§ 37. Mr. Norman Atkinsonasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what steps he intends to take to rectify the educational deficiencies that he considers prevent a proportion of the school population from gaining any real benefit from full-time education.
§ Mr. William SheltonThe Government are concerned that schools should prepare all pupils effectively for adult life, and my right hon. Friend has drawn attention to the case for a more practical slant in the school curriculum, especially in the last years of compulsory education. We are considering what further steps we can take to encourage developments of this kind. We have also recently published proposals for a new pre-vocational qualification at 17-plus, designed for those pupils who 53W wish to remain in full-time education but who have set their sights on employment rather than higher education and have not yet decided what kind of job they might tackle.