§ Mr. Sternasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what percentage of teachers of mathematics in maintained middle schools had no recorded qualification in that subject at the latest available date; and what steps he is taking to reduce this percentage.
§ Mr. DunnIn middle schools, mathematics is taught partly by specialist and partly by class teachers. In a survey of 48 maintained middle schools for pupils aged 9–13 undertaken in 1979–80 HM inspectors found 579 teachers teaching mathematics, of whom 110 (19 per cent.) had studied mathematics as part of a first degree or as a main subject in their teaching certificate. Of the 35 teachers who taught mathematics for more than half of their week, 21 (60 per cent.) were so qualified.
I have described the measures which the Government are taking to improve initial training in mathematics and the supply of specialist teachers of the subject in the answers I am giving today to my hon. Friend's other questions. These measures will be relevant to raising the level of qualification of those teaching mathematics in middle schools.
§ Mr. Sternasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what efforts he is making to attract more mathematics graduates into teaching, following the recommendation of the Cockcroft report.
§ Mr. DunnThe Government have maintained the number of initial teacher training places in mathematics within a total provision of training places for intending secondary teachers which has been reduced because of falling secondary school rolls. Recruitment to post-graduate courses in mathematics has been good for the last four years and we expect the supply of newly-trained mathematics teachers to be adequate in relation to the 59W number of vacancies for them. The Department's recruitment literature stresses the good opportunities for mathematics graduates within the teaching profession.
§ Mr. Sternasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he has any plans to review and evaluate the courses provided for the initial training of future mathematics teachers following the remarks in the Cockcroft report on the variety of practice that existed at the time of publication of that report.
§ Mr. DunnAll initial teacher training courses, including those for intending mathematics teachers, will be reviewed over the next three to four years by the new Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education. Courses will be assessed against a set of rigorous criteria, which include requirements relating to the academic and professional content of courses and specify a minimum amount of time to be devoted to the study of teaching mathematics in primary training.
§ Mr. Sternasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what percentage of teachers of mathematics in maintained secondary schools had no recorded qualification in that subject at the latest available date ; and what steps he is taking to reduce this percentage.
§ Mr. DunnThe latest information currently available relates to November 1977. when it is estimated that 29 per cent. of teachers then teaching mathematics in maintained secondary schools in England and Wales did not have a recorded qualification in mathematics (no information was collected about qualifications at or below A level). A new survey of secondary school staffing was carried out in January this year and results will be available shortly.
My right hon. Friend wishes to see a reduction in the amount of teaching carried out by teachers whose qualifications are not well matched to their task. The steps which the Government are taking to achieve this were set out in the White Paper "Teaching Quality" published last year. In particular, the Department pays grant to local education authorities to release for further training teachers of mathematics in secondary schools who are inadequately qualified in the subject.