HC Deb 12 July 1994 vol 246 c822
12. Mr. Jenkin

To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to publish additional material in this year's school performance tables.

Mr. Patten

This year's tables will include more information than ever before under the parents charter. There will be additional information on achievements in vocational qualifications, including successes in the new vocational A-level. We shall also provide for the first time information on levels of authorised as well as unauthorised absence, and on classroom teaching time, in every secondary school.

Mr. Jenkin

Does my right hon. Friend agree that the importance of league tables is that they do not simply measure outcomes, but measure what has been added? Does he share my expectation that schools in all areas, whatever the social background, should be able to achieve excellent results?

Mr. Patten

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. In the post-war years we have been totally taken up with the inputs into the education system. We should be much more concerned with the outputs. It is the value added by education in schools that should concern us. That is why I was so pleased to see the recent evidence laid before the Education Select Committee, in which learned witness after learned witness said that what was really important was a combination of higher expectations and a greater concentration on teaching and learning. It is odd that some of the learned professors have not been doing that for the past 25 years.

Mr. Madden

Will the Secretary of State publish figures showing the schools where teaching staff have been made redundant as a result of the loss of section 11 funding? In his last few days in office, will he do everything possible to ensure that section 11 funding is available to give children of ethnic minority origin the maximum support in understanding, speaking and writing English?

Mr. Patten

I know of the hon. Gentleman's long-standing interest in matters affecting people from ethnic minority backgrounds in his constituency in Bradford, and I appreciate his attention and care for them over the years. However, I am extremely concerned that some section 11 money may be used to carry on the teaching of second languages—the languages learnt at home—when really, if we want all our children to be good, high-performing British citizens, the most important thing is that they be taught the English language.