§ Mr. Gouldasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what measures have been taken since 1979 to encourage a reappraisal of the curriculum used in schools and in teacher training institutions to reflect the multiracial nature of British society.
§ Mr. DunnA great deal of work has been undertaken in recent years by local education authorities, teacher training institutions and individual schools to take account of the ethnic diversity of British society. For the Government's part, my right hon. Friend described in his statement to the House on 14 March at column 451 the measures being adopted in the curriculum and teacher training fields. Criteria for the approval of initial teacher training courses were issued in April 1984. They include requirements that students should be prepared to teach the full range of pupils whom they are likely to encounter in an ordinary school, with their diversity of ethnic and cultural origins, to respond flexibly to such diversity and to guard against preconceptions based on the race of pupils. Students should also be given a basic understanding of the society in which their pupils are growing up, with its cultural and racial mix. All courses of initial teacher training will be reviewed against the criteria over the next three to four years. My right hon. Friend will also be proposing to the local authority associations that from 1986–87 onwards the in-service training grants scheme should include training dealing with the need to respond to ethnic diversity. The Government has asked local education authorities to review their policies for the school curriculum, recognising among other factors the changing nature of our society, including its religious, ethnic and cultural diversity. This theme was explored in the booklet "The School Curriculum" issued in 1981 by my right hon. Friends the then Secretary of State and the Secretary of State for Wales.