§ Mr. GibbTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what the guidelines are to local education authorities with regard to the in-school setting of pupils by ability at secondary level; [105402]
(2) what proportion of state secondary schools he estimates set pupils by ability at Year 7; [105403]
(3) for which (a) subjects and (b) year groups it is (i) mandatory and (ii) optional to set classes of pupils by ability at secondary school level. [105405]
§ Mr. MilibandSetting by pupil ability is not mandatory in any subject in secondary schools. We have not issued general guidelines to local education authorities over approaches to in-school setting of 819W pupils, although we have encouraged setting as part of a range of measures which schools can adopt to meet the learning needs of their more able pupils.
We do not collect data on setting in secondary schools. Within about 87 per cent. of the secondary schools inspected by Ofsted during 2001/02 at least one setted/banded lesson was inspected.
Ofsted also found that the level of setting increases throughout Key Stage 3, from 26 per cent. of lessons inspected in Year 7, to 38 per cent. in Year 8, rising to 44 per cent. in Year 9, with setting much more common in subjects such as mathematics, science, modern foreign languages and English.