Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment the Government has made of the impact of covid-19 on the (a) health and (b) education of this year's cohort of (i) GCSE and (ii) A Level students; and what steps the Government is taking to help ensure that this year's (A) GCSE and (B) A-level exams reflect that impact.
Answered by Nick Gibb
GCSE, AS and A level exams in England have largely returned to pre-pandemic arrangements this summer. These arrangements are the best and fairest way of assessing what students know and can do. There will be some support in place for pupils in recognition that they have experienced some disruption to their education as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ofqual has confirmed a return to pre-pandemic grading in 2023, but with protection in place for GCSE and A level cohorts because of the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Where national performance is found to be lower than it was prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, senior examiners will make allowances when setting grade boundaries.
GCSE mathematics, physics and combined science students have been provided with formulae and equation sheets, to support them in these subjects. The GCSE, AS and A level exam timetable has been designed to space out exam papers in the same subject. This will give pupils more time to revise between papers than before the COVID-19 pandemic.
As part of the almost £5 billion made available to support children and young people to catch up on missed education, we are providing £1 billion through the Recovery Premium in 2022/23 and 2023/24 to allow schools to continue to focus on evidence based approaches and activities that support pupils, including those in exam cohorts. The Department has nearly doubled the premium rate for mainstream secondary schools to £276 per eligible pupil, reflecting evidence of need.
The National Tutoring Programme (NTP) is central to the Department’s £5 billion education recovery programme, which includes up to £1.5 billion on tutoring. This support is especially focused on helping the most disadvantaged, vulnerable or those with the least time left in education, wherever they live. The NTP makes available subsidised tutoring to boost progress of pupils who most need to catch up on education lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There is extensive evidence that tutoring is one of the most effective ways to accelerate academic progress. Since November 2020 over 3 million courses have been started through the programme.
The Department has set the subsidy rate for the NTP for the next academic year at 50%. This change is in response to schools’ concerns over previously announced funding arrangements, which included a 25% subsidy rate. The 50% subsidy rate announced on 23 May means that schools now need to contribute less of their core funding to provide tutoring.
From September 2022, full time students in 16 to 19 education will be entitled to an average of 40 additional hours of education. A proportionate increase in hours will be offered to part time students. This is to ensure those with the least time left in education catch up on the vital education they missed during the pandemic. The Department has allocated over £800 million until 2024/25 to fund this.
Regarding student health, the Department publishes annual State of the Nation reports, which draw together the best available published evidence on the wellbeing of children and young people aged 5 to 24. The findings from this series of reports inform work across government to support young people's wellbeing. The most recent report was published in February 2023 and can be accessed at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1134596/State_of_the_nation_2022_-_children_and_young_people_s_wellbeing.pdf.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps the Government has taken to (a) reduce class sizes in state funded secondary schools (b), ensure that teachers in state funded secondary schools have manageable workloads and (c) increase the level of teacher recruitment.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It is up to schools to decide on class sizes that are consistent with raising attainment and helping pupils to achieve their potential. The exception to this is in infant classrooms, where there is a statutory limit of 30 pupils in each class, with some legal exemptions.
The Education Endowment Foundation found that the effect of reducing class sizes on educational attainment is low, compared to the high cost of doing so. Internationally, John Hattie’s work ranks reducing class sizes at 186 out of 250 influences on pupil achievement.
Despite an increase of nearly 850,000 pupils in state funded primary and secondary schools since 2010, average class sizes remain low. In secondary schools, the average is 22.3 pupils. Further information regarding average class sizes is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics.
The number of teachers remains high, with over 465,500 (full time equivalent) working in state funded schools across the country. This is over 24,000 more than in 2010. The Department wants to continue to attract, retain and develop highly skilled teachers to inspire the next generation.
The Department has set out a range of measures to make teaching an increasingly attractive profession, including bursaries worth up to £27,000 and scholarships worth up to £29,000, to encourage talented trainees to key subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, and computing for those starting teacher training in the 2023/24 academic year.
In addition, through the Levelling Up Premium, specialist teachers in the first 5 years of their career will be able to receive up to £3,000 tax free each year from 2022/23 to 2024/25, if they work in a disadvantaged school.
The Department has made good progress towards raising starting salaries to £30,000, with all new teachers to earn at least £28,000 from September 2023, which is an uplift of 8.9%, alongside a 5% pay award for more experienced teachers and leaders.
Teacher retention is key to ensuring effective teacher supply and quality, and the Department is taking action to support teachers to stay in the profession. The Department has published a range of resources to help address teacher workload and wellbeing, working with the profession to understand and address longstanding issues around marking, planning and data management.
The Department’s School workload reduction toolkit, developed alongside head teachers, is a helpful resource for schools to review and reduce workload. Working closely with schools and Trusts, the Department has added new resources to the toolkit to ensure it remains relevant. Further details are available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-workload-reduction-toolkit.
The Department encourages schools to sign up to the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter to build a shared commitment to promoting staff wellbeing. The charter sets out commitments from the Government, Ofsted, and schools and colleges to protect and promote the wellbeing of staff, including an explicit commitment to continue to support schools to drive down unnecessary workload.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps the Government has taken to improve and increase support for student's (a) mental health, (b) safety and (c) well-being.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The mental health and wellbeing of young people is a high priority for the government. It is crucial that students get the effective mental health and wellbeing support they need to allow them to flourish at university.
The department is working closely with mental health charities and the higher education (HE) sector to promote and fund effective practice to support student wellbeing and mental health.
To ensure that the sector goes further to support students, the department has made clear the ambition for all HE providers to sign up to Student Minds’ University Mental Health Charter by 2026 and adopt a whole-university approach to mental health and wellbeing. The charter can be found here: https://www.studentminds.org.uk/charter.html.
Students need timely and effective health support and a smooth transition into university life. The Office for Students (OfS) has allocated £15 million of funding in 2022/23 to establish better partnerships between universities and local NHS services and to support transitions from school and college to university.
The department also wants students across the country to have easy access to the best mental health support tools and for interventions to be based on evidence base practice. The OfS have funded the online platform, Student Space, and are leading work to establish and share ‘what works’ across the sector. Student Space can be accessed at: https://studentspace.org.uk/.
Through the NHS Long Term Plan, the government is investing an additional £2.3 billion a year at least into mental health services by 2023/24. Part of this increased investment will enable an additional 345,000 children and young people aged 0-25 to get the mental health support they need.
The number of children and young people aged under 18 supported through NHS-funded mental health assistance, with at least one contact with services was 689,621 in the year up to July 2022, compared to 618,537 in the year up to July 2021.
Spend for children and young people’s mental health services has increased from £841 million in 2019/20 to £995 million in 2021/22. Total spend for 2022/23 has yet to be confirmed, but we expect it to have risen to around £1.1 billion.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many teachers in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in Putney constituency do not have qualified teacher status.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Information on the school workforce in England is published in the annual ‘School Workforce in England’ national statistics release, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
The number of teachers without qualified teacher status in all state funded schools in England, including a breakdown by primary and secondary, and by local authority, is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/29d83b82-2aba-44c7-bb82-08db371944c7.
Data relating to schools in individual constituencies can be found in the ‘teacher and support staff numbers by school’ file, within the additional supporting files section, available at: https://content.explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/api/releases/0728fb07-f014-492c-aac9-fd11bb441601/files/2dfcc772-c410-46ac-cb9d-08da713e9200.
There are 24,000 more teachers now than in 2010. The quality of teaching is the most important in school factor in improving outcomes for children, especially for those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Evidence is clear that high quality professional development can lead to improved pupil attainment.
The Department has invested in transforming training for teachers and head teachers. Every teacher and head teacher now has access to high quality, evidence based training and professional development at every stage of their career, starting with initial teacher training (ITT).
By 2024, a reformed ITT provider market will be delivering quality assured training leading to qualified teacher status (QTS) that places a greater emphasis than ever before on embedding structured practice into courses, ensuring trainees are ready to thrive in the classroom.
A new system of higher quality training provider partnerships will be supported by £36 million to introduce new Quality Requirements, including better training for mentors and the delivery of new, cutting edge, intensive training, and practice activity. Every teaching school hub will be involved in ITT to ensure that training places are available across the country.
QTS is considered desirable for teachers in most schools in England. In some schools, including academies, free schools, and independent schools, QTS is not a legal requirement. Academies have a fundamental freedom to employ talented people who do not necessarily have QTS.
Most teachers in all schools, including academies, have QTS and have undertaken initial teacher training. In the 2021/22 academic year, the latest data available, 14,771 teachers (headcount) did not have qualified teacher status, equivalent to 2.9% of teachers.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps she has taken to increase the number of mental health counsellors working in schools.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The mental health of children is a priority for this government. We know schools can support pupil mental health in a variety of ways, particularly by providing safe, calm and supportive environments that promote good mental wellbeing and help prevent the onset of mental illness.
Schools are not specialist mental health providers, but they can play an important role in identifying and responding to emerging or existing mental health issues. This may include providing targeted pastoral support, or ensuring referrals are made to external specialist support.
It is important for schools to have the freedom to decide what support to offer to pupils based on their particular needs, drawing on an evidence base of effective practice. This support can include counselling, which can be an effective part of a whole school approach. However, counselling is not suitable for all needs and many pupils also benefit from other in-school support, including from trained pastoral staff and educational psychologists.
To support the effective use of training and guidance on mental health in schools, the department is funding all schools and colleges in England to train senior mental health leads who can put in place whole school approaches to mental health and wellbeing. More than 11,700 schools and colleges have now received a senior mental health lead training grant, including over half of the eligible schools/colleges and more than six in ten state-funded secondary schools. This is backed by £10 million in the 2022/23 financial year. Further information is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/senior-mental-health-lead-training.
The department has also published a blueprint for schools on counselling services. This provides schools with practical, evidence-based advice, informed by schools and counselling experts, on how to deliver high quality school-based counselling.
To expand access to early mental health support, the Government is also increasing the number of Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) in schools and colleges to 400 by 2023, covering around 35% of pupils in England. Over 500 MHSTs are planned to be up and running by 2024. Further information is available here: https://www.england.nhs.uk/mental-health/cyp/trailblazers/.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps her Department has taken to increase the retention of (a) teaching staff and (b) maths teachers.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The number of teachers remains high, with over 465,500 full-time equivalent teachers working in state funded schools across the country, over 24,000 more than in 2010.
Teacher retention is key to ensuring effective teacher supply and quality, and the Department is action to support teachers to stay in the profession and thrive. The Department has published a range of resources to help address teacher workload and wellbeing and support schools to introduce flexible working practices.
The Department has created an entitlement to at least three years of structured training, support and professional development for all new teachers. Underpinning this is the new initial teacher training (ITT) core content framework and the early career framework: together, these ensure that new teachers will benefit from at least three years of evidence-based training, across ITT and into their induction.
Beyond the first few years of teaching, the Department’s priority is to help all teachers and headteachers to continuously develop their expertise throughout their careers so every child has the best start in life.
The Department has launched a new and updated suite of national professional qualifications (NPQs) for teachers and headteachers at all levels, from those who want to develop expertise in high-quality teaching practice to those leading multiple schools across trusts. Since autumn 2021, eligible teachers and headteachers have been able to obtain scholarships to undertake fully funded NPQs.
The Department remains committed to delivering £30,000 starting salaries to attract and retain the very best teachers: the Department has implemented the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendation of a significant 8.9% pay uplift to teacher starting salaries outside London in 2022/23, bringing them up to £28,000.
The Department knows there is further to go to improve recruitment in mathematics. That is why range of measures have been put in place, including bursaries worth £27,000 tax-free and scholarships worth £29,000 tax-free, to encourage talented trainees to teach mathematics. The Department is also offering a Levelling Up Premium worth up to £3,000 tax-free for mathematics (and physics, chemistry and computing) teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools. This will support recruitment and retention of specialist teachers in these subjects and in the schools and areas that need them most.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps she has taken to increase the number of professional careers advisers in school and colleges.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Secondary schools and colleges have a legal duty to secure independent careers guidance for all 12 to 18 year olds and to those up to the age of 25 with an education, health and care plan.
Secondary schools and colleges should adopt the Government’s careers framework, the Gatsby Benchmarks of Good Career Guidance, to develop and improve their careers programmes. The benchmarks describe eight aspects of high quality careers guidance based on international evidence.
Benchmark 8 focuses on personal guidance. It sets out that every pupil should have opportunities for guidance interviews with a careers adviser trained to an appropriate level. These interviews should be available whenever significant study or career choices are being made. By setting this clear expectation in the Department’s statutory guidance for careers, the Department is increasing the demand from secondary schools and colleges for qualified careers advisers. The Department’s careers guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/careers-guidance-provision-for-young-people-in-schools.
There continues to be an increase in the number of young people accessing personal guidance with a qualified careers adviser. In 2021/22, 85% of schools reported that most pupils (over 76%) had an interview with a qualified careers adviser by the end of Year 11. This is up from 80% the previous year. 66% of schools provided two or more interviews with a qualified careers adviser by the end of Year 13, up from 58% the previous year.
The Department is investing £18.5 million in 2022/23 to support the full rollout of Careers Hubs across England. 90% of secondary schools and colleges are now part of a Careers Hub, a tried and tested model for partnership and collaboration in careers education that is proven to accelerate progress against the Gatsby Benchmarks. In 2021/22, overall achievement of the personal guidance benchmark for schools and colleges in a Careers Hub was 75%, compared to 61% for those not in a Careers Hub.
To show how to deliver the personal guidance benchmark effectively and affordably, the Department funded the Careers & Enterprise Company between 2018 and 2021 to develop new cost effective models of personal guidance, resulting in a range of case studies. Practitioners accessed funded training within the project with 156 careers advisers receiving training. 97 gained Level 6 qualifications.
The Department’s careers statutory guidance recommends that schools and colleges consult the UK Register of Careers Professionals, held by the Career Development Institute (CDI), when bringing in a careers professional. As of May 2022, approximately 1,800 people were on the register. The CDI has a number of programmes in place to train and upskill careers advisers, including a focus on digital skills.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to introduce sensory food play in the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework (EYFS) sets the standards that all early years providers must meet for the learning, development and care of children from birth to age five.
There are no current plans to add any mandatory requirements regarding sensory food education into the EYFS.
The department has published an article promoting sensory food education on the ‘Help for early years providers’ online platform, which is a resource for childminders, nursery leaders and pre-school practitioners. This supports practitioners to look at incorporating sensory food education into their practice, while delivering the statutory EYFS requirements. The article is available at: https://help-for-early-years-providers.education.gov.uk/get-help-to-improve-your-practice/sensory-food-education.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase the number of childcare spaces in Britain; and how much additional funding her Department plans to allocate to childcare.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The department understands that childcare is a key concern for parents, which is why we are committed to improving the cost, choice, and availability of childcare.
To increase the choice and availability of childcare, the department announced a package of measures in July 2022. This included taking action to open up the childminder market to support childminders and halt the decline in numbers, giving more parents access to affordable, flexible childcare.
The department also continues to monitor the sufficiency of childcare places. The key measure of sufficiency is whether the supply of available places is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents and children. Ofsted data shows that the number of places offered by providers on the Early Years Register has remained broadly stable at 1.3 million places since August 2015.
Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area.
The department has regular contact with each local authority in England, and if a local authority raises concerns about sufficiency issues, we will support it with any specific requirements. At present, all local authorities report that they are fulfilling their duty to ensure sufficient childcare.
In the 2021 Spending Review, the department announced additional funding for the early years entitlements of £160 million in the 2022/23 financial year, £180 million in 2023/24 and £170 million in 2024/25, compared to the 2021/22 financial year.
In the 2023/24 financial year, we will invest an additional £20 million into early years funding, on top of the additional £180 million for 2023/24. Taken together, this will help support providers at a national level with the additional National Living Wage costs associated with delivering the free childcare entitlements next year.
With the additional £20 million, local authorities are set to receive average funding increases of 3.4% for the 3- and 4-year-old free childcare entitlements and 4% for the 2- year-old entitlement, compared to their 2022/23 rates.
The department has again increased the Early Years Pupil Premium, which for 2023/24 will provide up to £353 per eligible child per year to support better outcomes for disadvantaged 3- and 4-year-olds. Additionally, we have increased the Disability Access Fund, which will be worth at least £828 per eligible child per year.
The department continues to engage with sector stakeholders and local authorities to monitor dynamics within local markets, parents’ access to the government’s entitlements and the childcare they require, and the sustainability of the sector.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent steps the Government has taken to (a) improve support for deaf children and (b) increase the number of specialist teachers for deaf children.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
I refer the hon. Member for Putney to the answer I gave on 23 February 2023 to Question 143709.