Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the current pupil to teacher ratio in (1) primary, and (2) post-primary, schools broken down by sector; and how that figure compares with 2011.
Answered by Lord Nash
The information requested is as follows:
Table: Pupil:teacher ratios and pupil:adult ratios in publicly funded schools.
November 2011-2013, England
November | ||||
2011 | 2012 | 2013 | ||
LA MAINTAINED NURSERY | ||||
PTR (Qualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 16.7 | 16.5 | 17.1 |
PTR (Qualified and unqualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 16.2 | 15.9 | 16.7 |
PAR within-schools | 3 | 5.1 | 4.9 | 4.8 |
LA MAINTAINED PRIMARY | ||||
PTR (Qualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 21.0 | 20.9 | 20.8 |
PTR (Qualified and unqualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 20.5 | 20.5 | 20.4 |
PAR within-schools | 3 | 11.7 | 11.5 | 11.3 |
PRIMARY ACADEMIES | ||||
PTR (Qualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 21.9 | 21.4 | 21.9 |
PTR (Qualified and unqualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 21.3 | 20.6 | 21.2 |
PAR within-schools | 3 | 12.5 | 11.7 | 11.8 |
TOTAL PUBLICLY FUNDED NURSERY AND PRIMARY | ||||
PTR (Qualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 21.0 | 20.9 | 20.9 |
PTR (Qualified and unqualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 20.5 | 20.5 | 20.5 |
PAR within-schools | 3 | 11.7 | 11.4 | 11.2 |
LA MAINTAINED SECONDARY | ||||
PTR (Qualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 15.5 | 15.4 | 15.4 |
PTR (Qualified and unqualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 15.0 | 14.9 | 14.8 |
PAR within-schools | 3 | 10.6 | 10.5 | 10.3 |
SECONDARY ACADEMIES | ||||
PTR (Qualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 15.6 | 15.5 | 15.9 |
PTR (Qualified and unqualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 14.8 | 14.8 | 15.1 |
PAR within-schools | 3 | 10.6 | 10.6 | 10.7 |
TOTAL PUBLICLY FUNDED SECONDARY | ||||
PTR (Qualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 15.6 | 15.5 | 15.7 |
PTR (Qualified and unqualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 14.9 | 14.9 | 15.0 |
PAR within-schools | 3 | 10.6 | 10.5 | 10.6 |
PUBLICLY FUNDED SPECIAL | ||||
PTR (Qualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 6.3 | 6.3 | 5.9 |
PTR (Qualified and unqualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 5.9 | 5.8 | 5.4 |
PAR within-schools | 3 | 2.1 | 2.1 | 2.0 |
TOTAL ACADEMIES | ||||
PTR (Qualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 15.9 | 16.1 | 16.8 |
PTR (Qualified and unqualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 15.2 | 15.3 | 15.9 |
PAR within-schools | 3 | 10.7 | 10.6 | 10.7 |
TOTAL PUBLICLY FUNDED | ||||
PTR (Qualified teachers) within-schools | 1, 2 | 17.8 | 17.7 | 17.8 |
Overall PTR (Qualified and unqualified teachers) within-schools | 2, 4 | 17.2 | 17.2 | 17.2 |
Overall PAR | 3 | 10.5 | 10.3 | 10.2 |
Source: School Census and School Workforce Census
Notes
Sources used are School Census for pupils and School Workforce Census (for November 2011 to 2013 teachers and overall teachers).
The information requested is also published in table 17 in the statistical first release‘School Workforce in England, November 2013’, which is published online at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-workforce-in-england-november-2013
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken to enable schools to determine their own curriculum.
Answered by Lord Nash
All schools, including academies and free schools, are required to teach a curriculum which is broad and balanced. Within that framework, academies, free schools and other types of independent schools retain the freedom to design and follow their own curriculum. Maintained schools must teach the national curriculum as part of their wider school curriculum. Following the recent review, the Government has slimmed down the national curriculum to give schools greater flexibility to tailor their school curriculum to best meet the needs of their pupils.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to introduce legislation to give headteachers and schools greater autonomy over teachers' pay and to allow them to reward, recruit, and retain the best teachers.
Answered by Lord Nash
This Government has recently reformed the statutory framework for teachers’ pay to give maintained schools greater autonomy. New statutory arrangements came into effect in September 2013 that give schools more freedom to decide how much they pay a teacher and how quickly pay progresses. This increased flexibility, which academies already enjoyed, supports headteachers in attracting and recruiting the teachers that they need to deliver outstanding education.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what legislation is currently in place and what further steps they are taking to protect children from cyber-bullying through the internet.
Answered by Lord Nash
Current Acts that can be used to prosecute cyberbullying-related offences are: The Protection from Harassment Act 1997, The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, The Malicious Communications Act 1998, The Communications Act 2003 and The Defamation Act 2013.
The Government thinks that schools, parents and internet providers all have a role to play in keeping children and young people safe online.
Through the Education Act 2011 we have given teachers greater powers to tackle cyber-bullying - via text message or the internet - by providing a specific power to search for and, if necessary, delete inappropriate images or files on electronic devices, including mobile phones
All schools must have a behaviour policy that includes measures to prevent all forms of bullying, including cyber-bullying. Schools have the flexibility to develop their own measures to prevent and tackle bullying, but are held to account by Ofsted.
Educating children and young people about online safety is key to tackling cyber-bullying. From September 2014, e-safety will be taught at all four key stages of the curriculum, covering primary-age children for the first time. This will empower young people to tackle cyber-bullying through responsible, respectful and secure use of technology, as well as ensuring that pupils understand age-appropriate ways of reporting any concerns they may have about what they see or encounter online.
The Department for Education is providing £4 million of funding over two years from 2013 to four anti-bullying organisations: Beatbullying, the Diana Award, Kidscape and the National Children’s Bureau consortium. While this funding has been awarded to specific projects to reduce bullying in general, this can, and does, include work to tackle cyber-bullying.
The Department has produced case studies showing good practice in how to manage behaviour and bullying. These include a case study about how a school deals with cyber-bullying. Through funding provided by the Department, the Anti-Bullying Alliance has also produced specific advice on cyber-bullying for children and young people with special educational needs and or disabilities. We provide a link to this in our own advice on preventing and tackling bullying.
Ministers from the Department for Education, Home Office and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport co-chair the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS), which brings together a range of experts across government, law enforcement, industry, academia and charities to consider the best ways to minimise the risk of harm to children when online.
We are pleased to see that internet service providers (ISPs) have rolled out whole home filters to their customers which will help parents to keep their children safe online. The ISPs have also launched ‘Internet Matters’, a new £75 million internet safety campaign which will run over three years and will reach out to millions of parents on how best to protect their children and make good use of filters.