§ Mr. PawseyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will bring forward plans to reform teacher training to provide for greater time to be spent on the practical as distinct from the theoretical aspect of teaching.
§ Mr. ForthThe Government issued in January a consultation document with proposals for the reform of the training of secondary school teachers. My right hon. Friend is studying the responses to those proposals and the advice he has recently received on the proposals from the Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education. It remains our intention to see a start made this September in the introduction of reforms on the lines we have proposed. The Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education has also been asked to advise on the reform of training for primary school teachers, taking account of the report on curriculum organisation and classroom practice in primary schools which was issued in February. The council has been asked to provide its advice by June.