HL Deb 11 January 2005 vol 668 cc132-4

2.53 p.m

Lord Archer of Sandwell

asked Her Majesty's Government:

>When they expect to have in place an implementation plan for the strategy set out in the paper Putting the World into World-Class Education.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Skills (Lord Filkin)

My Lords, officials within the department are already in discussions with a number of key organisations which are working with us to draw up and to develop the implementation plan. We aim to finalise that by the end of spring 2005.

Lord Archer of Sandwell

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that encouraging Answer. Can he confirm the Government's commitment to the principle that there is no inconsistency between inducing a sense of loyalty to the local community and to the nation and teaching that global security and well-being are indivisible? Have we not learned that tragically in the past few weeks by the events in Asia? Therefore, can my noble friend say whether the Government will co-operate with education authorities in other countries in some of their projects and will they draw on the expertise of NGOs like the Council for Education in World Citizenship and the One World Trust?

Lord Filkin

My Lords, my noble and learned friend is absolutely right. As most noble Lords know, one can rejoice in the village or town in which one lives, one can be proud of being British, or English, Scottish, Welsh or Irish, and at the same time have a commitment to understanding the wider world and feeling part of that wider world. Of course, that is exactly the message in the strategy that we are discussing. He is also right that, in implementing it, we shall seek to co-operate with other educational institutions. That is where we can add most value from our expertise and from our experts and we shall be consulting with a range of bodies, including the One World Trust, in the forthcoming weeks.

Lord Quirk

My Lords, the very first goal in the White Paper is: To transform our capability to speak and use other languages". That transformation theme is repeated enthusiastically again and again in the White Paper. Does the Minister accept that in actual fact language learning in secondary schools and in universities is in sharp decline? How will the mere option of a second language in all primary schools by 2010, which is the shared goal, transform such a dire position?

Lord Filkin

My Lords, I do not hold quite such a jaundiced view as the noble Lord, Lord Quirk, on the status of language teaching in secondary schools. He may, in part, be referring obliquely to the increased freedom that we have given schools with regard to how much they insist on an obligatory second language for more senior pupils in secondary schools. We have had that discussion a number of times.

We are absolutely convinced that by getting more pupils aged from seven to 11 involved in languages at an earlier age, we are likely to have a better commitment to language learning as part of a wider educational agenda. Of course, there are links between the relevance of language learning and the rest of the strategy because it should demonstrate to pupils that just being able to speak one's own language, one hopes well, is not enough as part of a global society.

Baroness Walmsley

My Lords, is the Minister aware of the sentence on page 15 of the supporting paper for head teachers which says: A large secondary school is able to take on a specialist head of international studies, a language teacher with a broad background of interest in international development work"? Does he agree with me that that suggests exciting new opportunities in schools for older people who have much broader experience than just teaching languages? Does the planning to which he referred earlier include arrangements for attracting such people into those exciting new roles in schools?

Lord Filkin

My Lords, I am delighted to find that I can agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, on this—as I shall do, no doubt, on other issues today as we progress on to other matters. Increasingly, as the years go by, I share her view that one understands more and more the contributions that older people can make to many aspects of our society. On the specific point raised by the noble Baroness, the off-the-cuff answer is that I expect so, but I would like to go away and check that.

Lord Hanningfield

My Lords, given that a key goal of the strategy paper is to maximise the contribution made by university research to overseas trade and inward investment, is the Minister concerned about the impact that the growing number of universities closing their engineering and particularly their science departments may have on that objective?

Lord Filkin

My Lords, that is a rather adroit way of just about bringing a different point within the scope of the Question. As the noble Lord knows, because of the concerns of my right honourable friend the previous Secretary of State for Education, Charles Clarke, about decisions made by some universities in relation to certain subjects, he instructed HEFCE to look at the issue. In the national interest, one could not allow a situation to develop in which a range of crucially important subjects were eroded. Of course, we await its considerations.

Baroness Whitaker

My Lords, declaring an interest as a vice president of the One World Trust and bearing in mind that we live in one moral universe, as my right honourable friend the Chancellor put it, will my noble friend urge that the role and potential of the United Nations is included in school syllabuses?

Lord Filkin

My Lords, an understanding of how the United Nations and other international governance bodies affect not only our lives in our own society, but also the lives of people in other parts of the world is part of good curriculum studies.

We saw a particularly good example of that recently with the launch by the DfID and Morgan Stanley of a project for schools around the G8 Summit, which allowed schools to look at issues like global warning, its importance, causes and impact on all societies and at the interesting and important issue of how some of the richest societies and economies do, often with difficulty, work together on challenging issues like how to address global warning.

One could hardly find a better practical example, about both governance and a real issue, for schools to study in their curriculum. Therefore, that is a clear illustration of the importance of bringing international issues to hone in school teaching by such a method.