HC Deb 01 August 1963 vol 682 cc133-4W
64. Mr. Dudley Smith

asked the Minister of Education what progress is being made by the Curriculum Study Group; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Chataway

During the past year the Group have been assisting the Secondary School Examinations Council to establish the new Certificate of Secondary Education examinations. Some of the results of this collaboration will be made generally available in the autumn, when my right hon. Friend expects to publish on the Council's behalf their Seventh Report, on the scope and standards of the Certificate of Secondary Education examinations, and the first of a new series of Examinations Bulletins containing suggestions for teachers and Certificate of Secondary Education examiners. The Group are also collaborating with the Nuffield Foundation in their projects for the improvement of science and mathematics teaching, are helping to organise the pilot scheme for foreign language teaching in the primary schools for which the Foundation are sponsoring the preparation of teaching materials, and are planning an inquiry into the content of the secondary school curriculum. They are also concerned with the proposal now under discussion to form an advisory body concerned with schools' curriculum and examinations, and will be providing professional assistance to the reconstituted Central Advisory Council in their study of primary education under the chairmanship of Lady Plowden.