§ Mr. BlunkettTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how she plans to monitor ethnic minority achievement through the national curriculum. [8811]
§ Mrs. GillanAs I announced on 5 September, we propose to use the baseline statistics on the ethnic composition of each school, which we will be collecting through the annual schools census, as a basis for considering ways of monitoring ethnic minority pupils' progress through national curriculum assessment. We aim to consult on these in due course.
485W
§ Mr. BlunkettTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) if she will list this new arrangements for collecting baseline statistics on the ethnic composition of schools; [8812]
(2) when she plans to introduce the collection of baseline statistics on the ethnic composition of schools. [8813]
§ Mrs. GillanWe included two new questions in the 1996 schools census covering (i) the total number of minority ethnic pupils, and (ii) the total number of pupils for whom English is a second language, in each school. For the 1997 schools census, we will include a more detailed count of the number of pupils in each ethnic group for the school as a whole, and a separate count, in secondary schools only, of the number of pupils aged 15 in each ethnic group at the start of the academic year.
§ Mr. BlunkettTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment when the School Curriculum Assessment Authority and the National Council for Vocational Qualifications will report their recommendations on how best to introduce ethnic monitoring for post-16 qualifications. [8814]
§ Mrs. GillanCurrent plans are that SCAA and NCVQ will provide advice to Ministers on the data collection recommendations in Sir Ron Dearing's report on 16 to 19 qualifications by May 1997.