Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that young people leave school with a good level of English and mathematics; and if he will make a statement.

We are reforming the mathematics and English curriculum and qualifications, raising expectations so that they match the best worldwide. The new national curriculum will match those in the highest-performing education jurisdictions in the world, challenging pupils to realise their potential in an increasingly competitive global market.

At primary level, we have published a more rigorous curriculum with a greater level of demand. In mathematics, children will know their times tables by age nine and calculators will be removed from the test for 11 year olds to ensure that children get a rigorous grounding in mental and written arithmetic. To support schools, we will continue to fund the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics. We also recently announced the establishment of 32 new Maths Hubs, supported with £11 million of funding over the next two years, which will drive up the quality of mathematics education from the early years to age 19.

In the new English national curriculum we have placed a greater focus on grammar, spelling and punctuation, with a new test for 11 year olds. We have strengthened the requirements on learning to read through systematic synthetic phonics, and we have introduced a phonics screening check at age six so that teachers can intervene early to help children catch up.

At secondary level, GCSEs in mathematics and English are also being reformed to be more challenging and give stronger guarantees of numeracy and literacy. We expect schools will increase time spent teaching mathematics – bringing us in line with our international competitors. The recently announced “Progress 8” measure gives double weighting to mathematics and English in performance tables for the first time. For year 7 pupils who have not achieved level 4 at key stage 2 in reading and/or mathematics we will continue to fund the catch-up premium worth £500 per pupil. This enables secondary schools to deliver additional support, such as individual tuition or intensive support in small groups, for those pupils that most need it.

We are also reforming post-16 education, including A levels in English and mathematics, and have set out our ambition for the majority of young people in England to study mathematics at least to age 18 by 2020. Students without at least a grade C at GCSE in mathematics or English are now required to continue to study the subject. In addition, new core mathematics qualifications are being developed for those students with GCSE grade C or above who do not go on to study A or AS level mathematics.

In addition, we have invested in and reformed initial teacher training to focus on attracting the very best graduates with the right qualities for teaching into the profession through scholarships and bursaries of up to £25,000 in key subjects such as mathematics, and supporting the expansion of the highly-successful Teach First programme.