HC Deb 10 June 1991 vol 192 cc428-30W
Sir John Wheeler

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science, further to his answer of 2 May,Official Report, columns 315–18, how many staff in total were employed by each research council in 1990–91; how many managers eligible for management training were employed by each research council in 1990–91; and how many man-days or equivalent of (a) management training and (b) training overall was provided by each research council in 1990–91.

Mr. Alan Howarth

The details are as follows:

1991 and the Government have recently announced funding for a third cohort. The licensed teacher scheme, which has also been introduced recently, allows suitably qualified candidates to be employed by local education authorities as classroom teachers and receive on the job training. The Government are evaluating both these schemes since we believe that as much of initial training as possible should take place in the school.

Mr. Pawsey

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many teachers are now in post; and how many were in post 12 months ago.

Mr. Fallon

Provisional figures for January 1991 show that there were 393,720 full-time equivalent teachers in the maintained nursery, primary and secondary schools sector in England. In January 1990 there were 398,542.

Mr. Pawsey

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the average qualification of entrants into teacher training.

Mr. Fallon

The most recent information available about the qualifications of entrants to initial teacher training is shown in the tables.

Table 1
Mean A Level Scores of entrants to undergraduate courses of Initial Teacher Training in England 1989
University Public Sector
A Level Score 7.2 5.3

Note: A Grade "A" at A level scores 5 points, a grade E scores 1 point.

Table 2
Degree class of those recruited to postgraduate courses of Initial Teacher Training in England and Wales (Universities) 1989
Degree per cent of total
Higher (eg MA, PhD) 4.4
1st 3.1
2i 33.1
2ii 39.8
2 1.0
3rd 7.9
Pass 7.7
Other 3.0

Note: Comparable data is not available for public sector institutions.

Table 3
Degree class of those who successfully completed postgraduate courses of initial teacher training in England and Wales (public sector institutions) 1988
Degree per cent of total
1st honours 3.0
2nd honours 76.3
Other and unclassified honours 8.0
Ordinary/pass 12.7

Mr. Pawsey

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what percentage of total education spending is spent on teacher pay and training.

Mr. Eggar

In 1988–89, the latest year for which information on actual spending is available, some 36 per cent. of total education spending was spent on teacher pay and training. This includes expenditure on school teachers' salaries, employers' national insurance and superannuation contributions, and in-service training for school teachers supported by the LEA training grants scheme—LEATGS. LEAs may also provide for in-service training additional to that supported by the LEATGS, but this information is not collected centrally.

Mr. Pawsey

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science by how much teacher pay has increased for each of the past five years.

Mr. Eggar

School teachers' pay settlements since March 1986 are as follows:

Date of increase Percentage
31 March 1986 1 1.6
April 1986 5.7
1 January 1987 16.4
1 October 1987 1
April 1988 4.73
1 April 1989 6.3
1 April 1990 9.3
1 January 1991

Subject to parliamentary approval, the 1991–92 settlement will be worth 11.3 per cent. in a full year.

Mr. Pawsey

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many teachers took early retirement in each of the past three years; and if he will give the figure expressed as a percentage of the total teacher force for each of these years.

Mr. Fallon

The number of teachers who took early retirement—that is retired between age 50 and 59—in each of the past three years is shown in the table. The numbers of retirements relate to teachers in the maintained nursery, primary, secondary and special schools sector. The numbers are also expressed as a percentage of the full-time teacher force in those establishments at 1 January in each year.

Financial year Premature retirements Percentage of teacher force
1988–89 7,875 1.9
1989–90 8,427 2.1
1990–91 9,710 2.4

Mr. Pawsey

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many teachers left the profession in each of the past three years for employment outside teaching; and what that was expressed as a pecentage of the total teacher force.

Mr. Fallon

The table shows estimates of the number of full-time teachers who resigned from maintained nursery, primary and secondary schools in England and Wales in each calendar year from 1987 to 1989 to take up non-educational employment, together with the proportion they represented of the full-time teaching force.

Full-time teachers resigning to take up jobs outside teaching
Number Percentage of all full-time teachers
1987 2,560 0.7
1988 3,320 0.9
1989 3,280 0.9

Source: LACSAB survey of teacher resignations