§ Mr. Nicholas BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales whether he has any plans to accommodate history in Wales within the national curriculum; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerI am establishing a History Committee for Wales (HCW) to advise me on the overall curriculum for history in Welsh schools. The history committee will work within the broad framework to be devised by the history working group which my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Science has announced today.
The HCW will take account of the working group's recommendations, and will report to me by April 1990 on the attainment targets and programmes of study for history in Wales. I expect the committee to give weight to the essential core of British history which should be common to all children in England and Wales, as well as covering the history of Wales. The committee will be chaired by Professor Robert Rees Davies, professor of history at University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. I will announce the rest of the committee's membership shortly.
Terms of reference of the committee are as follows:
Backgound
1. The Education Reform Act 1988 provides for the establishment of a National Curriculum of core and other foundation subjects for pupils of compulsory school age in England and Wales. The Act empowers the Secretary of State to specify, as he considers appropriate for each foundation subject, including history, that there should be clear objectives—attainment targets—for the knowledge, skills and understanding which pupils of different abilities and maturities should be expected to have acquired by the end of
Year Section of M4 motorway Title Date tenders invited 1980 Coldra to Tredegar Park junctions 24-28 Widening to 3 lanes 7 January 1980 1981 Newhouse to Coldra junctions 22-24 Installation of communications cable 27 July 1981 1981 Lonlas to Pont Abraham junctions 44-49 Renewal of traffic signs 8 September1981 1985 Newhouse to Coldra junctions 22-24 Television surveillance system 18 February 1985 1985 Newhouse to Coldra junctions 22-24 Major resurfacing 14 March 1985 1985 Miskin to Pencoed junctions 34-35 Resurfacing 1 June 1985 1986 Castleton and Llandarcy junctions 29-43 Advance direction signing 1 August 1986 1987 Pontardulais bypass junctions 44-48 Surface dressing 10 March 1987 1987 Newhouse to Pont Abraham junctions 22-49 Signalling and communications maintenance 29 June 1987