§ Mr. WilshireTo ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to improve the teaching of basic skills in primary schools.
§ Mr. PattenI have today published, following wide consultation, a circular—DFE circular 14/93—which sets new standards for all courses of training for primary teachers. It requires students to spend more time on learning to teach the core subjects of the national curriculum, in particular the basic skills of reading and arithmetic. It also requires students to spend more time in schools, with serving teachers playing a full part in their training.
The circular announces new plans to fund courses for classroom assistants, so that they can support the teaching and learning of basic skills in the primary classroom; such courses will be developed over the coming months and funded from September 1994.
The circular, which has been sent to all primary schools, those offering primary teacher training, and other interested bodies, includes comprehensive criteria which all primary training courses must meet. The criteria cover the subject knowledge and teaching skills new teachers require to be effective in the classroom; the amount of time to be spent in schools, and on the study of core subjects and basic skills; and the need for serving teachers to be able to play a full part in planning and delivering training.
The circular sets the new criteria in the context of the government's policies for primary education and teacher training. It supports the use of new course models to offer a variety of routes into teaching; including a six-subject, three-year BEd to prepare primary teachers for work across the curriculum. It encourages the use of the accreditation of prior learning to widen access to teaching for mature people without conventional qualifications.