HL Deb 01 July 2003 vol 650 cc724-7

2.50 p.m.

Lord Dormand of Easington

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether the progress being made by specialist schools is satisfactory.

Baroness Andrews

My Lords, the progress being made by specialist schools is very satisfactory. In 2002, 54.1 per cent of pupils in non-selective specialist schools achieved five or more GCSEs at grades A*-C, compared with 46.7 per cent for all other comprehensive schools, even though the intake of ability at age 11, as shown by key stage 2 results, was broadly similar to that for non-specialist schools. By this September there will be 1,454 specialist schools in place, providing for 46 per cent of all pupils.

Lord Dormand of Easington

My Lords, given the massive and continuing growth in the number of specialist schools, can my noble friend tell me how many schools wishing to become specialist schools have been unable to do so because of the shortage of certain specialist teachers? Can my noble friend also confirm that the specialist schools receive much more in the way of grants than do non-specialist schools? In those circumstances, how can the non-specialist schools pretend to have the same standards as the specialist schools?

Baroness Andrews

My Lords, my noble friend is very interested in specialist schools and has been for a long time, but I regret that I cannot give him any information about the number of schools that have not been designated "specialist" because of the shortage of teachers. We know that some schools have not been able to achieve the £50,000 sponsorship that they need but, again, we do not know how many because schools are not required to provide that information. However, I do believe that the results that are being attained in specialist schools demonstrate that the status is part of a very effective schools improvement programme, which I hope my noble friend will want to support and thereby enable more schools to achieve that aim.

Baroness Gardner of Parkes

My Lords, the Minister said that over 50 per cent of those pupils in need of a special school place are catered for, which means that well over 40 per cent are not. Do the 40 per cent of pupils who do not have a special school facility available to them not wish to attend such schools—some people believe that it is better not to be educated at a special school—or is there still a desperate need to be met among that proportion of well over 40 per cent?

Baroness Andrews

My Lords, the noble Baroness is talking about special schools, while I am referring to specialist schools. Specialist schools are those which have a specialism in one of 10 different subjects.

Lord Quirk

My Lords, as the specialist school programme now spreads its wings into areas of the humanities where there is less consensus on a canonical core curriculum than is the case for the sciences, to what extent are the Government encouraging such schools to develop their own curricula, either individually or collectively?

Baroness Andrews

My Lords, it is true that the two most recent specialisms to be announced are in music and the humanities and, as with all other specialist schools, we want to see those curricula being developed to the highest standards. But the schools themselves are all bound by the national curriculum and will have to abide by it.

Just as we have seen from the excellent and quite outstanding work being done in the arts colleges in both history and geography, we now look forward to seeing the same in music.

Baroness Sharp of Guildford

My Lords, is it government policy to roll out specialist status to every secondary school in the United Kingdom? If that is the case, how are the Government proposing to help those schools which cannot find sufficient local resources to meet the £50,000 sponsorship required for specialist status?

Baroness Andrews

My Lords, the noble Baroness is absolutely right. The Secretary of State has made it clear that we intend to roll out the specialist school programme nationally because the status forms part of the improving schools programme, and it is successful.

We know that many schools are experiencing difficulties in raising the required sponsorship. For this year we have made available £3 million in the form of partnership money on which schools may draw. The application forms are now being made available and, if they meet the criteria, the first schools will be able to draw down from that fund from September to March of next year. When we come to the end of this funding year we shall look again at the situation to see what else we can do.

Lord Renton

My Lords, is the noble Baroness aware that great confusion has arisen over the use by the Department for Education and Skills of the terms "special schools" and "specialist schools"? Special schools are for those with learning disabilities and thus are quite different from the specialist schools. Could not something be done to rename either the special or the specialist schools in order to avoid further confusion?

Baroness Andrews

My Lords, I do not believe that generally there is any confusion between special and specialist schools. Perhaps I was not clear in my pronunciation of the word "specialist", which may not have helped the noble Baroness. However, the specialist school status is very much about schools having specialisms in different subjects.

Of course within those schools there will be children with special needs, who are also helped by the programme. But there is no confusion between the different types of school.

Baroness Blatch

My Lords, does the noble Baroness agree that my noble friend has made a very good point? Special schools do have a specialism: they are specialist in the field of teaching young people with learning difficulties. So I do think that my noble friend has a point.

Further, does the noble Baroness accept that specialist schools were established by my government when last in office and that we are delighted that the proposal is being built upon? However, concerns are now being expressed that many schools are being given specialist status when in fact the particular subject in which they are declared to be specialist is one that is very weak within some schools? I think that the rigorous selection process for allowing a school to become a specialist establishment should at the least insist that a school is specialist in the subject for which it is given specialist status.

Baroness Andrews

My Lords, I agree with the noble Baroness's first point: that special schools are very specialist. We have seen the results and we admire the wonderful achievement of all those children.

Turning to specialist status, it is true to say that certain specialist schools have been in some sense weak in their specialism. The funding and extra help they have been given has enabled them to develop and improve in those areas. Certainly the application process, as it has developed, has become more rigorous. I think that we are now seeing the benefits of that in all kinds of ways, including in the improvements schools are making in developing their partnership arrangements with other schools.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

My Lords, as every school will now be able to become a specialist school, is not the answer to the problem of the confusion over names to call them comprehensive schools?

Baroness Andrews

My Lords, I am sure that my noble friend heard me talk about "other comprehensive schools" in my first Answer. Specialist schools are within the family of comprehensive schools, although a very small proportion—under 6 per cent—selects by aptitude. Specialist schools are certainly comprehensive schools.

Lord Dormand of Easington

My Lords, can my noble friend comment on the view of the House of Commons Select Committee on Education and Skills that the expansion of specialist schools is taking place without any evidence to show that they are successful?

Baroness Andrews

My Lords, without wanting to anticipate the Government's response, which I think will be fairly robust, I have to say that we do not agree with that view. The evidence that we have gathered in support of the expansion of the scheme comes not only from the Government's own evidence, but also from a very wide range of quantitative and qualitative data from academic sources, Ofsted, the National Foundation for Educational Research and, just as importantly, from the experience of those schools which are part of the programme and that of others wishing to join.