HC Deb 22 May 1996 vol 278 cc281-3
8. Sir Fergus Montgomery

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what measures she proposes to improve teaching standards in schools. [29099]

Mrs. Gillian Shephard

We have introduced a wide range of measures, from professional qualifications for head teachers to in-depth reform of initial and in-service teacher training.

Sir Fergus Montgomery

Will my right hon. Friend confirm that the recent Ofsted report on reading showed that it is not funding or class size that determines educational success, but the quality of teaching in our schools? Does she welcome the new teacher training rules, which will concentrate far more on classroom experience?

Mrs. Shephard

Yes, the recent Ofsted report on standards of reading in Islington, Tower Hamlets and Southwark raised serious doubts about the quality of the teaching methods used, about in-service training and about the role of head teachers. It is sad that the initial reaction of those responsible was to accuse the report of political bias, instead of expressing concern for the education of the children in their care. Obviously, in-service training of teachers is important; but just as important is initial teacher training—my hon. Friend is right about that—and inspections of initial teacher training by Ofsted are revealing some interesting results.

Mr. Don Foster

Does the Secretary of State accept that there is little point in raising teaching standards if children are encouraged to miss school? If so, does she share my concern about the material sent out by the School Curriculum and Assessment Authority for this year's key stage 2 standard assessment tasks reading test? In it, children are encouraged to follow the wrong example in a passage in which Uncle Jim persuades mum to allow the children to miss school so as to go for a ride in his shiny new motor car.

Mrs. Shephard

That sounds like a description of Liberal education policy.

Mr. Key

Does my right hon. Friend agree that we could make a good start to raising teaching standards by saying thank you to the tens of thousands of teachers who, with professionalism and dedication, do so well in our schools? While we are at it, why not say thank you to them for teaching the hundreds of thousands of children who are about to sit their public examinations—including my daughter Sophie?

Mrs. Shephard

I am delighted to hear that news from my hon. Friend. Of course we owe a debt—as does society—to successful, committed teachers. It is indeed a shame that occasionally they are let down by local education authorities that seek to make excuses for them instead of helping them to achieve more.

Mr. Blunkett

Perhaps the Secretary of State will agree that one advantage of Uncle Jim's car is that, by taking a child out of the classroom, it improves the pupil:teacher ratio? Is it not a scandal that yesterday's figures revealed a further worsening of the pupil:teacher ratio and that, in an enlightened moment, the chief inspector of schools said in his annual report that small class sizes are of benefit in the early years of primary education? Will she therefore apologise to teachers and parents throughout the country for what has just been revealed—that, for the first time, more than 40 per cent. of our primary schools have classes of over 30, that classes of over 40 have risen by almost 50 per cent. since the Government took office and that we now have 1.6 million children in those excessively large classes, making it difficult to teach the basics that are the essential tools of raising standards?

Mrs. Shephard

Provisional figures on teacher numbers show that the position is largely unchanged. I remind the hon. Gentleman and his hon. Friends that there is no clear connection between class size and achievement in the classroom, as has been confirmed repeatedly by the chief inspector of schools. I further remind the hon. Gentleman that in Labour-controlled Hackney there was one teacher for every eight pupils, yet the education provided was so deplorable that the school had to be closed. We heard not a word of condemnation from Opposition Members of that disgraceful state of affairs.

Mr. Hawkins

Does my right hon. Friend agree that parents recognise that the Government have ensured that teaching standards in schools have improved? Would she be surprised to hear that Labour's education policy has been condemned by a former teacher, who recently became the chair of the new Blackpool Labour local government committee, as a "Conservative copycat document" and said that most left-wing teachers agreed with her. Is that not another example of splits within the Labour party on education?

Mrs. Shephard

That is indeed interesting news from Blackpool. Of course parents are well aware that Opposition Members have spent much of the past decade or so automatically opposing every measure that the Government have introduced to improve standards and, sadly, for many parents that legacy lives on in Labour town halls up and down the country. Examples include Islington, where GCSE results are the worst in the country, Tower Hamlets, which has the worst truancy, and Labour-controlled Nottinghamshire, where 11-year-olds were the only ones in the country who were not allowed to take national tests last year.