§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what provisions he will make for specialist nursery training methods for teachers of four-year-old children attending primary schools; and what steps he will take to monitor the progress of such pupils in comparison with older classmates.
§ Mr. DunnThe new criteria for the assessment of initial teacher training courses, issued by my right hon. Friend with his right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales in April 1984, require that in future the approach to teaching methods in courses should differentiate according to the age group which the student intends to teach—whether primary or secondary—and that within primary special emphasis should be given to particular age ranges such as 3 to 8. In 1983 the Department invited institutions with training expertise in the 3 to 8 age group to develop specialist work on the nursery years within their courses. HMI is in the process of visiting those institutions and discussing their plans with them. Qualified teachers have the opportunity to augment their initial training by taking one of a number of one-term, in-service courses specialising in nursery teaching.
In the course of visits to primary schools HMI looks specifically at provision for the under-fives and, through its reports, which are now published, and the courses which it runs for teachers it makes known to those responsible its views on best practice.