Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many black and minority ethnic teachers there are in state (a) primary and (b) secondary schools; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by David Laws
Figures from the School Workforce Census of November 2013 show there were 12,800 black and minority ethnic teachers in publicly funded primary schools and 18,600 in publicly funded secondary schools in England; a total of 31,400 teachers (an increase from 25,900 in November 2010). This represents 6% of primary school teachers and 9% of all secondary school teachers. 7% of all teachers in primary and secondary schools in England come from black and other ethnic minority groups.
Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the current provision for sex and relationship education in schools in England; if she will update her Department's sex education guidance to reflect the effects of children being exposed to pornography over the internet; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Sex and relationship education (SRE) is compulsory in maintained secondary schools. Academies are expected to provide SRE as part of a broad and balanced curriculum. Following the Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education review, which concluded in March 2013, the Government decided that the current Sex and Relationship Education Guidance (2000) offers a framework for schools to build upon the delivery of high quality SRE.
The SRE guidance makes clear that teachers should refer to expert organisations for well-informed advice and resources. The PSHE Association, the Sex Education Forum and Brook published supplementary advice in 2014 addressing changes in technology and legislation since 2000. This equips teachers to help protect children and young people from inappropriate online content, and from online bullying, harassment and exploitation. The Government encourages schools to make use of this guidance.
Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to improve the quality and increase the uptake of foreign language training in schools; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The new national curriculum introduces the teaching of a foreign language to key stage 2 (ages 7 to 11) from September 2014, which will increase the uptake of foreign languages in both primary and, over time, secondary schools. By starting languages earlier, pupils will have longer to develop their skills to a high level before continuing with language learning in secondary school. The English Baccalaureate is already encouraging more young people to take a language at GCSE level. Take up by key stage 4 pupils in England of a modern foreign language increased by over 20% between 2012 and 2013.
The Department for Education believes it is important to give teachers the flexibility to decide how to teach. We expect schools to identify the support that they need to prepare for the new curriculum, recognising that different schools will face different challenges.
We are allocating £350,000 this year to fund training on the new national curriculum for teachers of modern foreign languages in primary and secondary schools. We have also allocated some £1.9m to teaching schools to lead curriculum change across and within their teaching school alliances. 46 of the projects being supported involve languages.
The independent Expert Group, chaired by a leading primary headteacher, has published links to useful resources, which are hosted on the website of the Association for Language Learning. This is specifically to support the introduction of a compulsory foreign language at key stage 2. We are also making extensive use of social networking, including using high profile headteachers and others to raise the profile of the new curriculum, including for languages, through podcasts, webchats and blogs.
Asked by: Diane Abbott (Independent - Hackney North and Stoke Newington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will take steps to ensure that school lunches in academies and free schools meet the nutritional standards of those in the state sector; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by David Laws
The revised school food standards will apply to single mainstream academies and free schools opening from July 2014, other mainstream academies and free schools opening from autumn 2014 and non-mainstream academies opening later in 2014. Academies set up prior to 2010 already have to comply.
During their review of school food, the authors of the School Food Plan approached several academy chains, including the Harris Federation, the Oasis Community Learning Multi-Academy Trust, and the School Partnership Trust. All agreed in principle to comply with the standards and the Leon Foundation are encouraging as many academies and free schools as possible to sign up formally to the new standards.
99% of those academies which responded to a survey by the School Food Trust in 2012 said they were committed to following the new food standards.