whatever the format. Research suggests that reading for pleasure is more important for children’s educational development than their parents’ level of education.
There is sound evidence that systematic synthetic phonics is a highly effective method of teaching reading to children. Phonics performance is improving. In 2018, there were 163,000 more 6-year-olds on track to become fluent readers compared to 2012. This represented 82% of pupils meeting the expected standard in the phonics screening check, compared to just 58% when the check was introduced in 2012.
In 2018 the Department launched a £26.3 million English Hubs Programme, building on the success of the Department’s phonics partnerships and phonics roadshows programmes. Hub schools are taking a leading role in improving the teaching of early reading through systematic synthetic phonics, early language development, and reading for pleasure. The Department has appointed 34 primary schools across England as English Hubs.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Goole and Pocklington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the potential benefit of Artificial Intelligence in the classroom.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a complex, emerging area. The Department has seen some outstanding examples of AI and machine learning being used within schools and colleges in England to support teachers to deliver curriculum content as well as to automate burdensome non-teaching tasks such as marking.
However, the impact of these technologies in the classroom still remains largely unevidenced. We have set up a new AI Horizon Scanning group, so that policy, digital and delivery teams within the Department can explore how AI may impact our policies, as well as the benefits it can bring to the education system.
The Department also regularly engages with those at the cutting edge of these technologies. For example, the Department is a member of the new Institute for Ethical AI & Machine Learning.
Asked by: David Davis (Conservative - Goole and Pocklington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to increase the (a) quality and (b) choice of higher education provision in Yorkshire and the Humber.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The Office for Students (OfS) holds providers to account for delivering well-designed courses that offer successful outcomes for all of their students, and has a statutory duty to promote quality, and greater choice and opportunities for students.
Universities and other higher education (HE) providers are planning a range of changes to the degree classification system to ensure public confidence in the results students receive and the value of a degree. The consultation process for these changes is nearing its response phase.
The new OfS regulatory framework removes unnecessary barriers to entry for high quality new providers with the aim of increasing diversity, competition and innovation in the sector.
The Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF) is a national exercise that recognises excellent teaching and student outcomes. Four HE institutions in Yorkshire and the Humber hold the gold TEF award and seven the silver.
Students’ ability to make informed choices is at the heart of the HE reform agenda with prospective students free to make choices to apply to providers in any part of the country. The TEF is supporting student choice.
We are also improving the online offering for students, working alongside OfS to redesign the HE course comparison website, Unistats, by September 2019.
In addition, we launched the Higher Education Open Data competition last year for technology companies and coders to design an innovative digital tool to make it easier for prospective students to access valuable data on salaries and employability. Two winning technology companies have now developed two digital tools to level the playing field for all students, by giving them access to graduate outcomes data at their fingertips.