§ Mr. ThorntonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) what information is available to his Department, for each year since 1986, regarding the number and proportion of all recruits to teaching in maintained schools who were re-entrant qualified teachers; and if he will make a statement;
(2) what number and proportion of all recruits to teaching in maintained schools in each year 1985 to 1988 were re-entrant qualified teachers; whether there is any significant difference in these proportions between the primary and secondary sectors; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. ButcherEstimates of entrants and re-entrants to teaching are derived from the database of teacher records, maintained by the Department to administer the teachers' superannuation scheme. The latest information available relates to the year ending March 1986. The figures for England for that and the previous year are:
498W
Year ending March 1985 1986 Re-entrants to maintained nursery and primary schools number 6,890 7,670 as a percentage of all entrants to these schools 65 per cent. 63 per cent. Re-entrants to maintained secondary schools number 6,210 6,480 as a percentage of all entrants to these schools 45 per cent. 47 per cent. Re-entrants to all maintained nursery, primary and secondary schools number 13,100 14,150 as a percentage of all entrants to these schools 53 per cent. 55 per cent. The higher proportion of re-entrants to nursery and primary schools reflects in part the greater number of women teachers in these compared to secondary schools.
§ Mr. ThorntonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what information is available to his Department regarding the subject qualifications of qualified teachers returning to employment in maintained schools in recent years; whether any trends are discernible in the numbers of returners in shortage subjects; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. ButcherEstimates of re-entrants to teaching are derived from the database of teacher records, maintained by the Department to administer the teachers' superan-nuation scheme. This database contains information on the degree subjects of graduate teachers, but not on the subjects of other qualifications including initial or in-service teacher training. The latest information relates to the year ending March 1986. The figures for re-entrants to maintained secondary schools in England in that year are:
Number All re-entrants to maintained secondary schools 6,480 Graduate re-entrants 3,420 Of which, number whose degree subject is: Mathematics 240 Physics 110 Other sciences 530 Geography 210 Economics and other social sciences 270 English 510 History 280 Modern languages 420 Other subjects 850 Non-graduate re-entrants 3,070 With regard to the shortage subjects, the number of re-entrant mathematics and physics graduates in the previous year (ending March 1985) were 200 and 110 respectively. No inferences about the number of re-entrants with CDT qualifications are possible from these data, because very few of these qualifications will be in the form of degrees.