§ Mr. HainTo ask the Secretary of State for Education how many physical education teachers were employed by local education authorities for each year since 1979.
§ Mr. Robin SquireThe information requested is only available for 1977, 1984, 1988 and 1992 from the secondary school staffing surveys. The number of full-time teachers in all maintained secondary schools in England who were teaching physical education in each of these years was as follows:
- 1977 41.8 thousand
- 1984 37.9 thousand
- 1988 30.3 thousand
- 1992 24.4 thousand
The same surveys give information on the number of teachers with a post A-level qualification in physical education regardless of whether they were teaching it. The number of full-time teachers in maintained secondary schools with a physical education qualification in each year was:
- 1977 33.9 thousand
- 1984 36.4 thousand
- 1988 31.6 thousand
- 1992 30.3 thousand
In both the above cases the 1992 figures include teachers in grant maintained schools.
No figures are available giving the number of physical education teachers in primary schools or special schools. However, the 1987 primary school staffing survey showed that 12.8,000 teachers in maintained primary schools had a qualification in physical education.