Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 04 Jul 2022
Oral Answers to Questions
"Does my right hon. Friend agree that caution is needed with books that encourage a child to question their biological sex and to believe they were born in the wrong body because of gender nonconformity and not conforming to society’s stereotypes? Parents should be able to see what is being …..."Nick Fletcher - View Speech
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Speech in Westminster Hall - Thu 30 Jun 2022
BACKBENCH BUSINESS
"My hon. Friend is making a fantastic speech. There is an awful lot of work that needs doing on this subject. There is an old saying: “Give me a child until he is seven and I will show you the man.” While the Department is working on this issue, children …..."Nick Fletcher - View Speech
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 23 May 2022
Oral Answers to Questions
"23. What steps his Department is taking to invest in education in low-performing areas. ..."Nick Fletcher - View Speech
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 23 May 2022
Oral Answers to Questions
"Does the Minister agree that the future of children’s education in the now city of Doncaster has never been brighter due to the excellent steps taken by this Government, the fantastic schools in Don Valley and the roll-out of my role models project on the ground, which shows young people …..."Nick Fletcher - View Speech
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 28 Mar 2022
Schools White Paper
"This is great news for the young people of our country. Specifically, it is good news for the people of Doncaster, as Doncaster is now a priority education investment area. That will give my young constituents the boost they need to level up their opportunities. My only concern is that …..."Nick Fletcher - View Speech
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Written Question
Monday 7th February 2022
Asked by:
Nick Fletcher (Conservative - Don Valley)
Question
to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to encourage the uptake of foreign languages in schools.
Answered by Robin Walker
Increasing languages take-up is a key priority for the department. In September 2014, a statutory requirement for all key stage 2 pupils to study either an ancient or a modern foreign language was introduced to the national curriculum. The department has also taken steps to increase the uptake of languages at GCSE. GCSEs in all modern and ancient languages have been part of the English Baccalaureate performance measure for secondary schools, first introduced in 2010.
The department also recently completed its review into the subject content for French, German, and Spanish GCSEs – the most popular languages at this level. Although the new GCSE will not be available for first teaching until September 2024, the intention is that more pupils will want to study languages at GCSE level and encourage them to continue with this study to post-16 and beyond. The department published the government response to the consultation alongside the revised subject content in January 2022.
The total number of pupils in state-funded schools in England entered for examinations in at least one language GCSE has increased from 231,224 in 2010 to 253,379 in 2019. This amounted to an increase among all key stage 4 pupils from 40% in 2010 to 47% in 2019. With GCSE examinations due to recommence in 2022, the department will return to publishing, as far as possible, our usual range of English Baccalaureate entry and attainment measures.
The department also provides funding for several programmes to improve teaching quality and take-up in specific languages. These are:
- The Modern Foreign Languages Pedagogy Pilot led by the National Centre for Excellence for Language Pedagogy at the University of York,
- The Mandarin Excellence Programme (MEP) led by University College London Institute of Education in partnership with the British Council, and
- Modelled on the MEP, the department also recently announced a £4 million Latin Excellence Programme to increase uptake and attainment in Latin in secondary schools from September 2022 onwards.
Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 06 Sep 2021
Oral Answers to Questions
"9. What steps his Department is taking to tackle gender disparity in educational attainment. ..."Nick Fletcher - View Speech
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 06 Sep 2021
Oral Answers to Questions
"Research produced by the all-party parliamentary group on issues affecting men and boys highlights how boys are reading far less than girls, especially in disadvantaged areas, and consequently have lower literacy skills. Does my hon. Friend agree that that disparity needs to be addressed? Will her Department consider running a …..."Nick Fletcher - View Speech
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 09 Jun 2021
Investing in Children and Young People
"Attitude—that is what I want to talk about today. More specifically, I want to talk about having the right one. I believe that the Opposition have the wrong attitude. In fact, if I were writing the Opposition’s school report, I would mark their attainment as “poor”. The poor attitude of …..."Nick Fletcher - View Speech
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Written Question
Wednesday 28th April 2021
Asked by:
Nick Fletcher (Conservative - Don Valley)
Question
to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that children are assessed fairly in their upcoming GCSE and A Level assessments.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Fairness to young people is fundamental to the Department and Ofqual’s decision making. We want to ensure all young people have the confidence that, despite exams not going ahead, they will receive a grade that reflects their ability and enables them to progress.
Pupils will receive grades determined by their teachers, with assessments covering what they were taught, and not what they missed. Teachers have a good understanding of their pupils’ performance and how they compare to other pupils this year and in previous years. They are best placed to undertake an assessment of the level of learning loss of individuals as they know their pupils best.
Entitlements to reasonable adjustments should be taken into account by teachers when deciding which evidence to use, with flexibility to use or discount evidence. The range of evidence can be tailored to an individual pupil according to coverage of the specification.
Teachers have been provided with grade descriptors and exemplar materials to support them in making an evidence-based judgement of the grade at which each pupil is performing. Pupils will also have multiple chances to show what they know and can do and will be able to see the evidence their teacher plans to submit for them.
Exam boards have set out clear requirements for quality assurance to centres. Every centre will need to produce a policy setting out their approach to assessment and quality assurance, and exam boards will check these. Heads of Centre will also be required to provide a formal declaration about the accuracy and integrity of the grades submitted and the processes supporting them.
Every pupil will have the safety net of the option to appeal their grade if they wish to. If a pupil believes their grade is wrong, they will be able to ask their centre to check for errors and make sure they have followed their own process correctly.