§ Mr. Ashdownasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what information is available to his Department from (a) reports and returns made by district inspectors of Her Majesty's inspectorate, (b) reports and returns made by local education authorities and (c) any other source, as to the adequacy of (i) facilities arid resources for in-service training, (ii) training undertaken by teachers on the new syllab, (iii) training undertaken by teachers and headteachers on techniques and management of in-course assessment and (iv) relevant books and equipment, in each local education authority for the introduction of the general certificate of secondary education; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mrs. RumboldDiscussions are being held with GCSE examining groups, LEAs and teachers' associations as part of a monitoring exercise to assess GCSE resource needs and demands on teachers' time. In addition, details provided by LEAs about actual expenditure on books and equipment and on teacher training will be scrutinised to help determine future resource needs and policy developments.
Her Majesty's inspectorate is also monitoring the implementation of the GCSE through (a) its normal programme of school visits; (b) specialist subject visits; (c) termly discussions with LEA officers, inspectors and advisers; and (d) the annual analysis of LEA's expenditure policies.
Her Majesty's inspectorate is also evaluating GCSE in-service teacher training.
§ Mr. Ashdownasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what information is available to his Department on the work load consequences for teachers in changing to the new general certificate of secondary education; what studies have been undertaken or commissioned on the work load relating to in-course assessment; if he will publish a table showing, for each existing examination board, the number of different general certificate of education O-level or certificate of secondary education syllabi (a) with in-course assessment and (b) without in-course assessment, and the number of children taking examinations under each heading in the last year; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mrs. RumboldThe GCSE, and in particular its course work assessment, will make demands on teachers. Such assessment is not new—it had its place in many CSE and some O-level syllabuses—but it will now be more extensive: demands vary between subjects and between syllabuses. Her Majesty's inspectorate is monitoring the work load consequences for teachers as part of its wider GCSE monitoring exercise and discussions with the teachers' associations have also provided valuable information.
Under the previous system, some 20,000 O-level and CSE syllabuses in many hundreds of subject titles were offered by the 20 separate examination boards, and 183W schools were free to choose the ones which best met their needs. The number of GCSE syllabuses is far fewer, but information about individual syllabuses is not held centrally.
§ Mr. Ashdownasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what information is available to his Department on the extent to which the change from general certificate of education or certificate of secondary education syllabi of different examination boards to the new general certificate of secondary education requires new books and equipment; if he will publish such information as is available to identify the examination boards and subjects for which (a) little replacement or (b) major replacement of books and equipment is considered to be necessary; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mrs. RumboldThe introduction of the GCSE does not require the wholesale replacement of existing textbooks: the need is rather for these to be supplemented and updated over time, in the light of demands of particular subjects and individual syllabuses. These needs will vary from school to school subject to subject, and syllabus to syllabus. The Government have provided substantial resources to ensure that schools are able to purchase additional books and equipment for GCSE courses.