§ Mr. FlynnTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) how many and what percentage of(a) comprehensive and (b) grant-maintained schools currently offer (i) Latin and (ii) ancient Greek as (A) compulsory, (B) a GCSE and (C) an A-level option; and if she will make a statement; [19886]
(2) what assessment she has made of the decline in the availability of Latin and ancient Greek tuition in comprehensive and grant-maintained schools; and if she will make a statement. [19887]
§ Mrs. GillanThe Department does not collect information as to which schools, or which types of school, offer Latin and ancient Greek. The following table shows the numbers and percentages of(a) local education authority-maintained comprehensive, (b)LEA-maintained selective, (c) grant-maintained comprehensive and (d) grant-maintained selective schools which entered pupils for GCSE and GCE A Level examinations in these subjects in 1994–95, the latest year for which data are available.
Except for the routine collection of examination entry data, my right hon. Friend has made no assessment of the availability of these subjects in schools. They are not required to be taught under the national curriculum, but schools are free to offer them once they have satisfied the statutory national curriculum requirements, if they have the necessary resources and if the demand is there.
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Number of schools Percentage of schools LEA Comprehensive GCSE Latin 239 10.0 GCSE Greek 10 0.4 GCE A Level Latin 58 2.4 GCE A Level Greek 5 0.2 Total schools 2,398 LEA Selective GCSE Latin 45 61.6 GCSE Greek 10 13.7 GCE A Level Latin 28 38.4 GCE A Level Greek 5 6.9 Total schools 73
Number of schools Percentage of schools GM Comprehensive GCSE Latin 68 14.1 GCSE Greek 9 1.9 GCE A Level Latin 19 4.0 GCE A Level Greek 3 0.6 Total schools 481 GM Selective GCSE Latin 57 60.6 GCSE Greek 14 14.9 GCE A Level Latin 37 39.4 GCE A Level Greek 8 8.5 Total schools 94