§ Mr. Litherlandasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many technical teaching staff, and of what grades, were recognised as teachers by his Department as a result of courses at the four colleges of education (technical) in 1978, 1979, 1980 and 1981; and how many of those were subsequently employed in schools and colleges in the initial training of young people aged 16 years to 19 years leading to technical, trade or craft qualifications for the years 1979, 1980 and 1981.
§ Dr. BoysonInformation is not available in the form requested. Courses at these institutions are designed for188W teachers in further education. The completion of one of these courses does not in itself lead to recognition as a qualified teacher, a form of recognition which applies only to teaching in schools.
It is, however, open to a local education authority to recommend such recognition for individual teachers with particular relevant experience and qualifications. Numbers of teachers so recognised after taking one of these courses are given below, by the years in which they completed their courses.
1978 246 1979 222 1980 253 1981 113
§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how much was spent on in-service training for mathematics teachers in the last financial year; and if he proposes to increase this provision.
§ Dr. BoysonIn-service training for teachers, including teachers of mathematics, is provided in a number of ways, including formal courses at polytechnics and colleges, courses and other activities, mounted by local education authority advisers and teachers' centres and Her Majesty's Inspectorate's own short courses. It is not possible to estimate what part of the costs of in-service training provided in these various ways is attributable to the training of mathematics teachers.
§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what consideration he has given to financial incentives to encourage mathematics graduates to train as teachers; and what contact his Department has with undergraduates in mathematics to encourage them to enter teaching.
§ Dr. BoysonThe Department has introduced a pilot scheme of national scholarships for priortiy teachers, which provides scholarships for selected mathematics graduates of high calibre to take postgraduate training courses, and allocates resources for the training and retraining scheme administered by the Manpower Services Commission, which provides training awards for mature mathematics graduates to take these courses. My Department has no direct contact with mathematics undergraduates to encourage them to enter teaching, but it does publish free information leaflets on teaching the physical sciences and mathematics and on the special schemes which are widely available. The report of the committee of inquiry into the teaching of mathematics in schools, under the chairmanship of Dr. W. H. Cockcroft, includes a number of recommendations in this area and my right hon. Friend will be examining these carefully.