§ 70. Mr. MorleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he has any plans to make available additional resources for the teaching of science subjects; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mrs. RumboldMy right hon. Friend is supporting expenditure of £8.3 million in 1987–88 through education support grants to improve the effectiveness of science and technology education in primary schools. This is planned to rise to £8.8 million in 1988–89. The Government are also supporting expenditure of £5.5 million in 1987–88 through the LEA training grants scheme towards in-service training for science teachers. In 1988–89 support for science in-service training will be £5 million and in addition the Government are targeting up to £4 million in 1988–89 for retraining courses for teachers in the shortage subjects of science, maths and CDT.
The Government have taken a number of initiatives to improve the supply of teachers in shortage subjects, including physics and CDT. These initiatives include:
£5 million to higher education institutions for new types of training provision.Nearly £2 millon in bursaries to trainee teachers.£0.5 million on other initiatives, including a series of BBC training programmes for serving science teachers.We are also supporting work at the Open university to develop distance learning packs to assist in the teaching of physics and mathematics.