§ Mr. WillisTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what funds have been allocated for training qualified teachers to teach citizenship lessons in secondary schools; [24267]
(2) how many teachers are being trained to teach citizenship lessons; and how many teachers will be qualified to teach citizenship lessons in September 2002. [24268]
§ Mr. TimmsA total of £27 million was made available through the Standards Fund directly to schools to prepare for implementing Citizenship and Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) between 2000–01 (£12 million) and 2001–02 (£15 million). With local education authority matched funding, schools are able to spend this in the way that best meets their needs, including spending on teachers' professional development, for example on courses run by citizenship organisations.
167 teacher training places were made available by the Teacher Training Agency (TTA) at the beginning of the 2001–02 academic year. Of this, 147 trainees are currently undertaking the one year programme to become citizenship teachers. On successfully completing their course, they will be able to take up a teaching post in September 2002. There are likely to be in excess of 150 trainee places available next year. Many existing teachers are, of course, already teaching aspects of citizenship through other subjects.