Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment has he made of the implications for the national curriculum of the findings of the British Council’s 2018 Language Trends Survey.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department has noted the British Council Language Trends 2018 Survey and the concerns it raises about participation in languages study. Through a number of initiatives, the Department is ensuring that all pupils have the opportunity to study a language.
English Baccalaureate (EBacc) performance measures have been introduced to halt the decline in the number of pupils taking GCSEs in languages and the reformed national curriculum makes it compulsory for pupils in maintained schools to be taught a foreign language in Key Stage 2.
The Department offers financial incentives for languages teaching, including scholarships in modern foreign languages (MFL) worth £28,000, and tax-free bursaries, typically worth up to £26,000, for trainees MFL initial teacher training.
Schools are being supported to increase languages take up through the Mandarin Excellence Programme and through a £4.8 million MFL pedagogy pilot programme which aims to improve uptake and attainment in languages at Key Stages 3 and 4, particularly for disadvantaged pupils.
A pilot project for MFL undergraduate mentoring has been launched for secondary school pupils to increase take up in the subject, specifically targeting areas of high disadvantage to extend access to languages for all pupils.
The Department has recently published a leaflet for parents, which explains why studying a language, as part of the EBacc, will provide their children with an insight into other cultures, opening the door to travel and employment opportunities. This publication can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/english-baccalaureate-ebacc.
Since 2010, the proportion of pupils taking a language GCSE has increased from 40 per cent to 46 per cent.
Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will take steps to ensure that all state-funded schools provide pupils with the opportunity to develop specific and age-appropriate knowledge and understanding of religions as part of promoting mutual respect and tolerance of people with different faiths and beliefs.
Answered by Nick Gibb
All schools are required to promote fundamental British values including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect for and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs and for those without faith, and this is inspected by Ofsted. The Department has issued guidance on how schools can promote fundamental British values as part of their requirement to teach spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. This guidance sets out that schools should enable students to acquire an appreciation of and respect for their own and other cultures. For many schools, religious education is likely to form part of their approach to promoting these values.
Religious education (RE) is compulsory at all key stages in all state-funded schools to age 18. Therefore schools should already be providing an age-appropriate RE curriculum.
Although the Department does not routinely monitor schools to ensure that they meet their statutory duties, my right Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State has a range of powers to ensure that schools comply where he investigates complaints and finds that they have not done so.
Asked by: William Wragg (Independent - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions he has had with (a) school leaders, (b) university vice-chancellors and (c) other educational providers on how their institutions will fund the increase in the employers' contribution to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Department officials have discussed the changes to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme with all education trade unions and a number of employer representatives. Discussions with these groups will continue through the Teachers’ Pension Scheme Advisory Board.
The Department is also launching a consultation in early 2019 to seek views on the impact of the changes to employer contribution costs on state-funded schools, independent schools, further education (FE) colleges and other public-funded training organisations, and universities and other Higher Education institutions (HEI) in the Teachers’ Pension Scheme, including which sectors should receive additional funding from the Government. Once the consultation has closed, the Department will make an assessment on the viability of the scheme and the number of institutions participating in the scheme.
The Department estimates the total cost of increased employer contributions into the Teachers’ Pension Scheme to be £1.1 billion in 2019-20. This is broken down as follows: £830 million for state-funded schools, £110 million for Independent schools, £80 million for the further education sector, and £80 million for affected universities and other HEIs.