HC Deb 13 March 1979 vol 964 cc260-2
14. Miss Fookes

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science, if she will make a statement regarding the progress made by the Assessment of Performance Unit.

Mrs. Shirley Williams

The unit conducted its first surveys of performance in mathematics in 1978 and expects to publish its first report, on primary mathematics, towards the middle of this year. Plans are well advanced for surveys in mathematics and English language at primary and secondary level in 1979. Surveys of performance in science are expected to start in 1980 and assessment in foreign languages will follow.

Miss Fookes

Is it intended that the unit should liaise with the committee of inquiry into mathematics, set up by the right hon. Lady? If so, could the right hon. Lady provide the House with information about that?

Mrs. Williams

The Cockcroft committee of inquiry into the teaching of mathematics is now in operation. Its report will be available to the Assessment of Performance Unit in time for the later mathematics studies. The primary mathematics survey is being conducted at the moment. That material will also be available to the Cockcroft committee.

Mr. Douglas-Mann

Is my right hon. Friend aware of the report by the director of education for the London borough of Merton, a Conservative-controlled authority which the hon. Member for Plymouth, Drake (Miss Fookes) used to represent? That report was published in the recent issue of"Education ". In the report, the director examined the performance of comprehensive schools since the borough went over to the comprehensive system in 1969. Overall, he found that O-level and A-level passes had increased by nearly 100 per cent. and, in English and mathematics, by nearly 50 per cent.

Mrs. Williams

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for the opportunity to put on record some of the remarkable achievements of comprehensively organised authorities. In Merton, the number of O-level passes in 1978 was twice as many as would have been the case if every grammar school pupil had passed O-levels. Many of them failed to do so. A study of Hertfordshire, another Conservative-controlled authority, showed that the total number of passes in O-level, since the area of Welwyn and Hatfield became comprehensive, increased over the period 1968 to 1975 by 95 per cent., against an increase of about 24 per cent. in the age group. Similar information has come from Sheffield, Leicestershire, East Sussex and many other authorities. I am sick and tired of the fact that none of this information is published.

Dr. Hampson

If the Secretary of State returns to the question about the role of the Assessment and Performance Unit, may I ask her to encourage local authorities to adopt the tests used by the unit? In that way, once there is a national yardstick, local authorities will have the means of gauging how they fare in their schools.

Mrs. Williams

The APU test materials will not be avaialable to individual local authorities but the National Foundation for Educational Research is drawing up a group of tests comparable to those used by the APU and these can be employed by local authorities that wish to use them. That will be with the co-operation of the local authorities.

Mr. Flannery

In assessing performance and reading results, should we not take note of the statement from the Conservative Party that if it is elected to power it will destroy the 1976 Act which has brought about more comprehensive education and has resulted in some magnificent performances?

Mrs. Williams

That is fair comment. One of the great advantages of the comprehensive system is that it provides opportunities for boys and girls who would otherwise never have them in secondary modern schools. I hope that some Conservative authorities, for example, Bromley and Kingston upon Thames, will consider seriously whether they are wise to close off those opportunities to so many of their children.

Mr. Carlisle

The right hon. Lady quoted the O-level and A-level passes in certain Conservative-controlled authorities. Will she now quote similar results in the inner-city Labour-controlled areas?

Mrs. Williams

If the hon. and learned Gentleman had listened, he would have noticed that I quoted Sheffield. I could quote the passes in the Inner London Education Authority area and in a number of others. The hon. and learned Gentleman will, no doubt, bear in mind the somewhat contentious comparison between Tameside and Manchester, which leaves out of account the fact that Manchester has many more families below the supplementary benefit level, many more families dependent upon benefits and many more ethnic minority families. A comparison on that basis is highly dubious by any statistical method.