HC Deb 11 April 1989 vol 150 cc424-5W
Mr. Cohen

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will list the individuals appointed to the recently announced committee of inquiry into the educational experience of under-fives, indicating for each the duration they have taught in(a) a nursery school or class and (b) a reception class.

Mrs. Rumbold

The members of the committee have been invited to serve in a personal capacity with particular reference to the breadth of the committee's task. Full information on the teaching experience of all the members is not currently available; however, Mrs. Ann Sharp and Ms. Lesley Abbott taught four-year-olds in reception classes for seven years and five years respectively. Ms. Abbott also taught a nursery class for one year and Mrs. Rose Johnson teaches from time to time both reception and nursery classes.

Mr. Cohen

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) if he will consider inviting Margaret Clark, professor of education at Birmingham university, to serve on the recently announced committee of inquiry into the educational experience of under-fives; and if he will make a statement;

(2) what consideration the recently announced committee of inquiry into the educational experience of under-fives will give to the recent review of research into the education of children under-five written by Professor Margaret Clark which was commissioned by his Department; and if he will make a statement.

Mrs. Rumbold

The committee of inquiry contains suitably qualified academics. I see no need to supplement their expertise other than through the various forms of expert evidence. Among these Professor Clark's review will without any doubt have a prominent place.

Mr. Cohen

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) when he expects to publish the Her Majesty's inspectorate of schools' document on quality in the area of education of under-fives;

(2) what areas of consideration for the recently announced committee of inquiry into the educational experience of under-fives have not already been covered by (a) his Department's commissioned review of research into the education of children under five and (b) Her Majesty's inspectorate of schools' document on quality in the area of education of under-fives; and if he will make a statement.

Mrs. Rumbold

The report by Her Majesty's inspectorate, expected to be published on 22 May, deals with good practice in maintained schools only. Professor Clark's critical evaluation of the outcome of recent research on the under-fives was not so constrained. Neither study, however, addresses fully these issues which the committee is required to take into account: the diversity of needs and of types of provision; demographic and social factors; the nature of training for teachers and other professional staff involved in the education of children under five.