§ Mr. Greenwayasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what evaluation has been made of the amount of teachers' time required to run, supervise and mark the proposed new general certificate of secondary education examination; what is the estimated cost of introducing the new examination; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. DunnThe general criteria for the GCSE provide that syllabuses and methods of assessment should not make unreasonable demands on human or financial resources. The programme of in-service training in preparation for the new examinations will make some extra demand on resources: the Government has consequently agreed that £6 million of expenditure on this programme should be supported under the in-service teacher training grants scheme. The Government has also committed itself, subject to Parliament's approval, to provide the Secondary Examinations Council with additional grant of £860,000 which will be used partly to finance the production and dissemination of teacher manuals and videos and partly as a contribution towards the costs of the groups in providing subject experts to lead the in-service training seminars.