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Buscombe, Baroness
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Buscombe, Baroness (2)
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Publisher
My Lords, I thank the Minister for her reply, but does she share with Sir David Normington, the newly ex-Permanent Secretary at the DfES, sympathy for the frustration of employers and the CBI who are fed up with graduates lacking basic literacy and numeracy skills? Whatever the Government have told us about their investment in literacy and numeracy in our primary schools, will the Minister confirm that our graduates of the future will not be better equipped for the workplace? Thanks to a Tory researcher asking the right questions about figures the Government clearly did not want to publish, we now know that nearly half of all children do not even have a basic grasp of reading, writing and arithmetic when they leave primary school? Will the Minister accept that we want to support all efforts that genuinely deliver skills, not just more warm words and empty promises?
My Lords, I thank the Minister for her reply, but does she share with Sir David Normington, the newly ex-Permanent Secretary at the DfES, sympathy for the frustration of employers and the CBI who are fed up with graduates lacking basic literacy and numeracy skills? Whatever the Government have told us about their investment in literacy and numeracy in our primary schools, will the Minister confirm that our graduates of the future will not be better equipped for the workplace? Thanks to a Tory researcher asking the right questions about figures the Government clearly did not want to publish, we now know that nearly half of all children do not even have a basic grasp of reading, writing and arithmetic when they leave primary school? Will the Minister accept that we want to support all efforts that genuinely deliver skills, not just more warm words and empty promises?
Asked by
Baroness Buscombe
(Conservative)
Oral questions - 1st Supplementary
Status
Answered
Answered on
19 October 2005
My Lords, I do not accept the figures that the noble Baroness has put in front of us today. Of course, many organisations will have challenges in respect of skills and standards, and government departments are not immune. However, the point that Sir David was making—the noble Baroness quoted Sir David—is that standards are improving. The Government are working to make sure that that improvement continues. I will offer the example of key stage 2: since 1998, there has been a 14 per cent improvement in the number of pupils achieving their target levels in English and a 16 per cent improvement in those achieving their target levels in mathematics. If that is systematic failure, my name is Rumpelstiltskin.
Subjects
Graduates; Education; Standards; Literacy; Numeracy
Date
19 October 2005
Reference
674 c748-9
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
House
House of Lords
My Lords, given recent reports that the £1 billion campaign to raise literacy standards in primary schools has failed to make a difference to GCSE results, will the Minister agree with my honourable friend in another place, Nick Gibb, and me that we must return to pure synthetic phonics—or, in plain English, the traditional method of reading—in our primary schools? Is there any way that he could speed up the process which he has explained to the House today?
My Lords, given recent reports that the £1 billion campaign to raise literacy standards in primary schools has failed to make a difference to GCSE results, will the Minister agree with my honourable friend in another place, Nick Gibb, and me that we must return to pure synthetic phonics—or, in plain English, the traditional method of reading—in our primary schools? Is there any way that he could speed up the process which he has explained to the House today?
Asked by
Baroness Buscombe
(Conservative)
Oral questions - Supplementary
Status
Answered
Answered on
28 June 2005
My Lords, we wish to see improvements, which is why we have asked Mr Rose to conduct his inquiry. However, we do not accept that there have not been improvements at GCSE and at secondary level. We do not recognise the figures that were quoted in the Sunday Times article this week. In fact, since 1997 there has been a six percentage point improvement in the good pass rates in GCSE English and a 6.9 per cent improvement in mathematics. We see that as building on the success of the literacy and numeracy strategies.
There has been an even larger improvement in the tests that 14 year-olds now take, where, since 1997, there has been a 14 percentage point improvement in English and a 13 percentage point improvement in mathematics. We are not in any way complacent about the further improvements that are required, which is why we are also looking to reform the curriculum for 14 to 19 year-olds in particular to promote vocational pathways that will further motivate young people and lead in to apprenticeships and other vocational courses. We have made great progress, and we pay tribute to our teachers, who have achieved that increase in results.
Subjects
Primary education; Literacy; Numeracy
Date
28 June 2005
Reference
673 c126
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
House
House of Lords