HC Deb 30 March 2004 vol 419 c1389W
Diana Organ

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what resources he is investing in delivery of communication skills within the curriculum of 11 to 16-year-olds.[164187]

Mr. Stephen Twigg

Communication skills are an important and integral part of every pupil's learning experience. The general teaching requirements of the National Curriculum, which apply across all areas of the curriculum, state that pupils should be taught to express themselves correctly and appropriately and to read accurately and with understanding.

The programmes of study for English at Key Stage 3 and 4, state that pupils should learn to communicate confidently in a wide variety of contexts, adapting what they say and how they say it to different situations and people. English is one of the strands of the Key Stage 3 Strategy in which we are investing £570 million up to the end of March 2005. This aims to improve teaching and learning to develop pupils, at age 4, into independent learners and confident, effective communicators.

Some pupils have significant communication difficulties as the result of acquired or inherited conditions. We have established the Communication Aids Project (CAP) with £20 million funding to March 2006 to help such pupils through the provision of high technology communication aids.

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