HC Deb 02 February 1993 vol 218 cc134-5
9. Mr. Mike O'Brien

To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will make a statement on his Department's policy and role in respect of instructing teachers (a) what to teach and (b) how to teach it.

Mr. Patten

I have recently brought to schools' attention advice from the Office for Standards in Education—the inspectorate—and the National Curriculum Council on strategies for improving curricular organisation and classroom practice.

Mr. O'Brien

Is not there a real danger that the Secretary of State will become too involved in the way in which things are done in the classroom and too prescriptive and rigid about the way in which teachers teach? Should not we trust teachers, governors and heads to decide how teaching should be done in the classroom, rather than the state being involved in every single decision?

Mr. Patten

I agree with some of what the hon. Gentleman says. There is a wide spectrum of opinion among those interested in education—from right to left and from traditional to progressive—that regulation should not be too prescriptive and that there should not be too much interference in what happens in the classroom. Nevertheless, the National Curriculum Council and the inspectorate made individual reports to me at the same time saying that they felt that a number of practices that had largely been dropped in primary schools in the 1960s and early 1970s, such as setting and whole-class teaching, were practices from which children should benefit. It was important to draw the conclusions of those two bodies to teachers' attention.

Mr. Anthony Coombs

Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is pure common sense, as the National Curriculum Council and OFSTED said in their reports last week, that primary teachers should do more whole-class teaching, that they should have an idea of exactly the curriculum that they are meant to be teaching and that it is not in any way ideological to set or stream pupils according to their ability? Does not the fact that the hon. Member for Dewsbury (Mrs. Taylor), the Opposition spokesman, calls those common sense remarks "fanatical doctrine" show the extent to which she is out of touch with parental opinion in Britain?

Mr. Patten

I cannot improve on what my hon. Friend has said about the hon. Member for Dewsbury (Mrs. Taylor). It is very important that when parents make up their minds about the school to which they wish their children to go, they know not only what the examination results are and something of the ethos of the school, as well as how religion is taught and what sports are available, but what teaching styles are used in the classroom. I am sure that parents have a right to such knowledge. They have a right to know whether setting is used and whether there is whole-class teaching. I intend to make certain that in their prospectuses for next year all schools will be required to give an accurate description not only of what they teach but of how they teach.

Mr. Don Foster

Does the Secretary of State accept that his Department, in addition to having a policy about instructing teachers, should have a policy of listening to teachers? Can he give us any evidence that his Department is doing that?

Mr. Patten

There is a range of evidence from my meetings with teachers, parents and governors during more than 75 visits to schools since last April. Week after week after week, individuals and groups of teachers come to see me and my ministerial colleagues to discuss just these issues.