HC Deb 19 September 2003 vol 410 cc1147-9W
Mr. Chaytor

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the relationship between SATS scores and the results of teacher assessment at Key Stage Two. [129030]

Mr. Miliband

[holding answer 11 September 2003]: Testing of all pupils at the end of each key stage of education provides objective evidence, against a national standard, of what children have learned in the core subjects. Teacher assessment: is an important part of the overall statutory assessment framework and covers the full range and scope of the programmes of study, taking into account evidence of achievement in a range of contexts, including that gained through discussion and observation.

The evidence from both types of assessment, together provides, valuable information to support the future learning of each pupil.

The results from teacher assessment and tests are broadly consistent, but they are derived from different sources of evidence of a pupil's attainment.

Mrs. Gillan

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many teachers he estimates will lose their jobs in(a) the Chesham and Amersham constituency and (b) Buckinghamshire as a result of the financial problems encountered by schools in England in the next school year; and how many (i) teaching and (ii) other staff posts he estimates will remain unfilled for the same reason. [129890]

Mr. Miliband

My right hon. Friend has made no such estimate. Provisional statistics on teacher and support staff numbers and teacher vacancies at January 2003 were published in April in Statistical First Release 10/2003. Statistics released on 9 September provided regional and LEA level breakdowns of these figures. Provisional national figures for January 2004 are due to be published next April. As I made clear in my reply to the hon. Member of 8 September 2003,Official Report, column 112w, the broad assessment of changes in teaching staff numbers made by my Department in liaison with local education authorities (LEAs) in May this year did not provide a definitive picture.

Mr. Hancock

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the subjects which have missed targets for teacher training recruitment in the last year for which figures are available. [127284]

Mr. Miliband

My Department has moved from a system which obliges teacher training providers to aim for a particular intake target to one that incentivises them to recruit as many good candidates as they can in the areas where new teachers are needed most. That is why 4,000 more conventional teacher training places and over 5,000 more employment-based training places will be funded in 2003/04 than were being funded in 1996/97. The table shows the number of conventional teacher training places funded in 2002/03 by subject and phase; the number of entrants who took up these places; and the number of recruits to employment-based teacher training in that year. Numbers of funded employment-based training places are not specified in advance by subject or phase.

2002/03 Initial teacher training places Entrants to initial teacher training Entrants to employment based teacher training
Primary 14,000 14,451 1,659
Secondary
Mathematics 1,940 1,673 382
English and drama 2,350 2,479 649
Science 2,850 2,701 506
Modern Foreign Languages 2,050 1,732 221
Technology1 2,500 2,404 653
History 950 985 79
Geography 1,100 946 59
Physical Education 1,200 1,325 138
Art 850 885 82
Music 700 596 68
Religious Education 700 576 62
Citizenship 200 185 15

2002/03 Initial teacher training places Entrants to initial teacher training Entrants to employment based teacher training
Other 300 174 100
Secondary Reserve 100
Total secondary 17,790 16.661 3,014
Overall Total 31,790 31,112 4,673
Fast Track n/a 117 n/a
Total (including Fast Track) 31,790 31,229 4,673
1 Technology includes design and technology, business studies and information technology

Source:

TTA