§ Mr. GibbTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the "Education at a Glance" 2003: OECD Indicators finding that in the United Kingdom 82 per cent. of the variation in student performance lies within schools. [131954]
§ Alan JohnsonThe OECD's "Education at a Glance" for 2003 reports the variation in reading literacy between schools in the UK to be 22.4 per cent. of the average variation in student performance across all OECD countries, and the corresponding variation in reading literacy within UK schools to be 82.3 per cent. Taken together, these variances imply that 78.6 per cent. of the total UK variance lay within schools, and 21.4 per cent. between.
A majority of the countries that participated in PISA 2000 showed a greater variation in performance within schools than between schools. Compared with the UK, within-school variation was higher in Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and the USA. The UK had a similar level of within-school variation to Finland, Ireland and Canada. Countries that have more selection by ability tend to show more variation between schools and less variation within them, compared to countries with less selection.
An important contributor to the variation in reading literacy performance in schools is socio-economic background. We aim through our proposals for 14 to
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Full-time equivalent regular1 qualified primary school teachers 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 City of London 10 20 20 20 10 10 20 Camden 590 560 550 580 520 530 580 Greenwich 1,020 990 990 1,010 970 930 930 Hackney 840 850 870 870 840 780 790 Hammersmith and Fulham 460 410 410 440 430 450 420 Islington 800 800 740 750 680 750 700 Kensington and Chelsea 360 350 350 330 340 340 340 Lambeth 1,040 1,040 1,010 950 960 990 940 Lewisham 1,010 1,010 970 1,020 1,030 1,010 1,050 Southwark 1,000 1,030 1,050 1,040 1,080 1,060 1,060 Tower Hamlets 1,150 1,080 1,140 1,100 1,040 990 940 Wandsworth 870 850 890 870 860 860 840 19-year-olds1 to transform the learning experience for young people, so that by the age of 16 they are committed to continued learning, whether in school, college or the workplace, whatever their home background.
Policies aimed at levelling up pupil attainment include:
the school work force reform programme, the central purpose of which is to give teachers more time to focus on activities that really make a difference—includingthe planning, preparation and assessment that enable teaching and learning to be tailored to individual pupil needs;work to strengthen school leadership such as the National Professional Qualification for Headship, now run by the National College for School Leadership (NCSL) which also runs programmes to improve the performance of middle managers such as year heads;tracking pupil achievement more closely; andsupporting parents and encouraging them to participate in their children's learning, in line with research evidence showing (i) that parental interest in their child's education between the ages of 11 and 16 has a more powerful effect on children's attainment than social class, size of family and level of parental education; and (ii) that good at-home parenting has a significant impact on children's education throughout the years of schooling.The creation of the Children and Families Directorate and the recent publication of the Green Paper "Every Child Matters" reaffirm the Department's commitment to making life better for children and their families.
114–19: opportunity and excellence.