§ Mr. Keyasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he has received the report of the working party on criteria for pre-vocational courses; pre-16; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Chris PattenThe report was submitted last month to my right hon. Friend and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales by the chairman of the working party, Mr. R. S. Johnson, director of education for Leeds.
The report's key recommendations are that: all single subject courses, by whomsoever offered, should be governed by the GCSE national criteria; and that grouped and integrated pre-vocational courses should be governed by the new criteria proposed by the working party.
We are issuing the report to all interested parties inviting comments, by 31 October, on the proposed arrangements for the approval and monitoring of single subject courses and on the proposed criteria for grouped and integrated courses. We shall then invite the Secondary Examinations Council to prepare final version of the criteria, in consultation with the working party, for our final approval. We aim to publish the final approved versions of the criteria in spring 1987 and intend that these 149W should govern pre-vocational courses offered in the compulsory years of secondary education from September 1988.
We welcome the emphasis placed in the criteria on the curricular principles of breadth, balance and relevance. We believe it is vital that all fourth and fifth year secondary pupils continue to acquire the knowledge, understanding and skills associated with the main curricular requirements. These are an essential foundation for subsequent learning, training and work. We are grateful to the working party for producing its report and to the Secondary Examinations Council for hosting and servicing it.
Copies of the report are being placed in the Library.