HC Deb 13 November 1996 vol 285 cc346-7
9. Lady Olga Maitland

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will make a statement on the teaching skills and methods employed in schools. [2078]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Mr. Robin Squire)

The Government are determined to ensure that all teachers use effective teaching methods to raise standards, particularly in basic literacy and numeracy.

Lady Olga Maitland

Given that trendy teaching methods, together with political correctness, are the principal cause of appalling results in some schools—mainly those in the bottom 10 local education authorities, which are controlled by Labour—what steps will the Minister take to root out such methods?

Mr. Squire

My hon. Friend is aware of several of the steps that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has already announced. It is, of course, regrettable that any teaching method should depend on passing fashion, and she rightly criticises some now obsolete fashions. The reforms that we have introduced give greater accountability to heads and governors to enable them to tackle any teachers who are currently under-performing, and the emphasis on standards should enable most of those teachers to improve. I expect—and, indeed, parents expect—the minority of teachers who are not performing adequately, and cannot improve, to be shown the door and given the chance to work in a less challenging environment.

Mrs. Anne Campbell

Is the Minister aware that the proportion of teachers who use information technology as part of their classroom teaching has remained constant for the past two years? What is he going to do to improve teachers' confidence in such technology, and to ensure that the outdated computers in classrooms are replaced as soon as possible?

Mr. Squire

This country has one of the finest records in supplying information technology to schools. We were in there first, and our investment bears comparison with that of any other country. As for the specific question of teacher confidence, the hon. Lady knows that information technology is now one of the cross-curriculum requirements. More and more teachers are required to be adept in its use. It features heavily in on-course in-set training, and it is also being given more attention in initial training.

Mr. Bernard Jenkin

May I suggest to my hon. Friend that, following reform of the structure of education and the introduction of a national curriculum and testing, teaching methods and skills are now the crux of the modern education debate? Will he give every support to the Office for Standards in Education, enabling it to take a rational view about which methods work and which fail? Is there not ample evidence to show that some of the trendier "group learning situations" constructed by education thinkers of the 1960s and 1970s have been an utter failure? There is now cross-party support behind the party-political battle; those methods must be rooted out, and teachers must undertake proper instruction rather than simply waiting for children to pick up the skills that they need.

Mr. Squire

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. In particular, he is right to stress that teaching is about giving instruction, not just about allowing pupils to discover themselves. The emphasis today in teaching, particularly in initial teacher training, is to ensure that all teachers coming into our schools should acquire a range of skills and the ability to determine when it is appropriate to use them. We are determined that all teachers will reach that target.