Better Schools

Presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Education and Science

and by the Secretary of State for Wales
by Command of Her Majesty
March 1985

LONDON
HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE

£6·40 net
 Better Schools

Presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Education and Science

and by the Secretary of State for Wales
by Command of Her Majesty
March 1985

LONDON

HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE

£6·40 net

Cmnd.9469
BETTER SCHOOLS

CONTENTS PAGE

Chapter 1: The Present Situation 1

Chapter 2: The Primary and Secondary Curriculum 9

Chapter 3: Examinations and Assessment 29

Chapter 4: The Education of the Under Fives .. 38

Chapter 5: Teaching Quality 41

Chapter 6: Discipline 57

Chapter 7: Parents and Schools 59

Chapter 8: The Education of Ethnic Minority Pupils .. 61

Chapter 9: The Legal Framework 63

Chapter 10: Aspects of LEA Management 78

Chapter 11: Resources 82

Chapter 12: The Independent Sector 86

Chapter 13: Future Progress 88

Bibliography 92
 BETTER SCHOOLS

CHAPTER I

THE PRESENT SITUATION

1. The quality of school education concerns everyone. What is achieved by

those who provide it, and by the pupils for whom it is provided, has lasting
effects on the prosperity and well-being of each individual citizen and of the
whole nation. The Government has reviewed, together with its partners, its
policies for school education in England and Wales. This White Paper sets out
its conclusions.

2. The Government's principal aims for all sectors of education are first, to
raise standards at all levels of ability; and second, since education is an
investment in the nation's future, to secure the best possible return from the
resources which are found for it. In applying these aims to the schools the
Government is concerned with the experience of every pupil over the whole
range of school activities. There is much to admire in our schools; many of
them cope well, and some very well, with their increasingly exacting task. But
the high standards achieved in some schools throw into relief the shortcomings,
some of them serious, of the others. Nor are the objectives which even the best
schools set themselves always well matched with the demands of the modern
world.

3. What is expected of schools alters over time with changes in society and
in national circumstances. In consequence successive generations may differ in
how they define standards at school and how they measure changes in such
standards, so that historical comparisons of standards achieved can rarely be
exact. But two trends in particular can be identified since the Education Act
1944 came into force. First, economic, social and demographic changes have
profoundly altered the circumstances under which schools have to do their
work. Britain's place in the world has changed and our membership of the
European Community is increasingly influencing our society and our economic
opportunities. British society has become more complex and diverse; values
and institutions are increasingly called into question; the pace of technological
change has quickened; and unemployment has added to the pressures of a daily
life which has become more precarious and sometimes more turbulent.
Second, the schools have been expected to expand the range of their tasks, as a
result of the transformation of their material and moral environment. They
have had to cope with conflicting views about how their tasks should alter.
There has been neither clarity nor agreement about priorities among the many
aims they set for themselves and those which others set for them.

1
Progress over the last thirty years
4. As this Chapter will explain, a great deal remains to be done. But the
school system of England and Wales can take credit for much progress since the
war. Through the addition of two years to the compulsory period, the system
now offers to all, not just a fraction of pupils, a secondary phase long and broad
enough to lay the foundations for adult life and work in the world of today and
encourages 47 per cent (compared with 13 per cent in 1947) to continue in full-
time education until at least age 17. So far as the maintained sector is con-
cerned, in 1954 three primary school classes in every five had more than 30
pupils, and half of these had more than 40; in 1984 only one in every five had
more than 30, and less than one in a hundred more than 40, pupils. Between
1954 and 1984 the proportion of secondary school classes with more than 30
pupils fell from nearly one-third to less than one in ten. These improvements
enable teachers to pay more regard to the needs and progress of the individual
pupil. School provision for the under fives now extends to 43 per cent of 3 and 4
year olds compared with 21 per cent in 1972 and 15 per cent in the 1950s and
1960s.

5. With these changes in provision there have also been important changes
in the curriculum. To a far greater extent than was the case thirty years ago,
primary schools:
- offer a broad curriculum;
- teach English and mathematics in a way which transcends simple skills;
- teach science, craft and art as an integral part of the curriculum;
- introduce history and geography effectively in topic and project work;
- encourage pupils, across the whole curriculum, to learn by active par-
ticipation rather than by the passive reception of facts and rote learning.
The present widespread use of computers in primary schools would of course
have been unthinkable thirty years ago.

6. In secondary schools, too, notable advances have been made over the
same period. Far more than was the case, secondary schools provide across a
wide range of ability a broad curriculum which:
- includes science for most pupils;
- encourages a wide range of oral, written and graphic communication;
- widens mathematics beyond computation and increases its depth;
- offers opportunities to use and understand computers;
- encourages the skills of design and technology;
- affords the opportunity to learn a modern language;
- encourages active participation in music, drama and art;
- widens the scope of history, geography and classical studies;
- includes careers education.

2
 7. More generally, in both primary and secondary schools personal and
social development is now fostered systematically. Many schools have coped
successfully with changes in the social and ethnic composition of their areas,
particularly with teaching English as a second language. The needs of the
handicapped and others with special needs are beginning to be identified better
and tackled more discerningly in special schools and ordinary schools alike.
Schools have also become more open towards the communities they serve; in
particular they now do more to associate parents with their work, and many
have developed strong links with local industry and commerce. The provision
of Welsh language medium teaching and the availability of Welsh as a subject
are now extensive throughout most of Wales at both primary and secondary
levels.

8. Some of these improvements have been reflected in what pupils achieve

in public examinations in the secondary phase:
Percentage of school leavers with Mid 1960s 1983
(a) 2 or more GCE A level passes 10(11) 13(15)
(b) at least 1 GCE A level pass 13(14) 17(20)
(c) 5 or more GCE 0 level grades A-C or
CSE Grade 1* 21 27
Note: The figures in this table include pupils in both maintained and independent schools. Figures in brackets
represent the proportion of all young people with the qualifications shown. including those obtaining them in
colleges of further education.
As the table illustrates, 20 per cent of young people are now obtaining at
least one A level pass. About 75 per cent leave school with at least 5 graded * *
o level/CSE results, and only about 10 per cent leave without any graded
results at all.

The need for higher standards

9. But the Government believes that, not least in the light of what is being
achieved in other countries, the standards now generally attained by our pupils
are neither as good as they can be, nor as good as they need to be if young
people are to be equipped for the world ofthe twenty-first century. By the time
they leave school, pupils need to have acquired, far more than at present, the
qualities and skills required for work in a technological age. Education at
school should promote enterprise and adaptability in order to increase young
people's chances of finding employment or creating it for themselves and
others.

10. Many examples can be found of high standards achieved in schools in

widely different circumstances by pupils of all abilities. If the standards
achieved in these schools could be achieved at all the schools in similar
circumstances, the quality of school education would rise dramatically. Such a
substantial and sustained improvement is realistic. It is also necessary in order
to protect the nation's prosperity and well-being and to give all individuals fair
scope to develop and exercise their talents .
• These grades are broadly equivalent to the former 0 level ·pass·grades .
•• GCE 0 level grades A to E; CSE grades 1 10 5.

3
 11. The Government has a duty to take the lead in securing this improve-
ment. England and Wales have a national system of schools, established and
regulated by statute and mainly financed from public funds, in which the
responsibility for providing good education to the pupils is shared by several
agencies. The Secretaries of State for Education and Science and for Wales
have a general duty to secure the well-being of the education service. That duty
is largely exercised through important specific functions-relating, for exam-
ple, to the supply, training and qualifications of teachers, the pattern of school
organisation, and the inspection of schools-which by their nature bear on the
school curriculum. As a result, the Secretaries of State's views about that
curriculum inform both their general and their specific functions in relation to
the schools. The Secretaries of State discharge their responsibilities towards
the education service in partnership with the other agencies within it: local
education authorities (LEAs), the churches and other voluntary bodies,
governing bodies, and teachers. It is also the Government's task to mediate and
where necessary reconcile the needs and wishes of all those outside the
system-parents, employers, taxpayers, ratepayers and all others who are
concerned with what the schools do for their pupils. The duty of the Govern-
ment is to ensure as far as it can that, through the efforts of all who are involved
with our schools, the education of the pupils serves their own and the country's
needs and provides a fair return to those who pay for it.

12. This duty is by no means simple to discharge: assessing the benefits of

the resources invested in education is complex. First, pupils vary widely in their
capacity to benefit from education at any given point in the process. A
particular pupil's capacity to benefit depends on many factors, including his
ability and aptitudes, his home background and support, and what he has
gained from the education already undergone. These factors cannot be
measured precisely. Second, it is not possible precisely to assess all that is
attained on leaving school. For both these reasons it is difficult to assess the
success of the school in building on the pupil's individual capacities and
experience-the value that the school has added, and enabled the pupil to add,
in developing them. Such an assessment depends in large measure on the skills
of teachers in using a variety of assessment techniques, but can also be
informed by the judgements of Her Majesty's Inspectors (HMI) and local
advisers, by the views of parents and employers, and to some extent by
comparisons with what is achieved by other schools in similar circumstances.

A professional judgement
13. In exercising their functions in relation to schools the Secretaries of
State draw heavily on the advice of HMI about the state of education in the
schools and the effects of Government policy on it. [n the light of what they find
through inspection of all kinds, HMI report to the Secretaries of State on
general or particular aspects of school education and on individual schools.
Reports of this kind are now published.

14. The reports of HMI reveal an uneven picture.

4
 15. At their best, the schools in England and Wales grapple with their tasks
with a strong sense of purpose, reflecting in all they do the whole-hearted
enthusiasm and commitment of the staff under the leadership of the head-
teacher; they bring out what the pupils have to give by setting challenging goals
based on high expectations, and by motivating them towards active, well-
directed enquiry rather than passive learning. In these schools an orderly
atmosphere encourages sound learning and an easy relationship between
teachers and pupils is based on mutual respect. By age 11 the best primary and
middle schools have consolidated the pupils' positive personal qualities, have
developed (to a degree which varies inevitably with pupils' abilities and home
background) an almost universal competence in reading, writing and other
language skills and in a wide range of mathematical skills, and have established
the foundations of understanding and competence in science, in the humanities
and in aesthetic and practical subjects. The best secondary schools turn out
young people with self-confidence, self-respect and respect for others, who are
enterprising, adaptable and eager to face the demands of the adult world, and
who are equipped to face it by a sound and broad grounding in knowledge,
skills and understanding to a depth commensurate with their abilities.

16. Two of the features found in the best schools-the commitment of the
teachers to the education of their pupils and the orderly and civilised relation-
ship between teachers and pupils---<:an be observed in the great majority of all
schools. Many other of the features found in the best schools are also found in
most other schools. But the present spectrum of quality and the variations
between schools are wider than is acceptable in a national system of school
education based on 11 years of compulsory attendance. The findings of HMI
point to several areas of substantial weakness in an unacceptably large propor-
tion of our schools.

Primary and middle schools

17. A weakness found to a greater or lesser degree in about three-quarters
of primary and middle schools is in curricular planning and its implementation.
Curricular guidelines exist for English and mathematics in about three-quar-
ters of the schools but they frequently do not extend to other important
elements of the curriculum, and often do not make explicit the different
approaches to learning, and the increasing demands, which are needed as
children progress through the school. Above all, there are rarely effective
mechanisms for ensuring that declared curricular policies are reflected in the
day-to-day work of most teachers and pupils. In only a minority of schools is
the best practice of individual teachers in each area of the curriculum adopted
as a standard to be emulated throughout the school.

18. The mistaken belief, once widely held, that a concentration on basic
skills is by itself enough to improve achievement in literacy and numeracy has
left its mark: many children are still given too little opportunity for work in the
scientific, practical and aesthetic areas of the curriculum which increases not
only their understanding within these areas but also their literacy and
numeracy. In a majority of schools over-concentration on the practice of basic
skills in literacy and numeracy unrelated to a context in which they are needed
means that those skills are insufficiently extended and applied.

5
 19. In about half of all classes much work in classrooms is so closely
directed by the teacher that there is little opportunity either for oral discussion
or for posing and solving practical problems. Pupils are given insufficient
responsibility for pursuing their own enquiries and deciding how to tackle their
work.

20. Many teachers' judgements of pupils' potential and of their learning

needs tend to reflect preconceptio.ns about the capabilities of different catego-
ries of pupil. These preconceptions are often shared by parents and by the
pupils themselves. As a result, expectations of pupils are insufficiently de-
manding at all levels of ability. Many pupils are allowed to get by with work
which is adequate but costs them little effort. It is not easy even for experienced
teachers to match the widely differing needs and capabilities of individual
children with appropriate objectives, methods and materials. In most classes,
irrespective of their size, content and pace are geared to the middle level of
ability in the class: able pupils are insufficiently stretched and waste time
practising skills already mastered, while the diverse individual weaknesses of
the less able, even where they have been diagnosed, are not tackled
appropriately.

21. By the end of the primary phase many pupils do not appreciate suffi-
ciently the need to exercise such vital qualities as rigour and perseverance. This
is partly because teachers do not always insist that pupils should adequately
understand the essentials of an area of learning, and partly because, as noted
already, they underestimate their pupils' potential. One consequence of both
these shortcomings is that pupils acquire only a shaky foundation for some of
their subsequent work. Another is that some pupils see little or no connection
between the effort put into a task and the satisfaction gained from the increased
understanding and mastery that go with a job well done. Periodic testing of
pupils and conscientious record-keeping are common but few schools or LEAs
have formulated and implemented policies for assessment and record-keeping
designed to be used to ensure progress and continuity of learning for all pupils
in all areas of the curriculum.

22. The best schools have shown that primary age pupils can achieve very
high standards through a broad curriculum pursued in depth, provided that the
teaching is well-informed and challenging. Such good practice makes heavy
demands on teachers in the selection and use of subject matter in areas of the
curriculum-science particularly, and craft-in which they themselves may
lack confidence and expertise. The demands become particularly pressing for
the 9-13 age group. But the deployment of staff within schools often does not
take account of individual teachers' strengths and weaknesses, and the
organisation of teaching for the older primary school pupils and the younger
pupils in the secondary phase does not achieve the required gradual transition
between class teaching and specialist teaching. Moreover few primary schools
have designated subject consultants in more than one or two areas of the
curriculum, partly owing to pressure on resources and to the shortage of
suitable specialists, though there has been a welcome increase in the number of
teachers with designated responsibility for work in science. Where subject
consultants have been appointed it is unusual for them to be given the time, the

6
status and the encouragement to enable them to prepare and offer support to
their colleagues and to exert the necessary influence on the whole curriculum of
the school. Few schools have a systematic approach to the career development
of staff and to the induction of probationers.

Secondary schools
23. In secondary schools there is little evidence of agreed curriculum
policies directly influencing the school as a whole, in particular on such
pervasive matters as the promotion of language development and careers
education. Many departments still fail to translate their own, and the school's,
declared aims and objectives into practical terms: they have syllabuses but not
schemes of work. LEAs often fail to provide the strong guidance necessary to
ensure curricular liaison with feeder schools.

24. In a large minority of cases, teachers' expectations of what pupils could

achieve are clouded by inadequate knowledge and understanding of pupils'
individual aptitudes and difficulties; or by the stereotyping which is a conse-
quence of preconceptions about categories of pupil; whether teaching groups
are streamed, banded, setted, or deliberately formed from pupils of widely
differing ability, teaching is frequently directed towards the middle of the
group and there is insufficient differentiation of teaching approaches. This last
weakness is less common in practical areas of the curriculum, but elsewhere it is
a widespread and very serious problem, particularly when the class contains a
wide ability range.

25. In virtually all schools and departments there is often excessive direc-
tion by the teacher of pupils' work, and there are too many lessons where
classwork and homework are unimaginatively set. Pupils need more oppor-
tunities to learn for themselves, to express their own views and to develop their
ideas through discussion; teachers do too much of the work for them. Most
schools also still lack detailed assessment policies, which should be an integral
part of the curriculum, not an optional extra.

26. Good teaching depends heavily on a reasonable match between the

qualifications and experience of teachers and the subjects they teach.
Mismatch occurs when they have to teach a subject outside the competence
which they have acquired through training and experience; it is a serious
problem in about one-fifth of secondary schools. Mismatch is most common in
English, mathematics, physics, religious education and craft, design and
technology (COT); many teachers engaged in remedial education do not have
appropriate training, and some are isolated from the thinking and practice of
the rest of the school.

27. Heads of department commonly and deputy headteachers to some

extent have too little time and scope for managing the planning and develop-
ment of the curriculum and optimising the use of staff and other resources. A
majority of schools and LEAs lack a systematic approach to the career
development of staff and to the induction of probationers. Only a minority

7
of schools and departments ensure that non-staff resources are both well
managed and related to the teaching styles required; school-produced material
is too rarely linked with books, audio-visual resources or educational techno-
logy to broaden what is offered to pupils of different abilities.

Special schools
28. Many of the weaknesses found in primary and secondary schools occur
at special schools, particularly those catering for pupils with moderate learning
difficulties. There too, for example, over-concentration on the practice of skills
in English and mathematics often gives too little opportunity for other work in
which those skills might be extended; and the curriculum for pupils of second-
ary age is frequently too narrow and the teaching approaches insufficiently
differentiated for individual needs.

The need for action

29. The previous paragraphs have discussed a number of weaknesses. Not
all of these are the fault of the schools, nor of the education service. Many of
them are related to the wider problems facing our society, many of which are
not, or only partly, susceptible to Government measures. For example, despite
the best efforts of the teachers the performance of some pupils can be adversely
affected by racial prejudice and discrimination. But the Government has a duty
to act where it can. It believes that in order to tackle these weaknesses and to
improve standards action is necessary in four areas of policy:
(1) to secure greater clarity about the objectives and content of the
curriculum;
(2) to reform the examinations system and improve assessment so that they
promote more effectively the objectives of the curriculum, the achieve-
ments of pupils, and the recording of those achievements;
(3) to improve the professional effectiveness of teachers and the manage-
ment of the teaching force;
(4) to reform school government and to harness more fully the contribution
which can be made to good school education by parents, employers and
others outside the education service.
The following Chapters set out the action which the Government intends to
take in each of these areas in conjunction with the other partners in the
education service.

8
 CHAPTER 2
THE PRIMARY AND SECONDARY CURRICULUM

30. Addressing the North of England Conference in Sheffield in January

1984, the Secretary of State for Education and Science proposed a programme
of measures relating to the school curriculum in the interest of raising stan-
dards. Consultations with the Government's partners in the education service
and with other interests have shown that there is widespread acceptance of the
need to improve the standards achieved by pupils, and of the proposition that
broad agreement about the objectives and content of the school curriculum is a
necessary step towards that improvement.

31. Such broad agreement, explicitly formulated, would enable the

partners in the education service to take the necessary action together. It would
also have other important advantages:
(1) it would be clear what tasks society expects our schools to accomplish.
The schools' performance could then be more fairly judged against
agreed expectations about those tasks;
(2) it would mean that parents, employers and the public would have a
closer understanding of the purposes for which they were being asked to
support the work of the schools and would thus be better placed than
they are now to co-operate with the schools in achieving common aims.
Despite many constructive local and national initiatives, schools and
employers continue to understand each other's purposes and needs
imperfectly; and employers have made it clear that they would welcome
a clearer agreement about the schools' objectives;
(3) it could become an important means of raising teachers' expectations of
their pupils' performance, which would then be reflected in their
approaches to teaching and assessment. It could also help to remove
preconceptions based on pupils' sex or ethnic origin;
(4) it would help to secure that in our national school system variations to
suit local circumstances do not allow school standards in any locality to
fall below an acceptable level;
(5) it is a prerequisite for monitoring progress over time in the achievement
of higher standards of performance.

32. The Government acknowledges the magnitude of the task it is setting

itself and its partners. Objectives cannot be agreed for all time. Even initial
agreement will take several years to accomplish, although some objectives may
be settled sooner. It will be carried out through policy statements (such as the
recent statement on science education in schools*) issued by the Secretaries of
State after consulting all concerned. Alongside these, but not normally coincid-
ing in time, there will be HMI publications designed both to inform and to
stimulate discussion. In particular, publications in the recently inaugurated

• 'Science 5·16: A statement of policy': details of publications refe"ed to in this White Paper are given in the
Bibliography (page 92).

9
Curriculum Matters series* will build up a general description of the objectives
of the curriculum as a whole for all children of compulsory school age, and the
contribution which individual areas and subjects can make towards those
objectives. They will examine individual subjects and curricular elements in
more detail, considering where appropriate such matters as teaching
approaches, and proposing objectives to be attained at the ages of (in particu-
lar) 11 and 16.

THE DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE CURRICULUM

33. The formulation of national objectives for the curriculum necessarily

starts from current policies and practice, both of which already often serve
purposes which are explicitly stated. The Government wishes to base these
objectives on the best practice currently adopted by LEAs and schools.

34. The objectives are intended to have practical effect by becoming the
basis of the curricular policies of the Secretaries of State, the LEAs and the
schools. Curricular policy at each of these three levels would thus be directed
towards the same objectives. But the application of the objectives is different at
each level because the functions of the Secretaries of State, the LEA and the
school, though interrelated, are separate from each other, and are exercised
over a progressively more limited geographical area. The Secretaries of State,
the LEA and the school each need a curricular policy in order to discharge their
respective functions in accordance with their judgements. The Secretaries of
State are accountable to Parliament for the performance of the education
service at all levels. Their curricular policy informs not only the exercise of
their statutory duty "to promote the education of the people of England and
Wales and the progressive development of institutions devoted to that pur-
pose, and to secure the effective execution by local authorities, under [their]
control and direction, of the national policy for providing a varied and com-
prehensive educational service in every area"**; but also the exercise of the
statutory functions which give expression to this general duty, for example in
relation to the supply and training of teachers and the determination of
proposals from LEAs and governing bodies of aided schools about the pattern
of school organisation. The LEA's curricular policy informs the exercise of a
wide range of its functions, particularly in relation to such matters as the
provision of schools, the deployment of its teaching force and its advisory
service. The school's curricular policy informs the organisation and delivery of
what is offered to the pupils. It is one important means through which the
school can plan the optimal disposition of its human and other resources, assess
its own performance, and promote an understanding of common aims with
parents and employers. Since the functions of the Secretaries of State, the LEA
and the school interrelate, the policies adopted at each level influence, and are
influenced by, those adopted at the others. LEAs, for instance, have an

• Those published so far are 'English from 5 to 16', 'Aims and Objectives of Teaching and Learning Welsh for 5-16
year old Pupils' and 'The Curriculum from 5 to 16'. Further discussion documents in thL~ series are in preparation
on other subjects and a5pects of the curriculum. including one on mathematics which will be published shortly .
•• Section 1 of the Education Act 1944.

10
important role in seeking to promote good practice by spreading successful
approaches from one school to another.

35. It follows from the separate but interrelated functions of the Secre-
taries of State, the LEA, and the school that the curricular policy of each may
contain features not found in that of one or both of the others. For example, it
would not be appropriate for either the Secretaries of State or the LEA to
determine the detailed organisation and content of the programme of the
pupils of any particular school. That should be a matter for the headteacher
and his staff, and that this should be so would be acknowledged in the
curricular policy of the Secretaries of State and the LEA. To take another
example, it might be part of the Secretaries of State's policy that a minority
language-say Italian or Latin-was available within the maintained school
sector but that not every LEA should secure its provision within its schools;
and where the LEA's policy included the provision of the language in question,
this might be on the basis that the provision should be limited to a few schools in
accordance with their ability and willingness to offer it.

36. It also follows from the different functions of the Secretaries of State,
the LEA and the school that the common objectives are applied with
differences of emphasis and balance to reflect local circumstances and are
pursued by a variety of routes in accordance with local judgement. For example
it would not in the view of the Government be right for the Secretaries of
State's policy for the range and pattern of the 5-16 curriculum to amount to the
determination of national syllabuses for that period. It would however be
appropriate for the curricular policy of the LEA, on the basis of broadly agreed
principles about range and pattern, to be more precise about, for example, the
balance between curricular elements and the age and pace at which pupils are
introduced to particular subject areas (e.g. a foreign language). Within the
authority, the curricular policy of each school would reflect the policy of the
LEA, for example through the staff and other resources made available to it by
the LEA, but would develop, in the detail needed for the work of the school,
the strategies by which the school intended to secure an appropriate curricular
range and pattern in the programmes of its pupils. Such strategies would reflect
the school's own priorities in accordance with its traditions, its ethos and its
view of the needs of its pupils in the light of parental and other expectations.

37. The establishment of broadly agreed objectives would not mean that
the curricular policies of the Secretaries of State, the LEA and the school
should relate to each other in a nationally uniform way. In the Government's
view such diversity is healthy, accords well with the English and Welsh tradi-
tion of school education and makes for liveliness and innovation. Some conflict
of view in the working out and application of national, local and school
curricular policies may therefore be unavoidable. It is important that the
statutory framework should facilitate the satisfactory resolution of such con-
flicts where they arise. That is the purpose of the Government's plans, de-
scribed in Chapter 9, to redefine the curricular responsibilities of the LEA, the
governing body and the headteacher of county, controlled and maintained

11
special schools. The Government does not propose to introduce legislation
affecting the powers of the Secretaries of State in relation to the curriculum.

38. Broadly agreed objectives for the curriculum, once formulated, will
need to be reviewed from time to time in the light of how they have stood the
test of practical application and to take account of changes in our society and in
the role assigned by it to our schools. Such reviews will need to involve all the
partners in the education service and its customers. The adaptation over time
of jointly adopted objectives is a joint task.

LOCAL EDUCATION AUTHORITIES' POLICIES

39. Concern for the effective application of curricular policies prompted

the Government in 1981, following the publication of 'The School Curriculum',
to encourage through the issue of DES Circular 6/81 (Welsh Office Circular
44/81) the further development of expressly-formulated curricular policies at
the local level. DES Circular 8/83 (Welsh Office Circular 59/83) followed up
this initiative by asking each LEA to provide a report on the progress made in
drawing up a policy for the curriculum in its primary and secondary schools,
including a description of the roles played in this process by those within and
beyond the education service, and a statement of the ways in which the policy
was to be given practical effect.

40. The Government pays tribute to LEAs for the priority which they have
given to the formulation of curricular policies over the past three years and
more. It proposes to publish an account of the responses to Circular 8/83. No
brief summary can do justice to the range of developments reported (and in
some cases now well-established), nor to the careful discussion and thought
which evidently underlie much of what is said. A number of features common
to many responses are particularly significant:
(1) most LEAs have drawn up general statements of policy for the 5-16
curriculum, sometimes separately for the primary and secondary phases,
or are actively working towards such statements;
(2) the consultations involved in drawing up those statements have often
been extensive, drawing on governing bodies and parents as well as
advisers, headteachers and the staffs of schools;
(3) most schools have responded to 'The School Curriculum' by setting out
their aims in writing. A number are taking steps to assess their cur-
riculum against those aims. Many LEAs are reviewing schools' aims, to
ensure compatibility with their own curricular policies, or are asking
schools and governing bodies to do so. A number of LEAs have
developed schemes for schools' self-evaluation, to which they attach
importance;
(4) LEAs generally recognise that their curricular policies have conse-
quences for the management and deployment of the teaching force. A
number have formulated curriculum-related policies for staffing, for
implementation as resources become available. Others have identified

12
 the need for special staffing measures to support the curriculum in
schools affected by falling rolls. The importance of in-service training,
within the resources available, is generally recognised. Some LEAs have
identified in their responses the need to expand the work of the advisory
service, if developments in schools are to be effectively supported and
monitored;
(5) questions of breadth and balance within the curriculum are recognised as
important. There is also general acceptance of the principle that the
school curriculum should be relevant to what happens outside school,
but few responses give specific details of how this aim is to be achieved.
41. There are also issues which seem to the Government to be important,
to whose implications comparatively few LEAs devote attention in their
responses. These include:
(1) the translation of curricular policy into teaching approaches and
methods;
(2) continuity between the primary and secondary phases;
(3) the need for differentiation within the curriculum, in order to meet more
effectively the needs of each pupil according to his ability and aptitudes;
(4) policies for those elements of the curriculum, especially in secondary
schools, which are not taught as separate subjects;
(5) the role of employers in contributing to developments in curricular
policy.
42. The main purpose of Circular 8/83 was to establish the extent to which
LEAs have now adopted curricular policies, and what these policies are. The
responses show that an explicit curricular policy will shortly inform the work of
nearly every LEA, but that many authorities' policies do not yet extend to all
the matters for which local policies are needed. At local level, as at national
level, continuing consultation and thought are needed so that fully worked-out
local policies may inform, as necessary, the broad national agreement about
objectives for the curriculum which the Secretaries of State are seeking. When
further progress has been made at local and national level the Secretaries of
State intend to ask LEAs to report further on the development of their
curricular policies, either generally or in relation to particular aspects.

THE SCOPE OF BROADLY AGREED OBJECTIVES

43. The definition of agreed objectives for the curriculum in principle
encompasses four strands: the purposes of learning at school (paragraph 44);
the contribution of each main subject area or element (paragraph 54); the
organisation and content of the 5-16 curriculum as a whole (paragraph 56); and
what is to be attained at the end of the primary phase and of the compulsory
years in the secondary phase (paragraph 80). The objectives apply also where
the age-ranges of schools do not correspond with the typical pattern.
(i) The purposes of learning at school
44. A possible list of the purposes of learning, closely following that
offered in 'The School Curriculum', is:

13
 (1) to help pupils to develop lively, enquiring minds, the ability to question
and argue rationally and to apply themselves to tasks, and physical skills;
(2) to help pupils to acquire understanding, knowledge and skills relevant to
adult life and employment in a fast-changing world;
(3) to help pupils to use language and number effectively;
(4) to help pupils to develop personal moral values, respect for religious
values, and tolerance of other races, religions, and ways of life;
(5) to help pupils to understand the world in which they live, and the inter-
dependence of individuals, groups and nations;
(6) to help pupils to appreciate human achievements and aspirations.
There is room for legitimate disagreement about the priority to be attached to
each element in this list, and the relationship between them. LEAs and schools
have generally reflected the content of this list in their own formulations of
basic aims. The Government takes that as evidence that, at the most general
level, there is very little disagreement that these are indeed the purposes of
school education.

45. The Government believes, and its belief is embodied in certain national
programmes, that these purposes require that the curriculum offered to each
pupil, from whatever background, should reflect a number of fundamental
principles. Those set out below have commanded widespread assent during the
consultations of the last 12 months:
(1) the curriculum in both primary and secondary schools should be broad:
as a whole and in its parts it should introduce the pupil to a wide range of
areas of experience, knowledge and skill. The HMI surveys 'Primary
Education in England' and 'Curriculum and Organisation of Primary
Schools in Wales' both pointed conclusively to the fact that the teaching
of language and mathematical skills in isolation or in a purely theoretical
way was less effective than when they were associated with a wide-
ranging programme of work which also included art and craft, history
and geography, music, physical education, and science. This principle
applies in respect of every pupil: it leaves no room for discrimination in
the curriculum on grounds of sex;
(2) the curriculum should be balanced: each area of the curriculum should
be allotted sufficient time to make its specific contribution, but not so
much that it squeezes out other essential areas;
(3) the curriculum should be relevant: all subjects should be taught in such a
way as to make plain their link with the pupils' own experience and to
bring out their applications and continuing value in adult life. Related to
this is the need for a practical dimension to learning, reflected both in the
balance between subjects and in the content and teaching of subjects
themselves. Most pupils take well to practical and other work which they
believe will help them to get on in the modern world, whose technology
they find stimulating rather than daunting. The curriculum should be
devised and taught so as to harness such excitement and enthusiasm.
These requirements are at the heart of the Technical and Vocational
Education Initiative (TVEI, described in paragraph 50), which explores

14
 how what is learned at school from age 14 can be more effectively related
to the demands of working life; and of the Microelectronics Education
Programme, whose aim is to help schools to prepare pupils for a society
in which the new technology is commonplace and pervasive. The
Government thinks it important that the relevance of the curriculum
should also be enhanced, as is happening increasingly, by local initiatives
which bring schools and employers together in shared activities;
(4) there should be careful differentiation: what is taught and how it is
taught need to be matched to pupils' abilities and aptitudes. It is of the
greatest importance to stimulate and challenge all pupils, including the
most and least able: within teaching groups as well as schools the range
of ability is often wide. The Cockcroft Report ('Mathematics Counts')
pointed to the "seven-year difference" at age 11 in attainment in
mathematics, and similar differences may be expected in other subject
areas. Such differences need to be reflected in classroom practice. The
Government is supporting development work to promote this principle
through the Lower Attaining Pupils' programme, which investigates
how differentiation is best developed and applied across the curriculum
for pupils within the chosen target group. It is thus closely concerned
with teaching approaches. Similarly, for pupils (including the most able)
aiming for the 16+ examinations and beyond, the General Certificate of
Secondary Education (GCSE, see Chapter 3), with differentiated
papers and questions, will encourage and test success at different levels
of attainment.

46. A curriculum founded on these principles will, in the Government's

view, serve to develop the potential of every pupil and to equip all for the
responsibilities of citizenship and for the formidable challenge of employment
in the world of tomorrow. It is vital that schools should always remember that
preparation for working life is one of their principal functions. The economic
stresses of our time and the pressures of international competition make it
more necessary than ever before that Britain's work-force should possess the
skills and attitudes, and display the understanding, the enterprise and adap-
tability that the pervasive impact of technological advance will increasingly
demand. This applies equally to those who will be employed by others and to
the many who may expect, for part or all of their working lives, to be self-
employed. The balance within the curriculum and the emphasis in teaching it
now need to alter accordingly.

47. In 1984, the Secretary of State for Education and Science asked
selected employers' organisations to identify those capabilities which their
members look to the schools to have fostered in recruits to industry and
commerce. Respondents gave widespread support for a broadly-based educa-
tion in which academic achievement should be complemented by the capacity
to apply knowledge and by the development of personal qualities and skills,
including motivation and commitment, self-discipline and reliability, confi-
dence, enthusiasm and initiative, flexibility and the ability to work both
individually and as part of a team. Employers urged that schools should set out

15
to equip pupils with the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed for adult and
working life; most also stressed the need for greater emphasis on the relevance
and practical applications of what pupils learn. Competence in reading, writ-
ing, and oral, numerical and social skills was seen as the essential minimum; it
was also regarded as important that both pupils and teachers should have
greater awareness of the wealth-creating function of industry and commerce.

48. Education and training cannot always be distinguished, but they are
complementary. They need to be brought into closer relation in a variety of
ways, given the fact that compulsory education ends at age 16, the wide range
of pupils' attainments, aptitudes and aspirations at that age, and the diversity of
facilities for post-16 education and training. The Government believes that the
linking of education and training, whatever form it takes, should have prepara-
tion for employment as one of its principal functions.

49. Such preparation should help young people to make themselves more
suited to likely patterns of employment. It will therefore be necessary to
resolve the issue of how best to fit work-related skills within initial full-time
education. The Government believes that all pupils should follow a broad,
balanced and suitably differentiated programme until age 16; that such a
programme should contain a strong element which relates to the technological
aspects of working life; and that both this element and all others should be
taught so as to give effect to the principle of relevance outlined in paragraph
45(3) above, with particular emphasis on practical and oral skills. All the
elements of a broad 5-16 curriculum are vocational in the sense that they
encourage qualities, attitudes, knowledge, understanding and competences
which are the necessary foundation for employment. But only the programmes
which prepare directly for a specific vocational area are strictly vocational.
These can often helpfully be supported by pre-vocational programmes which
bridge the transition between the broad programmes which are essential up to
age 16 and those post -16 programmes which are explicitly vocational.

50. The resolution of this issue and of the link between education and
training centre on the 14-18 age range, and have to embrace the work of the
schools and of the colleges of further education, and the needs of industry and
commerce. It was to meet these issues that the Government established in 1983
the TVEI. This is supporting, through the Manpower Services Commission,
pilot projects in most LEAs in England and Wales (as well as in Scotland), at a
total cost of some £250m, for coherent courses at schools and colleges leading
to recognised national qualifications over a 4 year period. The TVEI embodies
the Government's policy that education should better equip young people for
working life. The courses are designed to cater equally for boys and girls across
the whole ability range and with technical or vocational aspirations, and to
offer in the compulsory years a broad general education with a strong technical
element followed, post-16, by increasing vocational specialisation. The course
content and teaching methods adopted are intended to develop personal
qualities and positive attitudes towards work as well as a wide range of
competence, and more generally to develop a practical approach throughout
the curriculum. The projects are innovative and break new ground in many

16
ways, being designed to explore curriculum organisation and development,
teaching approaches and learning styles, co-operation between the participat-
ing institutions, and enhanced careers guidance supported by work experience,
in order to test the feasibility of sustaining a broad vocational commitment in
full-time education for 14-18 year olds.

51. The Government is encouraged by the enthusiastic co-operation of

LEAs, schools and colleges in the TVEI and looks forward to the outcome of
this important initiative. The Government is considering the wider application
of its lessons, having regard to the overriding need for continuity and progres-
sion throughout the 5-16 period and to subsequent full-time education. Evalua-
tion of the TVEI is under way at both national and local level. It is already
evident that additional effort on in-service training, promoting. developments
related particularly to the TVEI, would advance the aim of a curriculum based
on the four principles set out in paragraph 45. Additional resources will be
made available for such training and the Manpower Services Commission has
been invited to administer a scheme for this purpose pending the introduction
of the new in-service training grant arrangements outlined in paragraph 176.

52. The principles in paragraph 45 also have important implications at all

levels as curricular policies are given expression in curriculum content and
teaching methods. They underlie the discussion of the curriculum for the
primary and secondary phases which follows, and they are at the heart of
successful classroom practice in the primary phase as well as the secondary
(though they may be applied differently in each case). The fact that their
application is here and later usually expressed in relation to subjects should not
be misinterpreted. In the Government's view every element of the primary and
secondary curriculum and every area of learning within it is concerned with the
development of positive personal qualities and attitudes; and that curriculum
can validly be analysed and described in a number of ways for professional and
other purposes. But much curricular content is, for many purposes, and
especially in the secondary phase, most conveniently described by reference to
the body of knowledge and skills associated with a particular subject. Such a
description implies no particular view of time tabling or teaching approach. Nor
does it deny that learning involves the mastery of processes as well as the
acquisition of knowledge, skills and understanding. The Government believes
that these two aspects of learning are not in opposition to one another. When it
comes to practice, there is much common ground among those who may hold
widely divergent curricular philosophies. It is not in dispute that the purposes
of education at school go beyond learning the traditional subjects. Nor is it
generally denied that the acquisition of both practical and intellectual skills is
often impossible except on the basis of factual content and that certain essential
skills entail an understanding of specific factual material.

53. Subjects themselves change and develop. Moreover subject bound-

aries are not rigid and need to be approached flexibly. Some subjects are
deliberately taught in connection with others, particularly in the primary
phase; some elements or aspects of a subject arise naturally in the course of
teaching another subject; the amount of time devoted to any subject relative to

17
other subjects varies in accordance with the age and ability of the pupils and the
pace of their progress. Pupils' timetables need not be, though particularly in
secondary schools they often are in practice, structured by reference to sub-
jects. What is at issue is neither whether particular elements of the curriculum
appear overtly or are "hidden" nor the labels which appear in the timetable
(which are in any case variable in the secondary phase and may not exist in the
primary phase), but the place within the curriculum which the content and
processes associated with subjects should occupy in substance.

(ii) The contribution of e~ch main subject area

54. The second strand in the definition of objectives concerns the contribu-
tion of each main subject area both to the development of positive personal
qualities and attitudes and to intellectual and practical skills, understanding
and knowledge. The national criteria for GCSE (see Chapter 3), through their
guidance to the designers of examination syllabuses, offer a concise account of
the understanding, knowledge and competences which should be developed in
the course of following the syllabus. But the national criteria relate directly
only to the curriculum of the later years of the secondary phase, and not to the
whole programme of any pupil even during those years. The task of giving a
complete account of the contribution which each curricular element makes to
the 5-16 curriculum as a whole will need to be accomplished through the policy
statements and the HMI publications described in paragraph 32.

55. Religious education has its special contribution to the education of all
pupils, and should be given the significance which it deserves within the
curriculum. The place of religious education is governed by statute: the
Government has no plans to propose changes in the provisions of the Educa-
tion Act 1944 relating to religious education and collective worship in schools,
provisions which have stood the test of time. Within the statutory framework
an introduction to the Christian tradition remains central to the religious
education provided in our schools. The Government looks to LEAs and
schools to ensure that the statutory requirements are met.

(iii) The organisation and content of the curriculum

56. The third strand is the organisation and content of the 5-16 curriculum
as a whole. The demands which arise from the four principles outlined in
paragraph 45 in relation to the knowledge, understanding and skills to be
acquired, the processes to be mastered, and the personal qualities and attitudes
to be developed greatly exceed, in aggregate, the time available for teaching
and learning, particularly during the secondary phase. It is therefore essential
to eliminate in both the primary and the secondary phase material and practices
which do not use that time to good effect. The removal of such clutter takes a
variety of forms-the avoidance of unplanned repetition within and between
subjects; the dropping of work which, though once important, is now outdated,
for example the science teaching which has failed to incorporate more recent
concepts and technological developments; much better planning by the LEA
and the schools of the transition between schools to avoid curricular discon-
tinuity or needless repetition; and improved planning of courses and syllabuses
within each school for the same purposes.

18
 57. The time so saved could in principle be used in two ways. It could assist
a redistribution of the balance between the elements which make up the
curriculum so that each may, to a greater extent than now, make its particular
contribution without leaving insufficient time for all other essential elements to
make their particular contribution. For any subject area there is a minimum
period for which it has to be offered to enable the pupil to gain a lasting benefit;
that minimum depends on the area of learning itself, on how closely it can be
related to and reinforced by other areas of learning, and on the pupil and his
stage of development. The time gained can also be used more effectively by
improving what is offered to pupils within the area of learning in question,
without altering the amount of time devoted to that area, by concentrating on
the essential aspects of what that area is best able to contribute to the pupils'
total education.

58. It is evident that even when such changes are made and curricular
planning optimises the interrelation of areas of learning. schools will still have
insufficient time for teaching all that it is in principle desirable for them to
teach. Choices will need to be made and priorities determined. In the Govern-
ment's view, both of these matters fall properly for determination at the level
of the LEA and the school, within a framework set by national, LEA, and
school curricular policies.

59. As a step towards achieving that framework, the Secretaries of State

issued, in September 1984, a discussion paper 'The Organisation and Content
of the 5-16 Curriculum' which set out provisional views. Taking account of the
comments received, the Government believes that it is now timely to offer a
statement of national policy on the broad issues raised, and to pursue discus-
sions in the light of it. These discussions will need to take account of the
concurrent process of formulating, on the basis of consultation, statements of
policy about the contribution of each main curricular element towards the
totality of the curriculum.

The primary phase

60. Children develop quickly during their time in primary schools. The
primary phase should help pupils to get the most out of the process of growing
up and should build on their natural enthusiasm during this period of rapid
change. To this end, the primary phase should help pupils to learn to under-
stand themselves, their relationships with others and the world around them;
should stimulate their curiosity and teach them to apply it purposefully and
usefully; and should develop the foundations for later learning and those
personal qualities and attitudes which, if acquired during the primary phase,
provide a sound base for what follows. The principles set out in paragraph 45
should apply throughout this phase, and should be so applied that learning
becomes, and remains, a pleasure.

61. Teaching in the primary phase is organised very flexibly, allowing any
given curriculum to be delivered in a variety of ways. Although the curriculum
which the primary schools seek to deliver is largely a common one, they use
widely differing language to describe it. Such descriptions can validly seek to

19
begin by relating what is taught to the development, for example, of values and
attitudes or of particular understanding, competence and knowledge. In the
light of its consultations, the Government believes that there is wide agreement
that the content of the primary curriculum should, in substance, make it
possible for the primary phase to:
- place substantial emphasis on achieving competence in the use of language
(which, in Wales, may be Welsh as well as English; but which does not
normally encompass foreign languages);

- place substantial emphasis on achieving competence in mathematics, in

accordance with the recommendations of the Cockcroft Report;

- introduce pupils to science;

- lay the foundation of understanding in religious education, history and

geography, and the nature and values of British society;

- introduce pupils to a range of activities in the arts;

- provide opportunities throughout the curriculum for craft and practical

work leading up to some experience of design and technology and of
solving problems;

- provide moral education, physical education and health education;

- introduce pupils to the nature and use in school and in society of new
technology;

- give pupils some insights into the adult world, including how people earn
their living.

62. What has been set out above does not fully describe the tasks of
primary schools: they have in addition to cope with a range of other needs of
pupils, not least those arising from their home circumstances. A primary
curriculum on these lines would be both broad and relevant. A reasonable
balance between its elements may best be achieved by including what pupils
should know, understand and be able to do in each area of learning in the
statement of the school's curricular aims, and carefully and regularly monitor-
ing both the substance of what is taught and pupils' progress against that
statement. Plainly the content of the curriculum cannot be divorced from the
teaching approaches employed. To take one important aspect of these,
teachers in almost all primary school classes have to teach a broad curriculum
to a very wide spread of ability. They need to ensure that the pace of learning is
as suited to the brighter children as it is to the average or the less able. The
importance of differentiation will become increasingly apparent as pupils get
older. Teaching the broad curriculum outlined in paragraph 61, and doing so
with the necessary differentiation, places formidable demands on the class
teacher which increase with the age of the pupils. Older primary pupils (includ-
ing those in middle schools) need to benefit from more expertise than a single

20
class teacher can reasonably be expected to possess; this has consequences for
staffing and the deployment of staff within a school, including the use of
teachers as consultants. In the Government's view the education service needs
to give further thought to these questions; some aspects ofthem are considered
in Chapter 5.

63. A general acceptance of the objectives set out in paragraph 61 will have
two further advantages. Experience has shown that the adoption of appro-
priately varied teaching strategies and schemes of work which ret1ect all these
objectives enables pupils of all abilities to progress more quickly in achieving
each one of them, including those relating to language and mathematics.
Furthermore, teachers have a framework for so arranging the elements in the
5-11 curriculum that there is both coherence and progression in what is
offered; and there is less risk that teachers will be professionally isolated in
their work.

64. These principles should be capable of application in the great majority

of primary schools. The main constraints lie in the number of teachers and their
collective qualifications and skills, and in the size ofthe school. The smaller the
school, the more serious these constraints are likely to be. These matters are
further considered in Chapters 5 and 10.

The transition from the primary to the secondary phase

65. The 5-16 curriculum needs to be constructed and delivered as a con-
tinous and coherent whole, in which the primary phase prepares for the
secondary phase, and the latter builds on the former. These requirements are
essential whether or not the transition from one phase to the other involves a
change of school. In educational terms the transition does not represent a
radical departure but merely a step in a progression from teaching mainly or
entirely by the class teacher to a situation in which the pupil needs to be taught
by many specialist teachers. It is in the pupil's interest that the progression
should be gradual. so that he can accommodate to a multiplicity of adults to
whom he looks for guidance and does not lose sight of the coherence of his
programme through the fragmentation of its delivery. In the Government's
view, older pupils in the primary phase should begin to be systematically
introduced to teaching by members of staff with expertise in an area of the
curriculum other than that which the class teacher can offer. Morever, while it
is important in the secondary phase to secure match between the teachers'
subject qualifications and experience and the teaching programme, there are
advantages in not exposing the youngest secondary pupils immediately to the
full range of individual specialist teaching. However this change is phased,
curricular continuity and progression are essential. Their achievement requires
much detailed organisation and effort by the LEA and the schools concerned
whatever the age of transfer between schools may be.

11-16
66. During the secondary phase pupils mature from late childhood through
adolescence towards the threshold of adult life. The curriculum for 11-16 year
olds needs to reflect that progression in its content and organisation. The

21
Government's policies for breadth and balance require that, taking the period
as a whole, the curriculum for all pupils, in addition to religious education
(subject to the relevant statutory provisions), should contain English (includ-
ing English literature); mathematics; science; a study of the humanities;
aesthetic subjects; practical subjects; physical education; and a foreign
language for most pupils. There should be an element of choice in the cur-
riculum for the 4th and 5th years but the choice of options should not allow
pupils to undertake a programme that is insufficiently broad or balanced. In
schools in Wales, it will also be necessary to make provision for Welsh language
teaching and for the acquisition, across the curriculum, of familiarity with the
Welsh heritage and culture. Alongside and through these elements, here
expressed in terms of subject areas, the 11-16 curriculum should continue the
work of the primary phase in developing positive personal qualities and atti-
tudes, consolidating pupils' understanding of the values and foundations of
British society, and fostering social and study skills. The ethos of a school and
the moral education it provides also play a significant part in reinforcing
attitudes and behaviour. What the schools provide is more than the aggregate
of the subjects taught, and it is important that schools and all the teachers in
them should see this to be so. An 11-16 curriculum constructed on this basis,
and incorporating also the principles of relevance and differentiation, should,
in the Government's view, constitute the substance of what pupils are offered
during the five compulsory years of the secondary phase.

67. The Government welcomes the wide agreement that during the first
three secondary years the curriculum should continue to be largely common to
all pupils, but varied in pace and depth to reflect differences in ability and
maturity. This principle should not only apply to English (and where appro-
priate Welsh), mathematics, religious education and physical education. It
should also apply in substance, and irrespective of the timetable titles used, to
science, where all pupils should study a balanced course throughout the three
year period; to the humanities, where both history and geography should be
studied by all throughout; to aesthetic subjects, where all pupils should study,
over the three years, music, art and drama on a worthwhile scale; and to
practical subjects, where all pupils should be introduced to design and work in
a range of materials in the subject areas of CDT and home economics. All
pupils should be introduced to new technology and how it is affecting people's
lives and work. Britain's membership of the European Community, and her
place as a trading nation, make it essential that the great majority of pupils
should receive a course in a foreign language designed to be of lasting value,
and that a second foreign language should be offered from the second or third
year to those pupils who can benefit from it. The choice of first or alternative
languages should reflect the LEA's policy for foreign languages in its area.
These important questions will be considered further in the policy statement
which the Government proposes to issue later this year, following consultation
on its discussion paper 'Foreign Languages in the School Curriculum'.

68. There is general agreement that difficult questions arise in determining

pupils' programmes in the 4th and 5th secondary years. A difficult balance has
to be struck between accommodating pupils' special interests and aptitudes and
retaining breadth and balance so that no pupil can drop subjects or other

22
elements whose continued study may be an essential foundation for subsequent
learning, training or work.

69. To achieve this aim the Government believes that every pupil needs to
continue in these years with English, mathematics, science* and, save in
exceptional circumstances, with physical education or games; should study
elements drawn both from the humanities and the arts; and should take part in
practical and technological work in a number of subjects, for example in eDT
and not least in science. Most pupils should also continue with a foreign
language. The place of religious education is governed by statute. If
programmes on these lines are to be pursued, it is likely that 80-85 per cent of
each pupil's time needs to be devoted to subjects which are compulsory or
liable to constrained choices and that only 15-20 per cent of that time can be left
for studying subjects which are freely chosen and which supplement the
compulsory and constrained part of the programme. Some schools already
adopt this approach. The compulsory and constrained elements ensure that
each pupil's programme adequately prepares him for employment: they can
support vocational aspirations which can then be further supported in the
unconstrained elements of the programme. This approach is reflected in the
evolving pattern of provision for 14-16 year olds within the TVEI, since the
practical and technological aspects within TVEI courses are elements of a kind
which should be in every pupil's programme. Free options provide an essential
opportunity for enriching the curriculum with elements which appeal only to a
minority of pupils, eg a further foreign language, or a particular aspect of the
arts or applied subjects; they also make it possible to reinforce the compulsory
and constrained part of the curriculum for less able pupils.

70. The need to secure breadth and balance in the limited study time
available puts a premium on studies which maximise the opportunities for later
learning. It is important that pre-vocational work and work experience
designed to help pupils to prepare for employment should be kept broad and
available to all pupils; and that courses designed to foster more specific
vocational skills, popular though they may be with many pupils, should not
displace courses of a more general character. The objective of the TVEI is to
avoid these pitfalls in promoting, for the 14-18 age range, a variety of pre-
vocational programmes which, during the first two years at least, form part of a
broad and balanced curriculum.

71. The new technologies are exciting and challenging and can enrich the
learning process in various ways; they will increasingly affect what pupils need
to learn. Moreover, throughout the secondary phase room needs to be found
for essential curricular elements which need not, or should not, be taught <as
separate subjects. For example some awareness of economic matters,notably
the operation of market forces, the factors governing the creation of privat~
and public wealth, and taxation, is a prerequisite for citizenship and employ-
ment; and health and sex education, taught within a moral framework, are a
necessary preparation for responsible adulthood; whether they appear under
these names in the timetable or are taught in connection with other courses or
subjects is best left to the school's discretion. Other examples of such elements
'The nature of the science programme is further developed in 'Science 5·16: A statement of policy'.

23
include careers education; personal and social education; moral education; and
political education. On the other hand the issue of war and peace, for example,
which naturally arises from many aspects of the curriculum, should be treated
in the context in which it arises; the Government believes that to assign a
special place in the timetable to courses labelled "peace studies" unbalances
the curriculum and oversimplifies the issues involved.

Special educational needs

72. "The purpose of education of all children is the same; the goals are the
same. But the help that individual children need in progressing towards them
will be different." * The purposes and the curricular framework set out above
are broadly applicable also to the substantial minority of pupils in ordinary
schools who have special educational needs, which require the schools to adapt
or augment the programmes for them, or to alter the means and methods by
which these programmes are delivered. But (quite apart from the legal require-
ment that all pupils with special needs who are educated in ordinary schools
must be educated as far as possible in association with pupils not having such
needs) their programme should differ from the latter's only insofar as their
special needs call for adjustment. If they are the subject of a statement under
the Education Act 1981, the adjustment will be governed by the statement.

73. Many pupils with statements are educated in special schools or in

designated special units or classes in ordinary schools. In October 1984 the
Government issued a discussion paper on the organisation and content of the
curriculum in special schools (including special units and classes in ordinary
schools). That paper considered the application to these schools of the prin-
ciples set out in 'The Organisation and Content of the 5-16 Curriculum'
mentioned in paragraph 59, on the basis that any differences should not
fundamentally affect the aims or range of what is offered, but should reflect the
need to overcome difficulties of access or to modify the depth of the content.

74. Three broad strands can be identified in the approach to the curriculum
in special schools. Pupils who have difficulties of communication, motor skills
or personal relationships need help mainly with access, in the broadest sense of
the word. New technological devices have dramatically increased the oppor-
tunities available to children with physical and sensory handicaps both to
communicate with others and to expand their learning. Given adequate sup-
port, many of these pupils are able to follow a curriculum very similar to that
offered in ordinary schools. The majority of pupils in special schools, however,
suffer from some degree of intellectual impairment. They may, according to
the extent of their impairment, need a "modified" or a "developmental"
curriculum. The former should include most of the elements of the ordinary
school curriculum but requires a different emphasis and pace. The Govern-
ment has commissioned research on the curriculum for this group from the
University of London Institute of Education. The "developmental" curriculum
places the main emphasis on the personal and social development of pupils,
generally those with complex learning difficulties, to enable them to take a part
in and derive satisfaction from the society in which they live.
'The Wamock Committee's Report: 'Special Educational Needs', paragraph 1.4

24
 75. The three approaches above bear on such questions as the desirable
and minimum sizes for special schools, their age-range, their admissions policy
and the relationship with provision in further education. The Government will
apply the approaches to its policies for special education after discussion with
those concerned.
The organisation and content of the curriculum: the next steps
76. The objectives set out above make it necessary to alter practices in
many schools. The Government shares the view of many in the education
service and outside it that more emphasis needs to be given to science and
technology; to practical application of knowledge and to practical skills
throughout the curriculum; and to helping pupils to understand, and to develop
positive attitudes towards, the demands which industrial and technological
changes will increasingly make on all aspects of adult life, notably employment.
77. In the Government's view, more consideration needs to be given to the
balance of the various necessary elements within the curriculum, particularly
for the 4th and 5th secondary years, in the light of the contribution which each
element makes to the pupils' total education. The Secretaries of State will
continue to pursue these matters with their partners in the education service. In
the light of those discussions the Government proposes to offer a further
statement on the organisation and content of the 5-16 curriculum in due
course.
Homework
78. The Government believes that homework policies should be formu-
lated at the level of the LEA and the school, rather than the national level.
Homework is an important element of independent study and is not necessarily
done at home. Appropriately set and marked, homework valuably reinforces
work in the classroom. Yet the available evidence suggests that few LEAs at
present have formulated explicit policies for homework and the homework
policies of most schools are not fully worked out. The Government recognises
that effective homework policies make calls on resources. It also recognises
that homework is not an end in itself, and that children have a life outside
school which to a greater or lesser extent also contributes to their education.
But it believes that, within the constraints set by the resources available, every
LEA and school should establish a policy for homework to form part of its
curricular policy and to serve that policy's objectives in relation to the whole
curriculum and to its elements. Homework policies should relate to such
matters as the amount, range and character of what should be expected in the
primary and secondary phases at various ages and ability levels, the conditions
which make for the effective use of homework, and the problems faced by
pupils whose home environment may make study at home difficult. These
matters will shortly be the subject of consultation with the education service.
HMI will survey and in due course publish a report on practice in schools in
relation to homework.
School libraries
79. The Government believes that the function and use of libraries and
media resources in support of work in the school is another essential feature of

25
the curricular policy of every LEA and school. Books and other sources of
information have been vulnerable to pressure on resources. But there is much
evidence, some of it assembled in a recently published report* by the Library
and Information Services Council, that the quality of school work can be
improved where LEAs and schools succeed in making available to both prim-
ary and secondary pupils an adequate stock of books and other means of
information (including new technology) through the school library, assisted by
the authority's public library service. By including library services in its curricu-
lar policy, the school is better placed to ensure that the library is fully used to
extend the range and depth of learning throughout the school.

(iv) Levels of attainment

80. The fourth strand in the definition of objectives relates to levels of
attainment. It is the Government's longer-term aim to raise pupil performance
at all levels of ability so as to bring 80-90 per cent of all 16 year old pupils at
least to the level of attainment now expected and achieved by pupils of average
ability in individual subjects, ie the level associated with grade 4 in the CSE
examination; and to do so over a broad range of knowledge , understanding and
skills in a number of subjects. A necessary step is to define more precisely what
is meant by the desired level of attainment at age 16 for pupils of differing
abilities. A much clearer and more precise definition than exists at present will
be available when the new GCSE examinations are established, as Chapter 3
explains. These examinations will provide a point of reference for attainment
at age 16, but only in relation to the knowledge, understanding, skills and
competence which the examination courses are designed to develop. Attain-
ment targets are needed also in relation to matters not tested by the GCSE and,
in relation to all aspects of the curriculum, for the end of the primary phase.

81. A more precise definition, based on the Government's longer-term

aim, of what pupils of different abilities should understand, know and be able
to do, will assist with the formulation of the curricular policies of the Secre-
taries of State, the LEA, and the school; will help all concerned to assess the
effectiveness of policies and practice; will encourage teachers to have high
expectations of pupils (and so help to bring about their realisation); and will
help to motivate the pupils. It will be no short or easy task to move towards a
more precise definition of attainment targets. These cannot be simply ex-
pressed if they are to apply to the whole ability range of pupils; and the type of
definition and the degree of its precision are bound to vary between elements
of the curriculum. A start on the necessary work is being made in the HMI
publications described in paragraph 32 and, for age 16, in the development of
grade criteria for the GCSE. The work will be supported by the findings now in
course of publication from the surveys conducted by the Assessment of Per-
formance Unit (APU) of pupil performance in English, mathematics and
science at age 11 and 15 (and, for science, also at age 13), and by an account
which HMI will publish during the year of good work done by primary pupils in
a number of areas of learning. This information will show schools and others
what pupils at all levels of ability can actually achieve and will therefore throw
light on what they might be expected to achieve as policy and practice develop.
"'School Libraries: the fuundation.l' of the Curriculum',

26
 82. Judging whether curricular aims and objectives are being achieved,
whether nationally, locally or by the individual school or pupil, requires the
effective assessment and monitoring of each pupil's performance. But that
assessment serves other purposes as well. As Chapter 5 explains, it is part of the
teacher's delivery of the curriculum. It enables the teacher to help pupils
progress faster by identifying not only what they find easy and hard but also the
opportunities which they need to develop particular personal qualities, atti-
tudes and skills; by adapting accordingly both what is taught and how it is
taught; and by discussing the way forward with the pupil and his parents
throughout the primary and secondary phase, and not least when option
choices come to be made during the latter. Assessment of each pupil's perform-
ance is a complex professional task, in which a wide range of evidence has to be
taken into account. The findings of the APU surveys of the pupil population as
a whole provide much information about the obstacles to good performance
which individual pupils face in the subject areas surveyed. This information has
great professional value for classroom practice and is being made available to
teachers through a series of booklets dealing with specific aspects of learning.

83. The teacher's assessment of pupil performance is also the basis of a

school's evaluation of its own performance. It enables teachers individually
and collectively to judge the success of their professional decisions about what
to teach and how to teach it, and to review, and as necessary revise, these
decisions.

84. In addition, assessment and monitoring of pupil performance is import-

ant for the formal and informal acknowledgment of what pupils achieve.
Examples of formal acknowledgement are the results of public examinations,
to which teacher assessment of course work contributes substantially, and the
proposed records of achievement for all school-Ieavers, which are discussed in
Chapter 3.

CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

85. The school curriculum is not static. It is constantly being developed as

teachers individually and collectively reappraise what they teach and adapt the
existing or the new tools of their trade in response to changes in the needs of
their pupils, the state of knowledge, ideas and attitudes in society, and their
perceptions of these matters. Curriculum development is a professional
activity, consciously and deliberately carried out by teachers and others. It is
stimulated and supported by such bodies as the associations of subject
teachers; by in-service training work conducted by HMI, LEA advisers and the
teacher training institutions, and in teachers' centres; and by some indepen-
dent bodies.

86. But it is not enough to rely on all these means to ensure that curriculum
development is carried out to the necessary extent in all the areas where it is
needed. The Government has accordingly acted, jointly with the local
authority associations, to establish and fund the School Curriculum Develop-
ment Committee, with the remit to review and evaluate the curriculum
development work being undertaken by others against the likely future needs
of schools, to identify what further such work is needed, to undertake it or

27
assist others to undertake it within the funds at its disposal, and to disseminate
the results of curriculum development work undertaken by itself and others.
The Committee's function is not to advise the Government on matters of
curriculum policy; it has, rather, an important role in securing on the ground
the changes which will need to follow from the establishment of curricular
policies, both central and local.

87. The Government is also making specific contributions to the improve-

ment of certain aspects of the curriculum within the schools. It is supporting,
through education support grants, several activities designed to implement its
policies: the teaching of mathematics in schools; science teaching as part of
primary education; and pilot projects to improve the quality of education in
urban primary schools and the quality or range of the curriculum in rural
primary schools. The schemes promoted by the TVEI (see paragraph 50) are
making an important contribution to developing the curriculum for the 14-18
age group. The Microelectronics Education Programme and the Lower Attain-
ing Pupils' programme (paragraph 45 (3) and (4)) are also designed to lead to
developments in the curriculum. As noted in paragraph 82, the findings of the
APU are now being published in a form designed particularly to help the work
of classroom teachers, as are the findings of a research project at Leeds
University, funded by the Government, on children's learning in science.

NEXT ACTION
88. The policies described in this Chapter are intended to lead towards a
framework within which LEAs, schools and teachers will be able to act more
effectively to improve their pupils' education. That framework is as yet in-
complete: much remains to be done, at all levels within the education service,
before the shared aim of broad agreement about the objectives of the school
curriculum can be realised. HMI will be publishing discussion papers on the
curriculum and its elements (paragraph 32). Among the immediate tasks which
fall to the Government are:
(1) the publication of an account of LEAs' responses to Circular 8/83
(paragraph 40);
(2) consultations on statements of national policy on individual subjects
(paragraph 32);
(3) the publication, after consultation, of a further statement in relation to
the organisation and content of the 5-16 curriculum (paragraph 77).

89. This Chapter has considered the curriculum during the years of com-
pulsory education. Effective curricular policies at every level need to be
consistent with the education offered before and after that period. The former
is discussed in Chapter 4. As for the latter, young people may continue their
education either in school or, full-time or part-time, in further education. The
form taken by such education, whether at school or college, is bound up closely
with the system of public examinations, the subject of the next Chapter.

28
 CHAPTER 3
EXAMINATIONS AND ASSESSMENT

Objectives
90. For most pupils, the period of compulsory education culminates in
assessment through public examinations. The Government believes that this
should continue to be so. Examination results are one important means of
assessing achievement; examinations, properly designed, are a stimulus to
good performance, and parents and employers, as well as many pupils, rightly
value them.

91. Examinations exert a strong influence on the secondary school cur-

riculum, and they need to be designed and used in the service of the cur-
riculum. The Government's aim is to achieve broad agreement on objectives
for the curriculum, and to secure the provision of examinations which reflect
that agreement and which in turn make their own contribution to improving the
quality of education. Such examination courses are an important preparation
for employment.

92. The examinations at 16+ provide the benchmark for the aim, referred
to in paragraph 80, of bringing 80-90 per cent of all pupils up to and beyond the
standard of performance now associated with the average, across a range of
subjects. Reform of these examinations, as described below, will enable them
to serve as such a benchmark in an effective way.

93. The Government believes that the examinations taken at school should
serve the following specific objectives:
(1) to raise standards across the whole ability range;
(2) to support improvements in the curriculum and in the way in which it is
taught;
(3) to provide clear aims for teachers and pupils, to the benefit of both and
of higher education and employers;
(4) to record proven achievement;
(5) to promote the measurement of achievement based on what candidates
know, understand and can do;
(6) to broaden the studies of pupils in the 4th and 5th secondary years and of
6th form students.

94. The Secretaries of State have established an independent body, the

Secondary Examinations Council (SEC), to supervise the operation of ex-
aminations taken by pupils during the years of compulsory schooling and at
18+ and to advise the Government on the ways in which the national system of
secondary examinations may best meet the needs of the education service and
its clients. Since it was set up in 1983 the SEC has made a substantial contribu-
tion to the development of examinations. It will have an important part to play
in the coming years.

29
 95 .. The Government has taken action in regard to several aspects of
secondary examinations and assessment. The following paragraphs describe
thes~ actions and the reasons for them.

The GCSE
96. The present system of examinations designed to be taken at age 16+
-the GCE 0 level, the CSE and the more recently introduced joint 16+
examinations-is in need of reform. There are 20 separate examinations
boards each awarding its own certificate, many hundreds of subject titles, and
nearly 19,000 syllabuses; many of the apparent similarities between syllabuses
mask real differences and many of the apparent differences are unreal. The
existing examinations serve largely to place candidates in rank order and there
.is no clarity about levels of attainment in more absolute terms. The 0 level and
CSE grades overlap, and this is unfair to able candidates who obtain a CSE
grade 1, which often carries less esteem than the corresponding 0 level grades.
For all these reasons the users of the examinations system, particularly parents
and employers, can have no clear understanding of the significance of 0 level
or CSE certificates. Moreover, the examinations often test mainly the capacity
for the orderly recall of facts and give insufficient weight to such things as the
ability to reason, or to solve problems, or to oral and practical skills; the targets
which teachers and pupils set themselves are accordingly less useful than they
should be.
97. In order to remedy these weaknesses, and to meet the aims described in
paragraphs 92 and 93, the Government announced in June 1984 its decision to
establish the General Certificate of Secondary Education with a seven point
scale of grades, A-G, which will replace 0 levels, CSE and the joint 16+ exam-
inations. All the GCE and CSE Boards have, with some reservations on
particular aspects, accepted the Government's proposals. The first GCSE
examinations will be held in 1988. The main features of the GCSE will be:
(1) a single system with differentiated assessment: it will be more equitable,
and will permit candidates at each level of ability to show what they
know, understand and can do on the basis of suitably differentiated
papers, or differentiated questions within papers, in all subjects;
(2) national criteria: these are nationally agreed guidelines with which all
GCSE syllabuses and examinations will comply. They have been
developed by the examinations boards themselves and approved by the
Secretaries of State on the advice of the Secondary Examinations Coun-
cil. National criteria are needed in order to ensure that syllabuses in
given subjects have sufficient content in common, that the assessment is
conducted according to common principles, and that pupils, parents and
other users of examinations will be better informed and have a clearer
understanding of what a given GCSE certificate attests. The criteria
provide for syllabuses and examinations to be free of political, ethnic,
gender and other forms of bias, and to take account of the linguistic and
cultural diversity of candidates. By comparison with existing examina-
tions, the national criteria place a new emphasis on oral and practical
skills and course-work, on reasoning and on the application, as well as
the acquisition, of knowledge and understanding. The Secretaries of

30
 State have approved the first edition of the national criteria, the texts of
which are agreed between the boards, the Secondary Examinations
Council and the Education Departments. The criteria were published in
March 1985. It will be for the Secondary Examinations Council, in
consultation with the examining groups, to advise on revisions to the
national criteria;
(3) criteria-related grades: the grading system needs to be more objective
than it is at present. Grade criteria are accordingly being developed as an
extension of the national criteria: they will define the main aspects of
each subject which the examinations will be designed to test and the
levels of attainment expected of candidates in each aspect for the award
of particular grades. Once the grade criteria are developed, the award of
grades will depend on candidates' ability to demonstrate defined levels
of skill, knowledge and understanding. The Secondary Examinations
Council has set up working parties to draft grade criteria for 10 subjects
in the first instance: English, mathematics, French, history. geography,
physics. chemistry, biology, CDT and Welsh. These subjects account
between them for over two-thirds of total subject entries in the existing
16+ examinations. The Council will report progress, and consult on the
draft criteria, in summer 1985. In autumn 1985 it will begin work on a
second batch of subjects. The aim is to devise grade criteria in due course
for all subjects commonly examined at this level;

(4) target group: the existing examinations at 16+ were originally designed
for the top 60 per cent of the ability range by subject; about 90 per cent of
school Ie avers now obtain a graded result-at whatever level-in at least
one subject. This is the base from which the Government wishes to see
progress towards the aim referred to in paragraph 80. The target group
for the GCSE will not be limited to any pre-ordained percentage of
candidates. The GCSE will be designed for all candidates, whatever
their abilities relative to other candidates, who are able to reach the
standards required for the award of particular grades;
(5) administration: the GCSE will be administered by 5 groups of boards. 4
in England and 1 in Wales, instead of 20 independent boards as at
present. Within the groups, the GCE Boards will have special responsi-
bility for confirming the standards of grades A to C, and the CSE Boards
a similar responsibility for grades D to G;

(6) Distinction and Merit Certificates: the Government wishes to encourage

the ablest pupils. no less than others, to pursue a broad and balanced
curriculum. The Secretaries of State have accordingly published for
consultation proposals for the introduction of Distinction and Merit
Certificates to reward candidates obtaining good grades in a specified
range of subjects. The Government will announce its conclusions in the
light of the consultations;
(7) in-service training of teachers: a special programme of training is being
mounted to help all the teachers concerned to prepare for the introduc-
tion of the GCSE. The programme will focus particularly on assessment

31
 techniques and the setting and assessment of course-work. For this
purpose the Government and the local authority associations have
agreed that, subject to the approval of Parliament, the training provided
by the examining groups within the programme should be supported by
the in-service teacher training grants scheme, and the Government will
also increase its grant to the Secondary Examinations Council.

98. The arrangements for the GCSE are designed to secure, far better than
at present, that candidates are tested on what they know, and can do and
understand, rather than on what they do not know and cannot do or under-
stand; that what is tested relates to worthwhile achievements; that success or
failure depends on the candidate's own performance, tested against defined
standards and irrespective of the performance of others; and that similar
performance will be similarly recognised and rewarded. The Government is
confident that the arrangements will improve both teaching and examining in
schools and colleges. They will promote a much needed increase in those
practical and other skills which will be demanded by the future pattern of
employment. They will also improve the motivation of many pupils following
examination courses, particularly those who at present may expect only modest
results in GCE or CSE examinations: courses offered under the GCSE will be
designed to present appropriate challenges to candidates at each level of
ability.

Pre-vocational courses pre-16

99. Some schools prepare pupils for pre-vocational examinations other
than 0 level and CSE (eg those of the City and Guilds of London Institute, the
Royal Society of Arts, and the Business and Technician Education Council)
during the years of compulsory schooling. Such courses will continue to be
available to complement GCSE examinations as well, in the service of a
curriculum which is broad, balanced, relevant, and differentiated in accord-
ance with pupils: abilities. The Government is setting up a working party,
under an independent chairman, with representatives of all the examining and
validating bodies concerned, and serviced by the Secondary Examinations
Council, to draft national criteria for pre-vocational and vocationally oriented
examination courses taken by pupils of statutory school age. The working party
will also consider progression from such courses to post-16 courses which lead
to vocational qualifications.

Graded assessments
100. Graded assessments are designed to test and usually to certificate
attainment at certain points in a course. Some interesting work is being carried
out by LEAs and examinations boards in developing such assessments. A large
number of pupils are now involved in schemes of foreign language testing on
the basis of graded objectives: an account of the strengths and weaknesses of
some of this work was presented in 1983 in a report by HMI *. Graded
assessments have a valuable potential for motivating pupils and in evaluating
progress towards relatively modest short-term objectives, but they carry risks
"A Survey of the U,e of Graded Te.lts of Defined Objectives and their Effect on the Teaching and Learning uf
Modern Languages in the County of Oxford.lhire·, Reports on developmem.1 in other LEAs are /0 he published
Ihortly.

32
 of fragmentation and inflexibility in the curriculum and in teaching and learn-
" ing. The Government welcomes the exploratory work which is now going on.
Judgement must be reserved on the value of graded assessments in particular
subjects and their possible application across the whole curriculum: more
development work needs to be done and evaluated. For the great majority of
pupils, graded assessments should not be alternatives to the GCSE but should
be designed to help on their way pupils who are expecting to take these
examinations. For some pupils, however, graded assessments will enable credit
to be given for work which is not carried forward to the level of the GCSE. The
Government is funding two feasibility studies on the development of graded
tests for lower-attaining pupils in mathematics, following a recommendation of
the Cockcroft Committee. The Secondary Examinations Council will monitor
developments in this area, and the Secretaries of State have asked the Council
to be associated with the evaluation of this component of the Government-
funded pilot projects on records of achievement (see paragraph 119).

A levels
101. The Government is committed to the retention of A levels (including
Special papers): they set standards of excellence which need to be preserved;
they have an educational value in their own right; they provide the foundation
for degree courses; and they play an important role in selection for higher
education.

102. The Government is aware of concern about the nature of the grading
system, including the definition of grade boundaries, and about the content of
A level examinations. A working party of the Secondary Examinations Council
is studying the A level grading system and has issued proposals for consulta-
tion. The GCE Boards and the Standing Conference on University Entrance
have developed cores for the content of 11 of the most popular subjects. All
these initiatives are a useful start, which can provide, as time and resources
permit, the basis for re-appraising A level syllabuses and the assessment of
performance in the A level examinations.

Advanced Supplementary (AS) levels

103. The principles of breadth and balance apply also to those on A level
courses. The present arrangements for examinations at 18+ and for admission
to higher education encourage students to pursue good grades in a limited
range of A level subjects, to the exclusion of other subjects whose study would
be valuable for adult life and employment. The Government has decided to
take action to promote greater breadth for those engaged in A level studies,
without reducing standards.

104. In a consultative paper published in May 1984 the Secretaries of State

set the objective of broadening the curriculum for A level students without
diluting academic standards, and proposed the introduction of new examina-
tion courses to that end-Advanced Supplementary or AS levels-which
students would be able to take alongside A level courses and which would
require about half the amount of teaching time of an A level course. The
Secretaries of State suggested that the new qualification, and its adoption by

33
 the universities and other institutions of higher education as an important
element in admission processes, would enable A level students to study addi-
tional subjects which would contrast with or complement their A level studies
without diminishing their chances of admission to the higher education institu-
tion of their choice. The Secretaries of State expressed the hope that those not
taking A level courses full-time, including mature students, would also benefit
from the new qualification.

105. The response to these proposals indicated very strong support among
the universities for the introduction of AS level courses, together with a
willingness to give full recognition to the new qualification in admission pro-
cesses. Employers' organisations too gave firm support for the proposal. The
rest of higher education and the examinations boards mostly indicated support
in principle as well. Many respondents emphasised their concern about the
need to devise appropriate syllabuses. In schools and colleges, opinion was
divided: some of the teachers' organisations expressed serious concern about
the design of syllabuses, the possible extra pressures on A level students, and
the difficulties of accommodating AS level courses within available resources.

106. In view of the support shown for the proposals, notably by higher
education, the Government has decided that AS level courses should be
introduced on the lines proposed with adjustments to take account of its
consultations. The Secretaries of State will invite the GCE Boards to prepare
- syllabuses in co-operation with the Secondary Examinations Council, higher
- education and others concerned, so that the first AS level examinations may be
- held in 1989, a year later than was proposed. The extra year will allow more
- time for the preparation of syllabuses and consultation on them. It will also
- separate by one year the introduction of AS levels and the GCSE.

107. In the Government's view, the following principles should inform the
design of AS level syllabuses:
(1) the syllabuses should be intellectually demanding and coherent, with an
emphasis on practical applications as appropriate;
(2) they should be designed to require about 2\.-1 hours of teaching per week
over two years and about half the study time of an A level course;
(3) they should be related where possible to suitable A level syllabuses, and
in particular to core syllabuses where they exist, to the extent that the
principles in (1) and (2) permit.

108. It is essential that higher education should have confidence in the

rigour, coverage and standards of AS level courses, and that the general quality
of work demanded for the award of any grade is comparable with that of A
level courses, so that full credit may be given for AS level success in all aspects
of the admission processes. The grading of A level and AS level examinations
will accordingly need to be closely linked.

109. The Government does not envisage that there should be any compul-
sion on A level students to take AS level courses. The representatives of higher

34
education have stated that there can be no question of prejudicing the entry
opportunities of candidates from schools which can provide few or no AS level
courses by giving a general preference to candidates with AS level successes,
and the Government endorses that approach. The representatives of higher
education have however also stated that, subject to any specific requirements
set by individual departments, institutions will in general regard both tradi-
tional combinations of A level subjects and broader combinations of A and AS
level subjects as being wholly acceptable as a preparation for higher education.
They have also made it clear that, while some departments may continue to
require three specified A level subjects, many see advantage in a broader
spread of subjects. The normal minimum requirement for entry to degree
courses will continue to include two A levels (and, for HND and equivalent,
one A level).

110. The Secretaries of State are confident that the majority of schools and
colleges which offer A level courses on a substantial scale will be able to
accommodate at least some AS level courses. Schools with large sixth forms,
sixth form colleges and tertiary colleges will be relatively well placed to
introduce a range of AS level courses at an early stage. The Secretaries of State
recognise that schools with smaller sixth forms will find it more difficult to
accommodate AS level courses. If however such schools were to offer only a
few courses at AS level, even as few as two, that would in itself valuably extend
the range of options open to their students.

111. The higher education bodies have made clear that they attach particu-
lar importance to the early development of AS level syllabuses in mathematics
with practical applications, design and technology, English and modern
languages. Many schools and colleges have emphasised the potential value of
an AS level course in general studies. The Government hopes that the GCE
Boards will be able to offer syllabuses in all these areas, and in others as welL
from the outset, and that syllabuses will be developed over time in all subjects
where there is sufficient demand. The Secretaries of State believe that the
development of a range of courses at AS leveL by widening the choice of
subject combinations available to A level students. will help to prepare them
better for adult life and for employment.

Certificate of Pre-Vocational Education

112. The Government has promoted the establishment of a new qualifica-
tion, the Certificate of Pre-Vocational Education (CPVE), for those young
people who stay on full-time in either schools or colleges for one year after the
compulsory period and who are not pursuing CSE or 0 level (or in due course
GCSE) qualifications with a reasonable hope of success, and do not have a
clear vocational aim in view. The CPVE is administered by a Joint Board of the
two principal examining and validating bodies for pre-vocational education-
the City and Guilds of London Institute (CGU) and the Business and Techni-
cian Education Council (BTEC)--Dn which the other main examining bodies,
in schools as well as in further education, together with employers and LEAs,
are represented; it is intended to replace a range of existing courses including

35
the pre-vocational courses of the CGLI, BTEC and the Royal Society of Arts,
and the Certificate of Extended Education offered by most CSE and GCE
Boards.

113. CPYE courses will have a strong element of general education,

offered in practical contexts, as well as a progressively sharpening vocational
focus. Students will be expected to make progress in various "core" areas
(including communications, numeracy, science, information technology,
knowledge about industrial society, and personal and creative development)
and to explore one or more of five broad vocational areas. Structured work
experience will be an important element in each course. The main examining
and validating bodies offering more specific vocational courses have signified
their intention to recognise the CPYE for the purpose of progression in these
courses; and the CPYE should become a qualification widely valued by
employers.

114. For the most part CPYE courses will involve not the teaching of
separate subjects but the development of skills, knowledge and attributes
across the areas covered by each course. Assessment will be by the teachers on
the basis of nationally established "levels of achievement" , and there will be no
overall pass/fail. The CPYE will enable all students, particularly those with a
limited record of success in the GCSE examinations, to demonstrate what they
can learn and achieve in a situation related as directly as possible to adult
working life. In view of its novel character, the success of the CPYE requires
important changes in most schools' and teachers' methods of working. The
Government, through the Further Education Unit, has financed a substantial
staff development programme for school as well as college staff; and the
in-service teacher training grants scheme (see paragraph 174) is facilitating the
release of teachers to courses of training for the CPYE as well as for other pre-
vocational teaching.

115. Work is in progress to ensure that the CPYE, as it develops, relates

coherently to the pre-16 pre-vocational courses referred to in paragraph 99,
and to the Youth Training Scheme.

Records of achievement
116. Many important educational attainments are not reflected in exam-
ination results. The Government believes that young people should be given
credit for what they have achieved during their time at school across their
whole programme and should be provided, on leaving school, with a short
summary document which recognises their achievements. It has therefore set
the policy objective of establishing by the end of the decade arrangements
under which all pupils leaving school will be provided with a record of
achievement.

117. If the full potential of a system of records of achievement is to be

realised, schools will need to establish internal arrangements for recording
information about a pupil's progress and achievements during his period of
secondary education. The final summary will draw on this. There will also need

36
to be regular discussions between teacher and pupil to assist the pupil's
development and progress by motivating and encouraging him. and making
him more aware of his strengths, weaknesses and opportunities. The process of
recording and discussion has, in addition, important consequences for the
pupil's programme: the school has to think more systematically than is at
present the general practice about the pupil's curricular needs; and the teachers
need to give the pupil opportunities to demonstrate those qualities on which
the record is intended to throw light.

118. The Government acknowledges that the record of achievement, to be

valued by pupils, will need to be accepted and recognised by employers and
other users. A particular problem will be in recording personal achievements
and qualities in a way which is not open to the criticism of sUbjectivity. The
Government considers that this problem will best be met by basing such
assessments on concrete examples of what a pupil has achieved and ex-
perienced, from which personal qualities and skills may be inferred.

119. While a substantial minority of schools and LEAs. including the

schools involved in every TVEI project, are developing records of achieve-
ment, sometimes under the heading of "pupil profiles", it is widely accepted
that more practical experience is needed. on a pilot basis, before records of
achievement can be introduced nationally. The Government is therefore pro-
viding financial support, through education support grants, for nine pilot
schemes (including one in Wales). A national Steering Committee will oversee
the monitoring and evaluation of these schemes.

37
 CHAPTER 4
THE EDUCATION OF THE UNDER FIVES
120. Children learn more in their highly formative years under the age of
five than at any other time. They learn initially, and mainly, from their
families. Parents have the prime role in introducing children to language and
social behaviour, and in helping them to learn from experience. Parents lay the
foundations of a process which both they and the schools develop, and, while
they do so, other agencies, such as mother and toddler groups and pre-school
playgroups, seek to reinforce their efforts. This Chapter considers the function
of schools before the start of the compulsory period of education, and relates
that function to the part played by parents and other agencies.

121. Children reach compulsory school age at the start of the term after
they become five. Below that age, except in the case of children with state-
ments under the Education Act 1981, it is for LEAs' discretion whether to
make provision and what form that provision might take, and for parents to
decide whether to send their children to school. The type of provision made in
school for the under fives varies from area to area but overall some 80 per cent
of children are estimated to be at school before they are five. Excluding "rising
fives" (ie those within one term of their fifth birthday), about 43 per cent (71
per cent in Wales) of the three and four year old age group, taken together,
attend maintained nursery or primary schools. 22 per cent attend nursery
schools or nursery classes in primary schools, while 21 per cent attend the
youngest classes of the primary school. Most commonly nursery provision is
part-time, while primary school provision is more often full-time.

122. Nearly all children stand to benefit from some attendance at school
before reaching the compulsory age provided that what the school offers is
appropriate to their age and stage of development. For many children under
five, appropriate provision develops cognitive skills (especially through
language) and social skills, and so facilitates progress in the early years of
compulsory schooling. For some children nursery education is particularly
beneficial; for example, for those with physical or emotional problems or other
learning difficulties, or from socially or economically deprived backgrounds.
Where children come from homes where little or no English is spoken, too,
nursery education can be valuable in itself and enable the children to derive
more benefit from the early years of the compulsory period, particularly when
it provides a planned programme to help them learn English.

123. The education of young children is founded in play. It is through play

that the nursery teacher, with the necessary ancillary support and resources,
provides the basis for the main primary phase by incorporating the areas of
learning, including personal and social development, outlined in paragraphs
61-62.

124. Many children, before they begin school, attend a pre-school

playgroup. About one-third of three and four year olds do so, attending
typically two or three morning or afternoon sessions a week. There is great
variety in the purpose, scope and quality of playgroups. Their success in

38
developing cognitive and social skills is heavily dependent on the personal
qualities and experience of those who run them and on the commitment and
involvement of parents. The best playgroups do much for the under fives and
their parents.

125. An increasing number of under fives are in the infant classes of

primary schools (21 per cent of 3 and 4 year olds excluding "rising fives"). It has
long been accepted that it may be educationally appropriate for children to be
admitted to the reception class of a primary school when they are rising five.
Encouraged by parental demand LEAs have increased their provision for
under fives by utilising surplus space in primary schools which becomes avail-
able when the school population is falling. This can be a cost-effective use of
resources when the accommodation cannot otherwise easily be taken out of
use. But it is important that there is sufficient regard for the maturity and
readiness of the children and that teaching, ancillary staff, accommodation and
resources are appropriate to the age group. Relatively little adjustment is
needed where it is only rising fives who are to be admitted for the first time. But
more changes are needed in approach and provision where admission is
extended to younger children. Whether in a nursery or infant class, these need,
for example, direct access to outdoor and grassed areas and an adequate
number of teaching and other staff with the appropriate skills.

126. In small schools children who are barely four are sometimes admitted
to a class of five year olds and in very small schools to a class with children aged
up to seven. It is unrealistic to expect a teacher simultaneously to provide an
appropriate education for younger four year olds and for children of com-
pulsory school age. Very young children can be introduced too early to the
more formal language and number skills and they miss the essential explora-
tory and practicat work through which a good nursery programme forms a
sound basis for later learning. Some four year old children are now moved up
too early from nursery class or school, and suffer similar disadvantages.

127. Where a parent is at home or can arrange care for other parts of the
day, part-time attendance is a valuable way of achieving the transition from
home to school, or from nursery education to infant classes. It is also an
economic use of resources, for more children can benefit from a given number
of staff, and more flexible patterns of teaching and grouping can often be used.

128. The Government recognises that LEAs face considerable problems of

priority in determining the type and distribution of provision for under fives.
Authorities have rightly tried to give preference to those children who stand to
benefit most or who most need help. The Government has recognised this in
the additional support it has given to nursery education for children in inner
cities under the Urban Aid Programme and for ethnic minority children
through funds made available by the Home Office under Section 11 of the
Local Government Act 1966, as well as through the distribution of rate support
grant.

129. The DES and the Welsh Office provide grants to the Pre-school
Playgroups Association (PPA) (and the Welsh Office also supports similar

39
work for Welsh-speaking children) to support a team of national advisers who
run courses for training parents and playgroup leaders. The DHSS contributes
very substantially to the PPA's headquarters and regional costs. Many local
authorities also give support through both their education and their social
services departments to local voluntary playgroups (eg those run by national
charities as well as those in membership with the PPA) and to mother and
toddler groups-and link these with toy libraries, day nurseries and registered
childminders in a comprehensive network of facilities for the under fives in
their areas. The Government has encouraged the education and the social
services departments of local authorities to develop co-ordination between the
provision of education and care for under fives. Nursery teachers are working
in some day nurseries, and centres (under various names) which combine day
care and nursery education have been introduced by a number of authorities.
Some have involved adult and community education facilities, youth employ-
ment schemes and parent counselling. In these ways the capacity for parents to
be closely engaged in what is provided for their children can be reinforced and
under-five provision can be of wider benefit to the community.

130. In view of the benefits of education for the under fives, and parental
demand for its provision, the Government will make it its aim that its plans for
LEAs' expenditure should allow provision attributable to under fives to con-
tinue in real terms* within broadly the same totals as today. On this basis, in
full-time equivalent terms, the number of children participating can remain
broadly constant; there can be considerable flexibility in adjusting the ratio of
full-time to part-time participation; and it would be possible for the quality and
cost-effectiveness of the provision to be improved as authorities are able to
make progress in adapting provision more suitable for older children to the
needs of the younger age group.
'Cash figures adjusted for general inflation as measured hy the GDP deflator.

40
Teaching approaches
132. The teacher's job has always been a demandi
the curriculum and examinations set out in the foregoi
schools with a difficult and challenging task which wil
teachers' intellectual, physical and emotional resource
perhaps never, be accomplished as well as its performe
The teacher's professionalism represents his constant
ideal.

133. If pupils are to acquire knowledge, skills an

priate to their ages, abilities and aptitudes, across a bro
ated and relevant curriculum, the teacher must make av
and the learning experiences needed. The profession
includes the provision of information and the mana
periences: it also includes deciding how pupils should b
teaching approaches and methods, and the choice of bo
and equipment. This work extends to decisions abou
gained from introducing the applications of new tech
riculum, and from the involvement of people from outs
and employers, for example-in the educational proce
seen as the means through which the curriculum is del
and combined with the attitudes and capabilities of
exercise a powerful influence on the curriculum.

134. Every teacher needs a repertoire of teachin

example, every teacher properly adopts the traditiona
providing information, explanation and opinion. At ot
to guide learning less formally, promoting individual
sharing discovery with the pupils. Teaching styles have
to match the nature of the work in hand and the charac
well as their stage of development.

135. The teacher's role as guide and mentor to each

more complex. It requires both careful monitoring a
progress, and an understanding of individual capaciti
emphasis given to these complementary facets of the te
between the primary and secondary phases. Both are
teaching and tutorial work, though the balance betwe

41
the range of relationships and teaching and tutorial arrangements that exist in
any primary or secondary school and the characteristics of individual pupils.
Leading, encouraging and motivating pupils in a way which excites their
interest and engages intellectual curiosity is at the heart of good teaching.

136. One aim of education is the development of good powers of oral and
written communication. In the day-by-day formal and informal work of the
school opportunities should be deliberately provided for the use of the spoken
word in a variety of ways so that pupils may become confident listeners and
talkers. There is usually no shortage of practice in written modes such as
copying, doing exercises, making notes and summaries, but too much emphasis
on these easily organised forms of work is likely to hinder the development of
skills in practically useful and creative forms of written and oral communica-
tion. Cultivating communication and independent learning means that pupils
must be put into situations where they can explore lines of thought, set up
hypotheses and develop reasoning powers. Questioning demands a range of
techniques ranging from the closed question that calls for a single precise
answer to the open-ended question which encourages different avenues of
thought and speculation. Pupils should be encouraged to form opinions sup-
ported by evidence, to defend those opinions by logical argument and careful
expression, and to recognise that in many situations more than one opinion can
reasonably be held. An ability to establish and guide classroom relationships
which permit and encourage such developments is an important part of the
teacher's repertoire.

137. The practical dimension within the curriculum also makes demands
on teaching methods. It requires not only the use of physical skills and move-
ment as in physical education, drama and dance and an emphasis on doing and
making as in the creative and performing arts, home economics and COT; it
also means providing practical activity as a secure foundation for understand-
ing in subjects such as mathematics, science and history. The principle of
relevance means that teachers should be skilful in drawing on pupils'
experience and helping them to apply what is learnt to life outside school, so
preparing them more effectively for working life. Thus the social and economic
implications of scientific and technological activity have a place in the teaching
of science, as do aesthetic and economic issues in the teaching of CDT, art and
design and home economics. Teachers who have themselves had experience of
employment outside education will also be able to draw on that experience.
Across much of the primary and secondary curriculum, teaching needs to
include attention to such practical and intellectual skills as observing, experi-
menting and testing hypotheses, designing and planning often with aesthetic
and economic considerations in mind, and evaluation. The TVEI and the
Lower Attaining Pupils' programme explore these matters in some depth.

138. The teacher is the organiser of classroom activity. The teacher sets
detailed learning objectives, plans the effective use of time, ensures classroom
safety, and arranges the availability of materials, but the teacher is also the
organiser in a broader sense in constructing the situations in which pupils learn,
which have to be appropriate to both the learning objectives and the pupils.
The experiences offered in the context of a broad, balanced, differentiated and

42
relevant curriculum will vary according to age, ability and aptitude. The
curriculum has therefore to be mediated in a variety of ways. Increasingly, this
will involve an understanding of the uses of new technology in the learning
process. For some purposes a whole class, or even a whole year group, may
work together. Practical work may need to be carried out in small groups
within a class, and pupils needing special help with learning problems may need
to be taught individually or in small groups sharing similar problems. Classes
spanning a wide range of ability or age caIl for careful adaptation of teaching
style, and they make heavy demands on teachers' skills in the selection of
material and classroom management. Organising classes in bands or sets so
that they contain pupils of broadly similar ability or aptitude is oftena helpful
way of alleviating the learning and teaching problems posed by a wide range of
pupils, although small schools may find such a form of organisation difficult.
Grouping pupils by ability is however rarely sufficient in itself as a means of
mediating the curriculum to individual pupils according to their strengths and
weaknesses. In all types of grouping, the most effective form of differentiation
to help individuals' learning lies in the teacher's use of different kinds of
language with different pupils; in varying the pace of introducing new
materials; and in carefully judged consolidation and revision.

139. Curricular objectives include qualities and competences to be

fostered, for example the ability to work co-operatively, to persevere, to show
enterprise and to accept responsibility. Such objectives require teaching and
working methods which give opportunities for these qualities to be shown and
developed in a variety of contexts. A further set of skills required by teachers
comprise the ability to recognise and deal with low motivation. For this
purpose particularly, lessons should be well organised and relevant, and pre-
sented with sufficient flexibility to take advantage of changing moods.
Moreover a skilful matching of teaching styles to pupils' needs and abilities,
and a lively and intelligent approach to the subject matter being taught, can
help to avoid problems of discipline in the classroom and the school. Teachers
are among the adults who, by personal example as well as classroom practice.
may exert a significant influence on the development and attitudes of the
pupils.

140. All teachers also need to be able to recognise when the reason for an
individual pupil's poor performance lies elsewhere than in low motivation,
poor preparation or presentation of lessons, or the teacher's failure to adapt to
the mood of the class. There is a wide range of possible reasons why a pupil may
be failing in school-medical conditions, whether permanent, temporary or
recurrent, intellectual impairment, or failure to adjust because of emotional or
social insecurity, which may have its roots in the pupil or the home. These
reasons are not always identified or brought to the attention of the school or the
individual teachers. Not every teacher can be an expert in the treatment of such
special needs; but every teacher needs to be able to observe the symptoms of
difficulty and to be acquainted with ways of obtaining advice and access to
specialist help.

141. It is clear that to fulfil satisfactorily this demanding variety of roles, in

primary or secondary schools, teachers need solid expertise in one or more

43
curriculum areas, training and practice in classroom skills appropriate to the
age range of the pupils, and appropriate personal qualities. The criteria for
initial teacher training courses set out in DES Circular 3/84 (Welsh Office
Circular 21184), on which the recently appointed Council for the Accreditation
of Teacher Education will base their work, give practical expression to these
three requirements. The criteria also draw attention to the value of prospective
teachers having had previous employment or self-employment, or experience
of work with children or adolescents in school. It is particularly helpful for
intending teachers to gain some experience of industry or commerce, before or
outside their initial teacher training course or as part of the course itself.

142. It is widely recognised that throughout their careers teachers need

opportunities for in-service training. The Government welcomes recent advice
on in-service training from the Advisory Committee on the Supply and Educa-
tion of Teachers (ACSET), and sets out its response in paragraphs 172-176.

143. The professionalism of the teacher also involves playing a part in the
corporate development of the school. HMI reports frequently refer to the
importance of professional team work, where the teachers within a school
agree together on the overall goals of the school, on the policies for the
curriculum in the widest sense, including policies for the standards of
behaviour expected of pupils, and for the relationships expected between
teachers and pupils. The pupils' own ability to co-operate and work well with
each other is enhanced by the experience of members of staff working produc-
tively together in a professional relationship. HMI reports also draw attention
to the value of agreed policies for marking and assessment within a school.
Where such policies have been developed assessment has its proper place in the
overall development of learning, and can be used diagnostically by teachers to
improve their own strategies and approach. A further essential ingredient of
the professional responsibility of teachers is their readiness to involve them-
selves with parents and the community served by the school. Important exam-
ples are provided by reception class teachers visiting the homes of children
before they enter school; by the many primary schools which offer parents easy
and informal access to the classroom; and by the many secondary schools which
have developed close relationships with parents and links with local employers.

144. Like other professionals, teachers are expected to carry out their
professional tasks in accordance with their judgment, without bias, precisely
because they are professionals. This professionalism requires not only appro-
priate training and experience but also the professional attitude which gives
priority to the interests of those served and is constantly concerned to increase
effectiveness through professional development. The Government believes
that this concern should be fully taken into account in the policies for the
staffing of schools and the training, deployment and management of teachers.

Special needs
145. Special educational provision in ordinary schools and special schools
requires particular professional skills and training. The Government has
welcomed and considered recent advice from ACSET on this subject.

44
 146. School teachers cannot all be experts in this field, but nearly all will
have pupils with special needs in their classes. The Government therefore
accepts the need for each county and voluntary school to be able to call upon a
teacher with specific responsibility for advising other members of staff, and for
those teachers to have some time free from teaching to enable them to carry out
these duties. As regards special schools and classes, the advice in Circular 4/73
(Welsh Office Circular 47/73) on staffing is being reviewed and the Govern-
ment intends to offer new advice on the staffing requirements (teachers and
other staff) for pupils with statements of special educational need, wherever
they may be educated. The Government believes, however, that it would be
imprudent to abandon the existing statutory safeguards: it does not therefore
propose to withdraw the requirement that teachers of classes of blind, deaf or
partially hearing pupils should acquire an additional specialist qualification.

147. The Government intends that an introduction to the subject of special

needs should form part of the initial teacher training of all new teachers.
Training institutions will need to review their courses and their arrangements
for staff development to ensure that they can satisfy this aspect of the criteria
for the approval of initial teacher training courses. Although all teachers
should be aware of the implications of special educational needs, only a
minority will need to become specialists. Specialist qualifications should be
acquired after initial training and a period of experience; the Government will
pursue the substitution of in-service courses for the existing specialist initial
training courses. For those teachers who intend to teach in special schools or
classes, or to undertake comparable responsibilities, the appropriate form of
training should be a one-year full-time course, or the part-time equivalent.
Those teachers who are intending to offer a more general advisory service to
their colleagues should be prepared by one-term courses, of the type desig-
nated under the in-service teacher training grant scheme. Appropriate in-ser-
vice courses on management should also include an element related to pupils
with special educational needs, to take account of the role of head teachers.

Teacher supply and school staffing

148. The Government's policies for the curriculum and examinations
require a teacher force adequate in size and with the right mix of qualifications,
experience and teaching skills.

Size of the teacher force

149. The number of teachers employed in maintained schools depends
largely on the numbers of pupils on their rolls; indeed national teacher number
policy has traditionally been expressed mainly in terms of desirable ratios of
pupils to teachers, or class sizes. In 1984, LEAs in England and Wales
employed a total of 439,000 (full-time equivalent) school teachers and the
overall pupil to teacher ratio was 17.9:1. Table 1 indicates that the number of
primary school pupils has been falling throughout the last decade, faster in the
second half than in the first. Although since 1979 the number of teachers
employed in primary schools has been reduced, the reduction has deliberately
been less than the fall in pupil numbers, so that the ratio of pupils to teachers in
primary schools has improved considerably. In the secondary schools pupil

45
numbers rose to a peak in 1979 and were 6 per cent lower in 1984. The ratio of
pupils to teachers has improved, but more slowly than in the primary phase.
Within these national figures the I?upil to teacher ratios of individual schools
and LEAs vary as a result of decisIOns taken locally. For example the pupil to
teacher ratios in primary schools in 1984, at LEA level, ranged from 17.3 to
25.1, while the corresponding figures for secondary schools ranged from 12.8 to
17.6.

TABLE I-PUPIL AND TEACHER NUMBERS AND STAFFING

RATIOSl, 1974-1984
Full-time equivalent, in thousands England and Wales, as at January
1974 1979 1984
PUPIL NUMBERS
Primary (including Nursery) 5,218 4,777 3,953
Secondary 3,724 4,114 3,877
TEACHER NUMBERS
Total number employed 433.5 470.6 438.7
PUPIL TO TEACHER RA TIOS2
Primary 24.8 23.0 22.1
Secondary 17.5 16.7 16.2
OVERALL PUPIL TO TEACHER
RATI03 20.6 18.9 17.9
Ifigures relate to maintained nursery, primary and secondary (excluding special) schools.
'Toe ratios of the numbers of pupils in primary and secondary schools to the numbers of qualified teachers
actually employed in those schoofs. .
'The ratio oIthe numbers of pupils in maintained nursery, primary and secondary schools taken together to the
overall number of teachers paid by LEAs for service in such schools. .

150. Expenditure on teachers' salaries in 1983-84 amounted to just over

£5 billion and represents over 60 per cent of the cost of educating pupils in
schools. After consultation anntlally with the LEAs, the Government, through
its expenditure plans, sets a framework for the total size of the teacher force
nationally. These plans bear on the amount of Exchequer Grant distributed to
local authorities in support of local services, but it is for each LEA to decide
how many teachers it should employ. The Government's 1985 expenditure
plans (Cmnd 9428) are consistent with a reduction of about 6,700 in the number
of teaching posts between January 1985 and January 1986 provided that the
cost of employing staff is contained. The Government expects that the rate of
reduction in teacher numbers in the following two years will be broadly similar.
Such a reduction would permit nationally a continuing modest improvement in
pupil to teacher ratios.

Contact ratios* and class sizes

151. One key issue is the balance within the school timetable between the
time which teachers spend in their classroom (and hence the size of classes),
'The contact ratio expresses the time which school staff (including the head) spend teaching as a percentage of
llmetabled hours.

46
and that which they have free from class teaching (non-contact time). Tables 2
and 3 show recent trends in England (information is not available on a com-
parable basis for all the relevant years for Wales). In terms of national
averages, most of the improvement in pupil to teacher ratios in recent years has
been absorbed by reductions in class sizes, while contact ratios have remained
more or less stable. The contact ratio is higher in primary than in secondary
schools; trtost assistant teachers in primary schools teach for the whole time-
table. Figures for some individual LEAs and schools may diverge quite
markedly from these averages, both in level and in trend over time. Most of the
variation in contact ratio occurs in the secondary schools. The average contact
ratio for secondary schools in England in 1984 was 78 per cent. Amongst the
LEAs 18 had an average contact ratio in the band 69-75 per cent, 59 in the band
76-79 per cent and 19 in the band 80-82 per cent. There is a wider range of
variation in the contact ratios of individual schools.

TABLE 2-CLASS SIZESl AND CONTACT RATIOS2, 1974-19843

England
1974 19774 1979 1984
PRIMARY
A verage class size 26.9 25.9 24.7
Percentage of classes with 31 or
more pupils 35.1 27.4 19.1
Contact ratio 90.3 90.7 90.9
SECONDARY
A verage class size 21.8 21.4 21.0 20.4
Percentage of classes with 31 or
more pupils 16.4 13.0 10.3 7.1
Contact ratio 78.6 78.0 78.0 77.6

TABLE 3-THE DISTRIBUTION OF CLASS SIZES IN 1979 AND 19843

England
PRIMARY SECONDARY
1979 1984 1979 1984
Percentage of classes taught by:
One teacher in classes with
1-20 pupils 18.3 21.1 43.5 46.4
21-30 pupils 51.8 56.9 43.7 44.5
31 or more pupils 26.5 18.4 10.0 7.0
Two or more teachers 3.4 3.6 2.9 2.2
'Class size figures relate to classes taught by one teacher.
lSee footnote on page 46.
·'Figures relate to maintained primary and secondary (excluding special) schools.
41977 is the earliest year for which information on primary school class sizes and contact ratios is al'ailable on the
same basis as for 1979 and 1984.

47
 152. Teachers need time away from their classes to plan the curriculum, to
prepare lessons, to assess pupils' work, to undertake training and to help in the
training of others, to assist colleagues with their teaching and so on. Much of
this work is, and should be, done out of school hours. But some has to be done
while the school is in session. The Government recognises that there are still
some classes which are too large to permit adequate attention to the needs of
individuals. But it believes that in general the fall in class sizes has reached a
point where, for any further improvement in staffing levels, more non-contact
time for teachers who currently have little, and more flexible teaching arrange-
ments, should have priority over further decreases in the size of regular
teaching groups. Assistant teachers in the primary schools have the strongest
claim to this additional time.
Schoolteacher numbers and deployment in the longer term
153. Turning to the future, Table 4 indicates that the fall in the number of
primary school pupils has virtually come to an end; between now and 1988 rolls
are projected to be more or less stable. From about 1989 the number of primary
school pupils will begin to be affected by the number of births in future years;
for this table the Government Actuary's 1983-based principal projection of
fertility rates has been followed, suggesting a slow rise in pupil numbers to 1994
and beyond. In the secondary schools rolls are projected to continue falling
until 1991, when the number will be about three million, 23 per cent below the
1984 level; then a gradual rise begins.

TABLE 4--PROJECTIONS OF PUPIL NUMBERSl, 1984-1994

Full-time equivalent, in thousands England and Wales, as at January

1984 1989 1994
Primary (including Nursery) 3,953 4,018 4,212
Secondary 3,877 3,140 3,089
'Figures relate to maintained nursery. primary and secondary (excluding special) schools.

154. The policies for the curriculum and for examinations set out in Chap-
ters 2 and 3 provide a fresh starting point for considering the number of
teachers to be employed. Last autumn the Department of Education and
Science circulated a discussion paper* about the size of teacher force likely to
be compatible with the Government's education policies for all pupils in
ordinary schools, including those with special educational needs, and with
demographic prospects and national resources, and the implications for
teacher deployment. (A separate paper was issued in Wales* * to invite atten-
tion to some issues of particular importance in the principality, as well as to
assist recipients in Wales in considering the general issues raised in the DES
paper.) The figures put forward in that paper, and summarised here, were
offered for debate, without committing the Government to a particular level of
provision for the staffing of the schools. It was estimated that some 30-40,000
teachers more than would be needed to maintain pupil to teacher ratios by age
would be required in order to implement Government policies for the schools;
"Schoolteacher Numbers and Deployment in the Longer Term' .
• "Schoolteacher Numbers and Deployment in the Longer Term in Wales'.

48
and that up to 15,000 posts towards this total might be found through redeploy-
ment from work of lower priority. Because pupil numbers will be falling over
the period 1984 to 1990, the figures discussed in the DES paper are compatible
with a reduction of about 30,000 posts in the overall size of the teacher force
over that period.

155. The Government has received observations on this paper from

ACSET* and the local authority associations. In general they support the
Department's estimates of the numbers of teachers needed to implement new
policies; but ACSET argue for a further improvement in primary school
staffing which would raise the 30-40,000 figure in the previous paragraph by
10,000; and they express some doubts about the extent to which it will prove
practicable to find any large contribution by redeployment from within the
existing teacher force.

156. In the light of this analysis and the comments which it has received the
Government has concluded that there is a need for some further limited
improvement in the overall pupil to teacher ratio for England and Wales. The
extent to which this can be achieved, and the pace of any change, must depend
on future public expenditure plans. However, it will be important for this
improvement to be used to achieve the curriculum and examination policies set
out in Chapters 2 and 3 of this White Paper, rather than simply to reduce class
size further; and for the improvement to be concentrated on those schools and
LEAs most in need of it, rather than evenly distributed over the country as a
whole. At the same time it will be essential to find ways of improving the
effectiveness with which the existing teacher force is deployed both across and
within individual LEAs. In the former case, the Government recognises that it
is difficult at present for authorities to relate Government policies for the size
of the teacher force nationally to the decisions which they have to take in the
light of local circumstances. The Education Departments are therefore con-
sulting the local authority associations to see whether guidance can usefully be
prepared and issued by the Government.

The deployment of the teacher force

157. The deployment of teachers within an individual LEA is the responsi-
bility of that authority and is as important in delivering an effective curriculum
as the size of the teacher force. In 'Teaching Quality' the Government en-
dorsed the principle of curriculum-led staffing under which LEAs combine
judgements about appropriate curricula for the schools in the area with
assumptions about organisational matters-sizes of teaching groups, for exam-
ple, and teacher contact with classes-to yield staffing figures which can be
examined in the light of the authority's expenditure policies. Some LEAs have
found that a first attempt at curriculum-led staffing assuming desirable patterns
of school provision and staffing indicates a total requirement for teachers
greater than they are currently able to pay for. In such circumstances it is
important to maintain the curriculum-led approach, in order to achieve the
optimum curriculum provision from the teachers who can be afforded, even
though it may lead to difficult choices relating to the other factors which enter
'Included in the Committee's report 'Future Demand for Primary and Secondary Schoolteachers' sent to the
Secretaries of State in November 1984.

49
into the determination of the teacher requirement, such as class sizes or the
organisation of schools. Consideration of these choices should serve to assist
LEAs in the effective deployment of their teacher force, and the Government
believes that it is important that curriculum-led approaches to staffing should
continue to be developed.
Quality in teaching
158. The employment of sufficient teachers fosters, but does not guaran-
tee, quality in teaching. There is much excellent teaching in maintained
schools. Nevertheless, the Government's view, reached in the light ofreports
by HMI, is that a significant number of teachers are performing at a standard
below that required to achieve the objectives now proposed for the schools.
The rest of this Chapter describes measures to improve the match between
teachers' qualifications and their work, to provide further training for serving
teachers, and to improve the management of the teacher force.

The match between teachers' qualifications and their teaching programmes

159. The Government announced in 'Teaching Quality' its intention to
take further action to strengthen initial teacher training. In particular, it
proposed that criteria should be promulgated for the approval of initial teacher
training courses and a review of all existing approved courses initiated. These
proposals have now been implemented. Criteria were issued in April 1984,
based on the requirements set out in the White Paper and the recommenda-
tions made by ACSET. At the same time the Secretaries of State for Education
and Science and for Wales announced the establishment of the Council for the
Accreditation of Teacher Education to advise them on the approval of initial
teacher training courses. The Council has been asked to review all existing
courses of initial teacher training, and to assess proposals for new ones, against
the criteria and in the light of all relevant information including, in all cases, the
findings of visits to training institutions by HMI. The Council started work in
September 1984 and is expected to complete its first review within three to four
years.
160. It is the Government's aim, through the application of the criteria, to
promote a more rigorous approach to initial teacher training, including the
selection of students for training, the academic and professional content of
courses and the practical element of the training. The Government has made it
clear that courses should include a substantial element of school experience
and teaching practice and that in no case should a qualification carrying
qualified teacher status be awarded to a student whose practical classroom
work is unsatisfactory. The staff of training institutions concerned with peda-
gogy will themselves be expected to have had recent successful experience of
school teaching.
161. The Government welcomes the efforts which many teacher training
institutions are already making to develop or adapt their courses in order to
meet the criteria. It believes that the criteria are thus already exerting an
influence on the quality of initial teacher training and that, over time, through
the influence of newly trained teachers entering the schools they will signifi-
cantly enhance the quality of teaching.
162. The criteria are consistent with the guidance on the desirable match
between qualifications and teaching programme set out in 'Teaching Quality'.
Each new primary schoolteacher should be equipped to take a particular

50
responsibility for one aspect of the curriculum (such as science, mathematics or
music), to act as a consultant to colleagues on that aspect, and to teach it to
classes other than his own. In the secondary schools teachers teaching a subject
at A level should desirably have that subject as the whole or part of their studies
for an honours degree, or in certain cases as the single subject of an ordinary
degree. For other secondary school work the teacher's academic background
should include his main teaching subject as one of two or three subjects taken
at the same level in a BA or BSc degree, or as the main subject in a BEd degree.

163. Because the number of new teachers entering service each year is
small in relation to the total number employed, the rate of progress in
improving match in the primary schools will depend to a large extent on how
many of those already serving in the schools have, or can acquire, the expertise
needed to take a special responsibility for an area of the curriculum. The
expertise at present available in the schools is heavily weighted towards the
humanities and aesthetic subjects. Accordingly the Government has included
the training of primary schoolteachers as co-ordinators in mathematics and
science within the scheme of in-service training grants described in paragraph
86 of 'Teaching Quality'. For the longer term, the training institutions should
aim to recruit to training for primary teaching people from a wide range of
disciplines who have the ability and enthusiasm not only to undertake the role
of class teacher, but also to share specialist knowledge with fellow teachers as
well as with their pupils.

164. In January 1984 the Department of Education and Science carried out
a survey of the staffing of secondary schools. The Welsh Office carried out a
parallel survey in Wales, which in addition had special relevance to the needs of
the Welsh language. Early indications from the survey are that in English,
mathematics, religious education and physics-subjects in which mismatch was
common at the time of the last such survey in 1977-there was in 1984 slightly
less teaching given by teachers who did not have the relevant subject as one of
the subjects of their qualifications. Nevertheless the quantity of such teaching
remained substantial, and its distribution between subjects continued to show
considerable variation. The Government will publish results from the survey
during the year, including analyses of match.

165. HMI have now been able to gather further evidence on the relation-
ship between standards of teaching and learning in the secondary schools and
the qualifications and experience of the teachers. Good match is only one of a
number of factors which promote high standards. Others include the per-
sonality of the teacher and his relationship with pupils; his experience within
and outside teaching; his organising skills, resilience in difficult situations and
repertoire of teaching skills; the motivation and personal knowledge of the
pupils. Schools which aim for good match may rightly give more weight to
other factors in certain circumstances: for example, to ease the transition to
secondary school they may decide to restrict the number of specialist teachers
whom first year pupils encounter; teachers who then need to work outside their
main subject specialisms will need considerable support and guidance from the
appropriate head of department. It is in any event not only the qualifications of
the individual teacher that are important but also the strength of the depart-
ment within which he works. A department with a good overall level of

51
qualification is the better able to support some less well-matched teaching. It is
also the case that mediocre or poor standards of work are sometimes observed
despite good match. There is nevertheless a strong association between good
match and good standards of work; and excellence is rarely found where match
is poor.

166. As envisaged in 'Teaching Quality', the Government will shortly

amend the Education (Teachers) Regulations 1982 to require LEAs and
governors of aided schools as employers to take account of the formal qualifica-
tions of the teachers in determining whether the staff of a school is suitable for
the purpose of providing education appropriate to its pupils. HMI already
include observations on match in their published reports on primary and
secondary schools, and these will in future take account of the requirements of
the amended Regulations.

167. The Government welcomes the indications of reduction in mismatch

since 1977. It looks to LEAs and schools to secure further reductions in the
years ahead. The Government's policies for the initial and in-service training of
teachers will support local efforts to this end.

The demand for, and supply of, recruits to teaching

168. The Secretaries of State have a duty to secure sufficient facilities for
the training of teachers for service in maintained schools. They exercise control
over the size and shape of the initial teacher training system by setting targets
for the intake of students to courses. The Secretaries of State have now taken
provisional decisions on the size and broad shape of the initial training system
from 1986 and are inviting the University Grants Committee and the National
and Wales Advisory Bodies to consider the distribution of intakes between
institutions engaged in initial teacher training. The intention is that training
institutions should be notified of their targets for 1986 and beyond before the
summer break this year.

169. Shortages of teachers in certain specialisms-in particular mathema-

tics, physics and COT-have persisted over many years. In some cases they
have been masked by the use of teachers with inadequate qualifications in these
subjects; in other cases schools have offered certain subjects to fewer pupils
than they would have wished. The Government's views of the place of science
and of COT in the 5-16 curriculum imply some increase in the time given to
these subjects in schools.

170. The prospective fall in secondary school rolls will give rise to pressure
for teachers to be more versatile, in order to maintain the curriculum on offer;
but it will also tend to reduce the amount of teaching required in each subject,
thus offering an opportunity to reduce shortages. Achievement of this reduc-
tion will depend on maximising the number of appropriately qualified teachers
in service and deploying them to best advantage. The first need is to train
sufficient teachers in the shortage specialisms. The Government will continue
to take such shortages into account in determining target intakes to training. It
has to be recognised however that the institutions concerned have to compete
against other professions in seeking to recruit students up to the target set.
Because recruitment to training in COT has continued to be difficult the

52
Government has introduced a scheme of special awards for training in that
subject. After some years of good recruitment to postgraduate training in
mathematics and physics there are signs that it is again becoming harder to
attract students in those subjects also. The Government will give further
consideration to this difficult problem. The second requirement is that LEAs
and schools should manage to provide openings for shortage subject teachers
despite the overall reduction in vacancies as pupil numbers fall. In recent years
employers have contrived to do this; a continuing effort will be needed as the
decline in secondary school rolls gathers pace.

171. As the turnover of teachers reduces, and vacancies for secondary

school teachers fall back with the reduction in rolls, it will be increasingly
important to promote measures to provide further training for less qualified
teachers of shortage subjects, and to retain in education those who are well
qualified. LEAs continue to support re-training and further training courses.
Within its in-service grants scheme the Government is promoting the further
training of less qualified teachers of mathematics and now proposes to add
courses designed to strengthen the teaching of design and technology in
schools. Provision has also been made by the Welsh Office, under the same
scheme, for training in Welsh language teaching. The Government believes
that LEA employers should be ready to use such discretion as is afforded by the
salary structure to recruit and retain teachers in scarce specialisms, and to use
the premature retirement scheme so as to improve the match between the
desired curriculum and the mix of specialisms within their teacher forces.

In-service training
172. In 'Teaching Quality' the Government set out its view that in-service
training has an important contribution to make to the career development of
teachers, and that all teachers need from time to time to avail themselves of
such training. The Government's policies for the schools set out earlier in this
paper will make increasing demands on teachers' practical teaching skills, their
breadth and depth of subject knowledge and their knowledge of and skills in
assessment. Extensive in-service training will be needed to equip teachers to
respond to these demands.

173. Annual expenditure by LEAs on in-service training for school

teachers is approximately £lOOm at present, divided fairly evenly between the
costs of releasing teachers to undertake training and the costs of provision.
There is widespread agreement, reflected in advice on in-service training for
school teachers submitted last year by ACSET, that these resources are not
used to the best advantage. In particular, the system of "pooling", whereby
LEAs are able to share among themselves a large part of the costs of sending
teachers on certain types of courses, has serious defects. It favours relatively
long courses, notwithstanding that shorter, less traditional activities may be
more effective for many purposes; and it reduces the incentive to individual
LEAs to satisfy themselves that releasing a teacher to attend a particular course
is likely to represent good value for money. Insufficient attention is given by
authorities to evaluating the extent to which teachers and schools benefit from
training undertaken.

53
 174. The in-service teacher training grants scheme, introduced in 1983-84,
has succeeded in stimulating training in selected national priority areas. For
1985-86 the priority areas for schoolteachers will be: management training;
mathematics and science teaching; special needs in ordinary schools; pre-
vocational education; CDT teaching; in Wales, training in Welsh language
teaching; and a special training programme to support the introduction of the
GCSE. The scheme is, however, a limited one: it only provides financial
assistance to LEAs (£13.4m for schoolteachers in the financial year 1985-86)
towards the cost of employing replacement teachers for those released for
training in the selected priority areas.
175. The Government agrees with ACSET that a much more systematic
approach is needed to the planning of in-service training at school and LEA
level, which would seek to match training both to the career needs of the
teachers and to desired curricular changes in schools. It agrees with the
Committee that a radical change is required in the funding and organisation of
in-service training. Consultation on ACSET's advice has shown widespread
support for the case for a new funding mechanism and for more systematic and
purposeful planning of in-service training.
176. The Government has concluded that the most effective way of achiev-
ing these aims would be through the introduction of a new specific grant to
support LEA expenditure on most aspects of in-service training, including that
expenditure currently supported through the in-service training pool. It pro-
poses accordingly to introduce legislation extending the Secretary of State's
existing power to grant-aid in-service training. It envisages that grants paid
under this extended power would fall into two parts. One part would continue
the existing in-service training grants for national priority areas of training; the
other would be a general in-service training grant to cover both provision and
release costs for training planned to meet locally assessed priorities. The
expenditure to be supported by this grant would be determined each year. It is
envisaged that the conditions of grant to be specified in Regulations made by
the Secretary of State would require each LEA to submit information about its
plans for in-service training, including arrangements for identifying teachers'
needs for in-service training and making good use of the teachers who had been
released to engage in in-service training. Responsibility for planning and
implementing much in-service training would continue to rest with the LEAs,
as employers of most teachers, but within a framework which would lead to
more effective planning and management of training.
The management of the teacher force
177. It is one thing to provide for enough teachers and for the initial and
in-service tra.ning they need to match the curricular objectives of the schools.
It is quite another to manage the teacher force so that the teachers' professional
commitment, skill~ and knowledge are used to best effect in the schools. This is
one of the most crucial responsibilities of LEAs.
178. There are two main complementary aspects to this managerial
responsibility. One is the responsibility to support and encourage professional
development at all stages of the individual teacher's career. A newly-trained
teacher needs structured support and guidance during probation and his early

54
years in the profession; other newly appointed and promoted teachers, not
least those appointed to headships, need to be able to draw upon induction and
training programmes directly relevant to their new tasks and responsibilities;
all teachers need help in assessing their own professional performance and in
building on their strengths and working on the limitations so identified; and all
teachers need to be able to engage in in-service training relevant to their
teaching programmes and professional needs. The other main aspect of the
managerial responsibility of LEAs is the need to see that each school has a staff
of teachers as well matched as possible to the curricular needs of the pupils. In
the Government's view this need can only be met-particularly when rolls are
falling and substantial numbers of schools are undergoing organisational
change-by positive action by LEAs to achieve such redeployment of teachers
as may be appropriate, and to facilitate the provision of suitable in-service
training.
179. The Government recognises that the individual teacher, the school
and the LEA each have legitimate interests as respects deployment and that
these are not always identical or, being different, easily reconciled. But the
Government believes that LEAs are responsible for pursuing such a reconcilia-
tion in the wider interests of all pupils within the maintained schools system.
Redeployment, for example, has tended to be perceived narrowly by teachers
and schools, as a remedy of last resort when a teacher's post can no longer be
justified. The Government believes that it can and should be used more
positively and that planned exchanges, transfers, and fixed·term secondment
can allow teachers to obtain specific experience and skills which would be
beneficial both for the schools concerned and the individual teacher's career
prospects. This more positive approach will call for very close co-operation
between LEAs and the governing bodies of schools.
180. The Government holds to the view expressed in 'Teaching Quality'
that the regular and formal appraisal of the performance of all teachers is
necessary if LEAs are to have the reliable, comprehensive and up-to-date
information necessary for the systematic and effective provision of professional
support and development and the deployment of staff to best advantage. Only
if this information relates to performance in post can LEA management make
decisions affecting the career development of its teachers fairly and consis-
tently. Taken together, these decisions should result in improved deployment
and distribution of the talent within the teaching force, with all teachers being
helped to respond to changing demands and to realise their full professional
potential by developing their strengths and improving upon their weaknesses;
with the most promising and effective being identified for timely promotion;
with those encountering professional difficulties being promptly identified for
appropriate counselling, guidance and support; and, where such assistance
does not restore performance to a satisfactory level, with the teachers con-
cerned being considered for early retirement or dismissal.
181. The Government welcomes the sustained efforts made by many
parties to negotiate a new salary structure for primary and secondary teachers,
embracing new pay scales, a new contractual definition of teachers' duties and
responsibilities and the introduction of systematic performance appraisal,
designed to bring about a better relationship between pay, responsibilities and

55
performance, especially teaching performance in the classroom. The appraisal
of teacher performance has been widely seen as the key instrument for manag-
ing this relationship, with teachers' professional and career development
assisted and salary progression largely determined by reference to periodic
assessment of performance.

182. It may still be that negotiations across this wide range will prove
successful, although the difficulty of reaching an agreement embracing all these
elements has always been recognised. Whether or not that is the case, however.
the Government believes that the introduction of systematic arrangements for
the appraisal of teacher performance, to underpin the improved arrangements
for in-service training proposed in paragraphs 175 and 176 and the manage-
ment of the teacher force, is essential. The Department of Education and
Science is in consultation with the local authority and teacher associations to
establish what progress can be made in performance appraisal. The Govern-
ment hopes it may be possible to promote the development of suitable methods
and procedures through a project on teacher management and appraisal in a
number of LEAs funded with education support grant.

183. The Government believes that consistent arrangements across all

LEA areas within a single national framework are needed for a teaching force
with a tradition of movement within and across LEA boundaries. This could be
achieved through an agreement between the authorities and the teachers'
associations. The Government believes, however, that it may prove desirable
or even necessary to provide that national framework in the form of statutory
regulations, as is already the case for the probation of new teachers. It is
proposed therefore that the Secretary of State's existing powers for regulating
the employment of teachers should be extended to enable him, in appropriate
circumstances, to require LEAs regularly to appraise the performance of their
teachers.

184. The responses to the Department of Education and Science's April

1984 consultative document 'A Probationary Period for Newly Appointed
Headteachers' recognise the strong influence that headteachers exercise over
the quality of education provided in schools. All respondents endorsed the
objective that LEAs should ensure that new headteachers are carefully
selected, inducted, trained and systematically supported in their new duties,
but there was little support for a specific probationary period. The Govern-
ment has concluded that the professional development and assessment of the
suitability of newly appointed headteachers is best pursued as part of a general
appraisal system embracing all teachers. The Government's proposals for
improving the procedure for selecting and appointing headteachers are set out
in Chapter 9.

56
 CHAPTER 6
DISCIPLINE
185. Good order in classrooms, corridors and school grounds is essential
throughout the school day, including the mid-day and other breaks. All schools
recognise that nothing so quickly undermines their efforts as a failure to keep in
check discourtesy, disorder and disruption. There is also widespread agree-
ment within schools that their task extends to developing high standards of
conduct within the school and beyond, in the interest both of the pupil and of
society. Schools recognise, too, the expectation that they will foster the shared
values which underlie a free society: tolerance, consideration for others,
respect for truth and respect for the rule of law.

186. Many schools consistently secure good order. They do so not simply
by a regime of sanctions and rewards but more broadly by creating within the
school a tone which makes for constructively purposeful activity. They attempt
to create positive attitudes towards good behaviour in all that they do. The
teachers themselves set an example; and in their relationships with parents,
pupils and each other seek to demonstrate as well as to encourage high
standards of conduct, in the awareness that adult society does not always reflect
and support those standards. Often the teachers' success is attributable to the
consistency with which they encourage in their pupils good behaviour and the
habit of self-discipline and not simply to a particular teaching style or set of
rules. Certain pupils with emotional and behavioural disorders have special
needs which fall to be met under the Education Act 1981.

187. The effectiveness of schools in creating an atmosphere which en-

courages good behaviour and self-discipline bears on wider social problems
such as the incidence of juvenile crime. The peak age for offending is 15. Ten
per cent of all those cautioned for or convicted of indictable offences are
children under 14. The school is only one of a number of influences, but the
extent to which pupils may be in conflict with the law is bound to be of concern
to teachers and to governing bodies.

188. The public rightly regard standards ofpupil behaviour as a touchstone

of the quality of the school system. The poor standards found in a small
minority of schools give rise to widespread concern and anxiety. The LEAs and
schools concerned have an urgent duty to tackle this problem. Moreover too
few schools offer sufficient opportunities for pupils to acquire the habit of self-
discipline or have a wide enough range of ways to acknowledge, encourage and
reward high standards of conduct. In the Government's view many schools
could do more to emphasise these positive aspects and so reduce their reliance
on disciplinary sanctions. Corporal punishment is one such sanction and is in
many schools used only for relatively minor offences. The Government has
introduced legislation which will give parents the right to exempt their children
from corporal punishment at school.

189. A school's efforts to promote high standards of conduct are frustrated

if the pupils are not constructively occupied or become bored. One remedy lies
in imaginative teaching and a determination actively to involve pupils and

57
interest them in their work. The school curriculum also offers a variety of
opportunities to introduce, and with older pupils to discuss more explicitly, the
basis in reason and belief of accepted moral standards and the principles upon
which a free and orderly society is based.
190. Schools do not act on their own. In the matter of behaviour, pupils
and young people are subject to other influences. Predominant among these is
the influence of the home. It is important for the pupils and for our society that
schools and parents co-operate in relation to behaviour. The disciplinary
demands of school and home differ. Schools need to tell parents about their
policies: and to be effective, both school and home need to be consistent in the
way in which they exercise their own discipline.
191. It is particularly important that parents should support the school on
the question of attendance. The school should assist the parents by ensuring
that they are informed about their child's erratic or poor attendance as soon as
it begins to be apparent to the school. Truancy has many causes and involves
only a small minority of pupils and parents. But it reaches especially worrying
levels in the fourth and fifth years of some secondary schools. Moreover, in a
disturbingly large proportion of cases the pupil's absence from school is con-
doned by the parents. Often this is for purposes which are not in themselves
objectionable, but even short absences can have a significant effect on the
pupil's education. Parents must be ready to exercise the responsibility which
the law places on them or face the consequences of court action by LEAs.
192. The Secretaries of State are issuing a Circular about school atten-
dance, Education Welfare Services and the way in which education welfare
officers can give support to and work constructively with schools and parents.
There is scope for these Services to focus more sharply on attendance.
Although the main responsibility for links with parents rests with schools even
where a pupil's attendance is irregular, Education Welfare Services can do
much to reduce truancy. Their task is different from that of a local authority's
Personal Social Services, the education welfare officer being primarily con-
cerned to serve the child in relation to school attendance, not the whole family.
But they can sometimes bring social work skills to bear where home circum-
stances are contributing to persistent absenteeism. Education Welfare Services
can also make a useful contribution to discussion about school policies and
many aspects of schools' links with parents.
193. The Circular will ask LEAs to review the functions, organisation and
methods of work of the Education Welfare Services in their areas and to inform
the Secretaries of State about their existing and planned policies. This informa-
tion will be taken into account in national consultations on the training of
education welfare officers, which the Secretaries of State propose to set in hand
during 1985. In 1986 the Secretaries of State will be seeking detailed informa-
tion from LEAs about their arrangements for reducing truancy through the
work of their Education Welfare Services.

58
 CHAPTER 7
PARENTS AND SCHOOLS
194. It has long been a principle that pupils should be educated in accord-
ance with the wishes of their parents, provided this is compatible with good
education and the reasonable use of public funds. The Education Act 1980 gave
much greater practical effect to this principle. Parents are now entitled on the
basis of published information to express preferences as to which schools they
wish their children to attend. Those preferences have then to be met except in
certain narrowly defined circumstances. The small minority of parents whose
preferences are not met have the new right to appeal to an independent local
appeal committee whose decision is binding. In 1983-4 there were some 10,000
appeals, of which about 3,500 were decided in parents' favour.

195. The 1980 Act also widened the scope for parental choice by introduc-
ing the Assisted Places Scheme, under which parents of bright children of
secondary school age who could not otherwise afford a place in a good
independent school are assisted with fees. Some 35,000 pupils are expected to
be benefiting by the end of the decade. The scheme largely restores a degree of
parental choice which was removed by the abolition of the Direct Grant
Grammar Schools. In parallel with the Assisted Places Scheme, the Govern-
ment has introduced a similar scheme of assistance for pupils particularly gifted
in music and ballet.

196. The 1980 Act gave parents a greater say in the activities of maintained
schools by allowing parents of pupils at a school to elect one or two members of
the governing body from among their fellow parents. In the interests of better
education, the Government now intends further to increase parental influence
at school through the measures relating to school government described in
Chapter 9.

The shared task of parents and schools

197. The child's education begins at home. It is in the family that personal
and social development begins and a start is made on many of the skills, for
example in language, which the schools develop. The parent's role as educator
is reflected in his legal duty to cause his child to receive, during the compulsory
period, efficient full-time education suited to his age, ability, aptitude, and
special needs. That role continues after the child has started at school. At that
stage parent and school become partners in a shared task for the benefit of the
child. The school discharges its part of the task more effectively if it can rely on
the co-operation and support of the parent in the pursuit of shared objectives.

198. It is therefore important that schools should do what they can to

explain their aims and policies to parents, and to associate parents with their
work. Schools are increasingly widening the opportunities which they offer to
parents not merely to discuss the progress of their children with the teachers
but to come into the school and contribute to its work. Schools cannot hand
over to parents activities which can only be properly conducted by teachers; but
many schools could with advantage take a wider view of the ways in which
individual parents can use their particular knowledge and skills to assist with
the daily work of the school.

59
 227. To enable schools to do their work to best effect, the Green Paper
proposed to establish in legislation a distribution of responsibilities between
the LEA, governing body and headteacher, which recognises that the work of
each complements that of the others and encourages all to make their
distinctive contribution to the school's success. The proposals in the Green
Paper were based on the following general principles:
(1) the LEA must have all the powers necessary to carry out its duty to
secure the provision of sufficient and efficient schools for its area. In
particular, it must be able to determine policies for the overall
effectiveness and management of the schools in its area;
(2) subject to that, the governing body should be able to determine, in
consultation with the headteacher, the main policies and lines of
development of the school. This generally means strengthening its role
and ensuring that it cannot be overridden in the exercise of its assigned
functions;
(3) the professional responsibilities of the headteacher and staff must be
respected. The role of the headteacher should have a firm legal
foundation, clarifying his responsibilities and preserving his authority;
(4) in all these matters, there should be no distinction between primary
and secondary schools.

228. In some respects, the Green Paper envisaged a uniform approach; in

others it proposed a minimum function for governing bodies, leaving it to the
LEA's discretion to confer greater powers as it saw fit. In any event, there
would still need to be articles of government applying these matters in the
circumstances of individual schools (see paragraph 255).

229. Responses to the Green Paper generally endorsed the Government's

view that a clearer allocation of functions is necessary. There were numerous
criticisms on points of detail but these often conflicted. The Government
believes that the Green Paper proposals for the distribution of functions were
broadly right and will, as set out below, implement them with minor
modifications.
General powers
230. The functions described below in respect of county, controlled and
maintained special schools will be exercisable in the light of two procedural
powers:
(1) since the LEA, the governing body and the headteacher are each
concerned with the affairs of a school, each needs to be informed
about what the others are doing. The governing body will have a duty
to supply the LEA with such reports relating to the discharge of its
functions as the LEA may require; and the headteacher will be under a
similar duty to supply reports to the governing body and the LEA;
(2) in urgent matters arising from the day-to-day functioning of the school,
it will sometimes be necessary for the governing body to act quickly. In
such cases, the chairman (elected annually by the governors) will be
empowered to act on behalf of the whole governing body.

67
 CHAPTER 8
THE EDUCATION OF ETHNIC MINORITY PUPILS
203. In developing its policies for schools, the Government has long been
concerned about the education of pupils from ethnic minorities. A Committee
was set up in 1979 to enquire into this complex issue. The Committee's final
report has just been published, together with a guide to its main issues written
by the chairman, Lord Swann.
204. All pupils have a right to a good education appropriate to their needs.
The Government accepts and is concerned at the Committee's finding, based
on a careful analysis of the evidence, that many ethnic minority pupils are
continuing to achieve below their potential. Under-achievement is also found
among many pupils from the majority community. But ethnic minorities tend
to be relatively more affected by economic and social disadvantage. Moreover
racial prejudice in our society directly or indirectly affects the achievement of
many ethnic minority pupils. The Government abhors all manifestations of
racial prejudice, and believes that all people of goodwill will want to work
towards their elimination. The Government's policies are designed to reduce
under-achievement wherever it occurs, to remove the educational obstacles
which hold back particular groups of pupils, and to support the work of the
education service in preparing pupils for an ethnically mixed society and in
working towards racial harmony.
205. Many ethnic minority pupils, resident in this country before entering
school, come from homes where a language other than English is spoken and
enter school with limited proficiency in English. In addition, small numbers
aged 5 and over arrive in this country unable to speak English. It is essential
that schools should continue to give the highest priority to the teaching of
English to both these groups of pupils. The Government will continue to assist
with this work through financial support under Section 11 of the Local Govern-
ment Act 1966. Experience has shown that pupils benefit most if they learn to
use English within the school's normal curriculum rather than through teaching
in separate groups, although this approach is not always possible nor initially
the most effective in the case of new arrivals to this country. The Swann
Committee endorsed this approach. HMI will continue to encourage and
disseminate good practice in its application. In certain situations ethnic
minority pupils can with advantage be introduced to school through the use of
their mother tongue in conjunction with English. The principles governing
good practice in this area need further professional discussion which HMI will
continue to promote.
206. In the Government's view, curricular policies at national, local and
school level should ensure that what is taught in schools is meaningful to all
pupils. Teaching approaches need to take account of all pupils' backgrounds so
that the pupils may be helped to learn by drawing upon their own experience.
However, all pupils need to understand, and acquire a positive attitude to-
wards, the variety of ethnic groups within British society. These objectives will
be embodied in the statements of curricular objectives described in paragraph
32. While they should influence the whole ethos of the school, the objectives
ary particularly relevant to subject areas such as English, foreign languages,
history and geography. They have already been embodied in the national
criteria which will govern the GCSE examinations and in the new criteria for all
initial teacher training courses. Their practical application is the purpose of
some urban programme projects, of one of the activities to be supported by

61
education support grants from 1985-6, and of in-service training courses which
the Secretanes of State will propose to the local authority associations for
inclusion in the in-service training grants scheme in 1986-7.
207. The Government agrees with the Swann Committee that a larger
proportion of the teacher force should be drawn from the ethnic minorities,
and that this increase can and should be secured without any reduction in the
required level of qualification. To do any other would be a disservice to pupils
whatever their ethnic origin and to the professional standing of teachers. The
Secretaries of State will explore with their partners in the education service
what measures are most likely to increase the supply of suitably qualified
teachers of ethnic minority origin, in the light of such current initiatives as the
schemes for helping mature students to achieve the levels of attainment neces-
sary for entry to teacher training and other higher education.
208. The Government also agrees with the Swann Committee that policies
designed to reduce under-achievement and to increase the supply of ethnic
minority teachers should be based on accurate statistical information and be
monitored through it. The collection of the necessary statistics raises practical
problems, including how to preserve confidentiality, which need to be solved
before a scheme can be launched which is acceptable to all concerned, particu-
larly parents and teachers. The Government intends to bring to an early
conclusion the consultations it has been holding with interested parties, in
order to identify an acceptable scheme for collecting and using ethnically based
statistics on pupils. The Government will also explore with those concerned the
possibility of establishing acceptable arrangements for collecting and using
ethnically based statistics on teachers and students in initial teacher training.
209. As the Swann Committee recognised, more research is needed into
the causes of under-achievement. The Government intends to commission
research into this complex question which will explore the factors, at school, at
home, and in the community, affecting the achievement of all pupils, especially
those whose background, or the schools system's response to aspects of it, may
cause them to be disadvantaged.
210. The Government is concerned to enable the ethnic minority com-
munities to play their full part in contributing to the education of ethnic
minority pupils through the educational and cultural activities which they
themselves arrange. It is important that parents and schools should understand
each other's aims so that the work of each complements that of the other for the
benefit of the pupils. By reaching out to parents LEAs and schools can do much
to promote mutual support and co-operation between home and school. The
Government's measures to change the composition and entrench the powers of
governing bodies described in Chapter 9 should also help parents of ethnic
minority pupils to playa more influential part in the affairs of their children's
schools.
211. The education service cannot by itself achieve the good education of
ethnic minority pupils and the preparation of all pupils for life in our multi-
ethnic society. The success of the schools' efforts depends largely on what
happens outside their sphere. But this only adds to the importance of these
efforts. They are a vital new aspect of the recognised task of every school to
maintain and transmit, through its curriculum and its ethos, the accepted
values of our society. The Government shares with the education service the
conviction that the principles of freedom, justice and tolerance will be most
effectively applied in our national life if they are soundly established at school.

62
 CHAPTER 9

THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK

212. The Government believes that the action now necessary to raise
standards in school education can in the main be taken within the existing legal
framework, which gives freedom to each LEA to maintain its existing pattern
of school organisation and, if it wishes, to propose changes in that pattern.

213. The Government also intends to preserve the dual system of county
and voluntary schools which continues to serve the nation well. To this end the
Government will maintain those features of voluntary schools which give them
their distinctive status, including those relating to the composition of their
governing bodies. In the case of aided and special agreement schools, the
governing body already serves to give the school a distinctive life of its own. It is
also the agency through which the voluntary body responsible for the school
exercises that measure of control and direction over the school which has been
accorded to it since the Education Act 1944. For such schools, the Government
does not intend to change the composition of the governing body or substan-
tially to modify its functions.

214. But there is one area of the law of school education where change is
needed in the interest of raising standards. In the Government's view, it is now
necessary to reform the composition of the governing bodies of county schools,
controlled schools and maintained special schools; to define more clearly and
establish more consistently the functions of these governing bodies; and to
make minor, consequential adjustments to the functions of the governing
bodies of aided and special agreement schools.

215. If a school is to succeed in all its tasks, it needs to have an identity and
a sense of purpose of its own. It needs to recognise itself as more than an agency
of the LEA. While the professionalism of its staff is a necessary condition for its
success, it is not sufficient on its own. A school should serve the community
from which it draws its pupils. To facilitate all these aims county, maintained
special, and controlled schools have been required by the Education Acts to
have governing bodies which were intended to introduce a lay element into the
conduct of their affairs.

216. The Education Act 1980, which will be fully implemented by 1 Sep-
tember 1985, is making governing bodies a more effective instrument for giving
each school a life of its own in the service of its local community. The Act brings
to an end the widespread practice of grouping many schools together under a
single governing body and is introducing limited numbers of governors directly
elected by and from parents and teachers.

63
•
 217. But there remain three obstacles to realising the full potential of
governing bodies as a force for good in the life of individual county, controlled
and maintained special schools. First, the present arrangements still take
insufficient account of parents' natural and special interest in their children's
education and progress. Second, governing bodies' powers and duties have
developed piecemeal and often give them too restricted a role in relation to the
LEA or the headteacher. Third, LEAs have the power (of which they usually
avail themselves) to appoint the majority of the governors so that these
appointees can dominate the governing body.

The Green Paper

218. To remove these obstacles, the Government published in May 1984 a
Green Paper 'Parental Influence at School' (Cmnd 9242) with proposals for a
new framework for schooi..government in England and Wales It proposed to
change the law in two fundamental respects; first that parents elected by their
fellow parents in a secret ballot should be able to form the majority on the
governing bodies of county and maintained special schools, and, together with
foundation governors, should be able to form the majority on the governing
bodies of controlled schools; second, that appropriate powers for governing
bodies should be entrenched by legislation so that these could not, as can
happen at present, be overridden by the LEA.

219. Consultation on the Green Paper revealed much support for the view
that the functions of governing bodies needed to be more closely defined, and
that their present composition was unsatisfactory. However, although there
was much support for an increase in the representation of parents and of the
community served by the school, all but a few of those who commented were
against the proposed majority for parent governors. In the light of the consulta-
tion the Government has decided not to proceed with this proposal; but intends
to proceed with other substantial changes in the composition of governing
bodies and to establish a consistent and improved pattern in the distribution of
functions between the governing body, the LEA and the headteacher which
will enable all three in combination to contribute most effectively to raising the
quality of school education and to do so in co-operation with each other.

Legislation
220. To give effect to these decisions, the Government will introduce a Bill
at the first opportunity permitted by its legislative programme. The main
features of the legislation are set out below.

Composition
221. The governing bodies of county, controlled and maintained special
schools will consist of persons representing or reflecting the main interests
concerned with the work of the school, subject to the need to keep the
governing body small enough to permit the effective and economical trans-
action of business. The details of the composition of the governing body for
each category of school are set out in the Table opposite.

64
•
 THE PROPOSED COMPOSITION OF GOVERNING BODIES FOR
COUNTY, VOLUNTARY CONTROLLED
AND MAINTAINED SPECIAL SCHOOLS

Elected by Elected by Co-opted ld )

and from Appointed by Head- and from or, for controlled
parents lb ) LEA teacher<o) teachers schools: Total
Size of school: ~oundationICo-oPted(d)

3
fewer than 100 pupils 2 2 1 I 2 1 9
I
4

100-299 pupils 3 3 1 1 3 1 12
I
5
300 pupils or morel') 4 4 I 2 4 1 16
I
6
600 pupils or more!') 5 5 1 2 4 2 19
I
Notes (a) the LEA would be free to choose either composition for schools with 600 or more pupils.
(b) where insufficient parents stood for election (or, in any case, for schools with at least 50 per cent
boarders) the LEA would appoint parent proxies to fill vacancies. LEA members and employees and
co-opted members of the Education Committee would be ineligible for such proxy appointments.
(c) the headteacher would be able to choose not to be a governor.
(d) the number of co-optees would be reduced by one to allow for the addition shown in the following
mutually exclusive circumstances:-
(i) one representative of the minor authority (or minor authorities, acting jointly) in the case of a
county or controlled primary school serving an area in which there is one or more minor authorities;
(ii) one representative of the District Health Authority in the case of a hospital special school;
(iii) one representative of a relevant voluntary organisation in the case of any other maintained
special school.

This composition will be based on the following main principles:

(1) no single interest will predominate. Neither the governors appointed by
the LEA, nor those elected by the parents, nor those representing the
teachers will have a majority. The parents' voice on the governing body
will be reinforced by the annual meeting of all parents (see paragraph
250);
(2) the existing statutory rights of representation of headteachers and other
teachers, voluntary school foundations and minor authorities (for cer-
tain primary schools) will be preserved;
(3) there will be a category of governors additional to LEA-appointed,
parent and teacher governors. The additional governors will normally be
co-opted jointly by the parent, LEA, head and other teacher governors,
under stringent quorum arrangements; but sometimes they will be foun-
dation governors (in the case of controlled schools) or appointed by
minor authorities (in the case of certain primary schools) or by the
District Health Authority (in the case of hospital schools) or by the
relevant voluntary organisation (in the case of other maintained special
schools). The co-option of governors will serve to broaden the member-
ship of governing bodies and will provide an additional opportunity,

65
 which the Government hopes will be used freely, to associate industry
and commerce with the work of the schools;
(4) governing bodies composed on the principles set out above will have 9,
12, 16 or 19 members, depending on the number of pupils at the school.
In the interest of flexibility LEAs will be free, in respect of schools with
600 or more pupils, to choose between a governing body of 16 or 19
members. Where, exceptionally, a governing body would have to
contain two headteachers, its size will be increased as necessary beyond
the stipulated size;
(5) all these provisions will need to be applied to the circumstances of
individual schools by instruments of government (see paragraph 255).

222. Should insufficient parents stand for election or, in any case, for a school
where at least half the pupils are boarders, the LEA will be required to fill the
parent governor vacancies by appointing persons who have children attending
the school or, failing that, by persons with children of compulsory school age.
The LEA will not be permitted to appoint elected members or employees of the
authority or co-opted members of the Education Committee.

223. To help reduce the turnover in membership of governing bodies, the

term of office will be four years instead of three years as the Green Paper
proposed. Additionally, parent governors will be allowed to complete their term
of office after their children leave the school. As now, any governor will be able
to resign from office and the LEA or minor authority will have the power to
remove from office any governor they have appointed.

224. The Government will also proceed with the Green Paper proposal that it
should not be possible to group two primary schools under a single governing
body, without the Secretary of State's approval, unless the schools serve the
same locality; and with the proposal to establish shadow governing bodies to
discharge certain necessary functions before new schools open their doors. This
change will also now cover new aided schools (see paragraph 256).

Functions
225. The functions to be discharged by the governing body, as well as those
of the LEA and headteacher, in relation to a school are set out partly in the
Education Acts, partly in regulations made thereunder by the Secretaries of
State and partly in articles of government. In the case of county, controlled
and maintained special schools, the functions left to be allocated in the
articles are substantial.

226. Under the 1944 Act, articles of government are made in some cases by
the LEA (for county secondary schools with the approval of the Secretary of
State) and in others by the Secretary of State. Despite the issue of model
articles as a guide in 1945, present articles have come to vary widely and now
often fail to allow governing bodies adequate scope. Our schools are poorer
for this.

66
 227. To enable schools to do their work to best effect, the Green Paper
proposed to establish in legislation a distribution of responsibilities between
the LEA, governing body and headteacher, which recognises that the work of
each complements that of the others and encourages all to make their
distinctive contribution to the school's success. The proposals in the Green
Paper were based on the following general principles:
(1) the LEA must have all the powers necessary to carry out its duty to
secure the provision of sufficient and efficient schools for its area. In
particular, it must be able to determine policies for the overall
effectiveness and management of the schools in its area;
(2) subject to that, the governing body should be able to determine, in
consultation with the headteacher, the main policies and lines of
development of the school. This generally means strengthening its role
and ensuring that it cannot be overridden in the exercise of its assigned
functions;
(3) the professional responsibilities of the headteacher and staff must be
respected. The role of the headteacher should have a firm legal
foundation, clarifying his responsibilities and preserving his authority;
(4) in all these matters, there should be no distinction between primary
and secondary schools.

228. In some respects, the Green Paper envisaged a uniform approach; in

others it proposed a minimum function for governing bodies, leaving it to the
LEA's discretion to confer greater powers as it saw fit. In any event, there
would still need to be articles of government applying these matters in the
circumstances of individual schools (see paragraph 255).

229. Responses to the Green Paper generally endorsed the Government's

view that a clearer allocation of functions is necessary. There were numerous
criticisms on points of detail but these often conflicted. The Government
believes that the Green Paper proposals for the distribution of functions were
broadly right and will, as set out below, implement them with minor
modifications.
General powers
230. The functions described below in respect of county, controlled and
maintained special schools will be exercisable in the light of two procedural
powers:
(1) since the LEA, the governing body and the headteacher are each
concerned with the affairs of a school, each needs to be informed
about what the others are doing. The governing body will have a duty
to supply the LEA with such reports relating to the discharge of its
functions as the LEA may require; and the headteacher will be under a
similar duty to supply reports to the governing body and the LEA;
(2) in urgent matters arising from the day-to-day functioning of the school,
it will sometimes be necessary for the governing body to act quickly. In
such cases, the chairman (elected annually by the governors) will be
empowered to act on behalf of the whole governing body.

67
Conduct of the school
231. Subject to the statutory responsibilities of others, responsibility for
the general direction of the conduct of a school will be allocated to the
governing body. That responsibility lies at the heart of the work of the
governing body as the guarantor of the school's identity. It enables the
governors to exercise an important influence over the ethos of the school and
on many other matters which affect the school's success. It enables them to
concern themselves with the school's contribution to the life of the local
community, for example in the effect of the school's ethos on juvenile crime.
It also enables the governing body to have a voice in many important matters
where responsibility rests mainly or partly with the LEA or the headteacher.
The governing body's responsibilities in relation to these latter matters
should, in the Government's view, complement and reinforce its
responsibility for the conduct of the school.

Curriculum
232. The allocation of functions set out below applies to the secular
curriculum:
(1) the LEA will be responsible for formulating and implementing the
curricular policy for its area;
(2) the governing body will have a duty to determine a statement of the
school's curricular aims and objectives and to review it from time to
time. In so doing, it will be required to seek the advice of the
headteacher and to consult the LEA;
(3) the headteacher will be responsible for the organisation and delivery of
the curriculum, including detailed syllabuses and the teaching
approaches and materials employed, within the available resources
and having regard to the statement of aims and objectives determined
by the governing body;
(4) the curricular arrangements for pupils who are the subject of
statements under the Education Act 1981 will be determined by the
terms of the statement.

233. These responsibilities will be exercised in the light of the LEA's

responsibilities for finance and staffing and the relationship which the
headteacher, as the employee of the LEA, has with it and its professional
officers. As was noted in paragraph 37, the establishment of broad objectives
for the curriculum which would inform curricular policy at the national and
local levels would not guarantee an identity of views between the LEA, the
governing body and the headteacher on all curricular matters. The
Government believes however that the distribution of functions in paragraph
232 will help to resolve any conflict on the basis that the views of all concerned
find expression and that there is no imposition of the views of one party.

Discipline
234. The Government believes that the conduct and discipline of the pupils
should be primarily a matter for the school, on the basis that operational and

68
day-to-day issues are managed by the headteacher and his staff, but that
ultimate responsibility, at the level of the school, rests with the governing
body. In addition it is necessary to ensure that the LEA can discharge its
responsibilities for securing the provision of good school education and
attendance at school, for maintaining the school, and as the employer of the
staff. To give effect to these principles the distribution of functions will be as
follows:
(1) for the purpose of encouraging and securing acceptable standards of
behaviour and positive attitudes from pupils, the headteacher will have
a duty to formulate and promulgate rules and other necessary means,
including the use of disciplinary sanctions, to that end. In performing
this duty the headteacher will be required to have regard to such
principles and guidance as the governing body may offer;
(2) the governing body and the headteacher will be under a duty to consult
the LEA on any disciplinary issue which might involve additional
public expenditure or affect the LEA's responsibilities as employer;
(3) if the headteacher debars (ie expels, suspends or in any other way
excludes) a pupil from school for more than three days in any term, or
if a debarment would prevent a pupil from taking any public
examination, the headteacher will be required immediately to inform
the governing body and the LEA. The governing body or the LEA will
have power to direct the headteacher to terminate the debarment; any
direction by the LEA in this respect will be binding on the governing
body and the headteacher;
(4) the LEA, where it is satisfied that order in a school has broken down
or is about to do so, will have the power to take the necessary steps to
secure order.

Appointment and dismissal of staff

235. The Government's proposals under this head apply to all schools for
which the LEA is the employer of staff. The selection of teachers and other
staff, and their subsequent performance, are crucial to a school's standards.
These matters closely concern the LEA not only because of its general
responsibility for standards in its area but also because it is the employer of
staff in county, controlled, special agreement and maintained special schools.
They are also of great importance to the governing body and the headteacher
because of their responsibilities for the school. In the matter of staffing it is
necessary to strike an appropriate balance between the interest of the
individual school and that of all the other schools for which the LEA has a
responsibility.

236. The distribution of functions set out below is designed to secure such a
balance. In addition:
(1) it will not override the special rights of controlled and special
agreement schools' governing bodies in respect of "reserved teachers"
for the teaching of religious education as specified in the 1944 Act;
(2) it will not apply to staff who are not employed exclusively at one school

69
 or to school meals staff. In these cases such matters as appointment
and dismissal will be solely for the LEA, although it will be open to the
LEA to consult governing bodies and headteachers. Nor will it apply
to any non-teaching staff employed exclusively at one school but as
part of the authority's direct labour organisation. Again, such matters
as appointment and dismissal will be solely for the LEA but they will
be required to consult the governing body and headteacher concerned
over such a person's assignment to a school. In respect of all these
staff, it will be open to the governing body and the headteacher to
make representations to the LEA.

Appointment of headteachers
237. The LEA will advertise the vacancy publicly. The selection process
will be managed by a panel comprising at least three persons nominated by
the governing body (instead of two as proposed in the Green Paper) and an
equal number nominated by the LEA, though the LEA will be free to allow
additional governor members. If the panel cannot agree a list of candidates
for final interview, the governor and LEA nominees will each collectively
have the right to nominate not more than two applicants for inclusion in the
list. The panel will be required to recommend one candidate to the LEA for
appointment. As the LEA would be the headteacher's employer, however, it
will have the right to decline to make the appointment, in which case another
recommendation will be required from the panel, if necessary following a
fresh advertisement. An exception to these arrangements will be possible
where a headteacher vacancy arises as a consequence of statutory proposals
for the reorganisation of school provision. In such a case, the LEA will be
able, after consulting the shadow governing body concerned, to appoint a
headteacher from amongst those who would otherwise be displaced by the
reorganisation.
238. The legislation will establish the main features of the procedure for
appointing a headteacher. The Government believes that changes in selection
practice will support the procedures proposed in paragraph 237 and will also
contribute to securing the required quality of appointments. Following its
support for research by the Open University into headteacher selection, it
held a national conference, in February 1984, of representatives of LEAs,
governors and teachers. The conference agreed that those responsible for
selection for an appointment should meet before its advertisement to consider
the requirements for the post and the selection arrangements to be followed,
and that it was desirable that selectors should have access to training arranged
by the LEA, and be supported in their task by LEA officers and advisers with
suitable training and experience. It was suggested that candidates should have
an opportunity to acquaint themselves with the school concerned. It was also
accepted that employers should identify and develop potential for senior
management and provide training and support for newly appointed
headteachers. The Government invites LEAs and governing bodies of aided
schools to review their practice in headteacher selection in the light of these
conclusions and draws their attention also to the more detailed
recommendations in the report of the Open University research. *
"'The Selection of Secondary School Headteachers'.

70
Appointment of assistant teachers (excluding deputy headteachers)
239. The LEA will have the right to determine whether any vacant
assistant teacher post remains on the complement of the school and, if so,
whether it should be filled by public advertisement, from a recruitment or
redeployment pool or by the redeployment of a teacher from another school.
If the post is to be advertised, the governing body, delegating to the
headteacher if appropriate, will be responsible for selecting a candidate for
appointment by the LEA. The LEA will have the right to participate in the
selection process and, as employer, could decline to appoint the candidate
recommended, in which case another recommendation will be required, if
necessary following a fresh advertisement. If the post is not to be advertised,
the governing body will have the right to draw up a specification for the post,
which the LEA will be required to take into account in offering candidates for
consideration. If the governing body is unwilling to accept any of the offered
candidates, the LEA will have a duty to consider its representations. If the
LEA decides to overrule the governing body it will be required to report the
fact to the next meeting of the Education Committee. It will not be required,
as proposed in the Green Paper, to have the decision formally confirmed by
the Education Committee.

240. To ensure that a headteacher who has decided not to be a governor is

fully involved in the selection of candidates not delegated to the headteacher,
the governing body will be required to consult the headteacher in selecting a
candidate and in drawing up a specification for the post.

Appointment of deputy headteachers

241. The LEA will be free to determine whether, in the case of a vacancy
for a deputy headteacher, the appointment procedure for headteachers or
that for assistant teachers should be followed. The panel or the governing
body (as the case may be) will be required to consult the headteacher on the
selection of candidates and the specification for the post.

Teacher management issues

242. Premature retirement, redundancy, redeployment and the outcome
of probation involve professional considerations. But they also affect the
staffing of the school in question. The LEA will therefore be required to
consult the governing body and the headteacher, before it takes a decision on
any of these matters.
Non-teaching staff
243. It will be for the LEA to determine whether any vacant non-teaching
post should remain on the complement of the school and, if so, whether it
should be filled by open advertisement or from a pool of persons already in
the authority's service. Subject to that, the governing body, delegating to the
headteacher if appropriate, will select candidates for appointment after
consulting the LEA and, unless the task is delegated, the headteacher. It will
be for the LEA to make the actual appointment of the recommended
candidate. Should it decline to do so in its capacity as employer, a fresh
recommendation will be needed, if necessary following re-advertisement.

71
Dismissal of staff
244. Dismissal of any member of staff will be a matter for the LEA as
employer but, subject to paragraph 236(2), it will be required first to consult
the governing body and headteacher. It will also be required to consider any
recommendation from a governing body that a member of staff should be
dismissed. The LEA will have general power to suspend a member of staff;
the governing body and headteacher will each also be given that power,
subject to immediate report to the LEA which will then decide on the action
to be taken.

Clerk to the Governors

245. To be effective, a governing body needs a clerk who is familiar with
school education and the practice of the LEA in discharging its
responsibilities in relation to schools. Subject to what is said below, the clerk
to the governing body will be appointed by, though he need not be an officer
of, the LEA; but the LEA will be required to consult the governing body
before making an appointment. It will also be required to consider any
recommendation from the governing body for the dismissal of the clerk. The
Government does not propose to disturb the arrangements under which the
governing bodies of some controlled and special agreement schools currently
have power to appoint their clerk after consulting the LEA.

Finance
246. The LEA cannot discharge its duty to maintain schools unless it is
ultimately responsible for the effective management of the money it makes
available. But the Government believes that the school's identity and sense of
purpose will be enhanced and public expenditure will be deployed more
effectively if each school is given a measure of delegation to spend it; and that
cost-consciousness will be increased if the LEA and the school have a clear
picture of the amount and purposes of the expenditure incurred for each
school. Accordingly:
(1) to enable the governing body to be aware of what is actually being
spent on the school, the LEA will be required annually to provide the
governing body with an itemised statement of recurrent expenditure
on the school;
(2) the LEA will be required annually to allocate a sum to each governing
body to spend at its discretion on books, equipment and stationery,
subject to any financial rules drawn up by the LEA. The LEA will be
free to allocate to the governing body responsibilities in respect of
other items. The Government welcomes the experiments of certain
LEAs which are designed to combine delegated responsibility with
increased value for money. In the Government's view, it is appropriate
that ultimate responsibility for the use of the allocated money should
rest with the governing body, but sensible for the governing body to
delegate the expenditure of the allotted sum to the head teacher , who
would then account to the governing body for the exercise of that
discretion.

72
 247. The governing body will also be required formally to account to the
annual meeting of parents (see paragraph 250(2)) for any sums it may receive
from non-LEA sources to spend on behalf of the school.

Premises
248. Ultimate responsibility for the upkeep and condition of premises must
continue to rest with the LEA, though it may involve the governing body in
reviews of premises and in urgent repairs. But the use of the school premises
concerns both the school and the LEA. Governing bodies of county and
maintained special schools will be given control of the use of the premises out
of school hours, subject to any direction by the LEA. (The responsibilities of
controlled school governing bodies in this respect are already adequately
covered by section 22 of the 1944 Act.)

Admissions
249. The Government does not wish to alter substantially the legal
framework for school admissions put in place by the 1980 and 1981 Acts. But
to give the governing body a voice in the formulation of the admission
arrangements for its school, the LEA will be required to consult it on this
matter before the LEA publishes the arrangements as part of the information
for parents issued annually.

Governing body's annual report and parents' meeting

250. Two measures will associate the whole parent body more closely with
the affairs of their children's school and strengthen the accountability of the
governing body to every parent:
(1) the governing body will be required to issue, free of charge, an annual
report to the parents of all registered pupils about the discharge of its
functions. Copies will have also to be available at the school for
reference by others. This report will be in English, or Welsh, or both
as appropriate. The governing body will be required to consider the
desirability of also providing copies of the report in a language other
than English or Welsh. The Green Paper proposed that the length,
format and detailed content should be a matter for individual
governing bodies; the Government has now decided in the interest of
economy and effectiveness to specify in legislation both that the report
should be brief and its minimum contents;
(2) except for schools where at least 50 per cent of the pupils are boarders,
the governing body will be required annually to call a meeting of
parents. The purpose of this meeting will be to discuss the governing
body's report and other matters relating to the life of the school; and to
make it possible to pass formal resolutions (by a simple majority of
votes cast) which the governing body, LEA or headteacher, as
appropriate, will be required to consider and report back on in due
course. To avoid misuse of this formal procedure such resolutions will
have force only if there is a quorum of 10 per cent of eligible parents
when they are passed.

73
The effectiveness of governing bodies
251. To help equip governors for the effective discharge of their important
public service, LEAs will be required:
(1) to give to every governor, on taking office, a copy of the school's
instrument and articles of government together with such further
explanatory and background material as the LEA considers requisite;
(2) to secure (but not necessarily to provide itself) such training for
governors, free of charge, as the LEA considers requisite.

252. The Green Paper proposed that, in order to encourage governing

bodies to break away from too routine an approach to their work, a fourth
meeting should be required in each year in addition to the present minimum
requirement of one meeting per term. In the interest of flexibility, the
Government has decided not to proceed with this proposal. The present
minimum requirement will therefore be maintained. But, as now, governing
bodies will be expected to hold additional meetings if the proper discharge of
their functions requires this.

The making of instruments and articles of government

253. The application of the provisions set out in this Chapter to the
individual circumstances of some 23,500 county, controlled and maintained
special schools will require new instruments and articles of government to be
made. Instruments of government currently fall to be made by the LEA for
county and maintained special schools, and by the Secretary of State for
voluntary schools. Articles of government are made by the LEA in the case of
county and voluntary primary schools, all maintained special schools and,
subject to the approval of the Secretary of State, for county secondary
schools. The Secretary of State makes articles of government for voluntary
secondary schools.

254. As a result of the intended legislation, statute law will, for the first
time, specify in considerable detail the composition of governing bodies and
their functions for all categories of maintained school. This will make the
present range of procedures for making instruments and articles unnecessarily
elaborate. A simpler and more uniform set of procedures will be appropriate,
and will facilitate the coherent implementation of the new arrangements in
each area.

255. Thus LEAs will be made responsible for making and amending
instruments and articles of government for all maintained schools in their
areas. Before making or amending either document the LEA will be required
to consult the governing body of the school concerned (or the shadow
governing body in the case of a new school). These arrangements will be
supplemented by additional procedures for voluntary schools, to take account
of their distinctive character. In making or amending an instrument or articles
of government for a voluntary school, the LEA will be required to have
regard to the way in which the school has been previously conducted and to
agree the proposed text with the governing body or, in relation to a matter

74
dealing specifically with the foundation governors, with the foundation
governors then serving on the governing body. The LEA will also be required
to consider proposals from the governing body of a voluntary school for
amending its instrument or articles of government. In the absence of
agreement on any of these matters, the question will be resolved with binding
effect by the Secretary of State.

Voluntary aided and special agreement schools

256. The majority of governors on the governing bodies of aided and
special agreement schools are foundation governors, to reflect the fact that,
under statute, the voluntary body responsible for the school owns the
premises, employs the staff (except in the case of special agreement schools),
and exercises control over the school in other important respects. It is on the
basis of these statutory rights that the voluntary bodies in question (usually
religious bodies) have agreed to participate in the maintained school system.
The Government does not intend to change the composition of the governing
bodies of aided and special agreement schools or to alter their functions
except in minor respects. It will, however, now extend to new aided schools
(there can be no new special agreement schools) the proposal for shadow
governing bodies to discharge those functions which have to be performed
before a new school opens its doors. The composition of these shadow
governing bodies will be required to be consistent with the framework for
aided school governing bodies in Section 2 of the 1980 Act.

257. These minor changes are on the lines proposed in the Green Paper
and are designed to reflect the changes which will be made in the functions of
county, controlled and maintained special schools without altering the
distinctive status of aided and special agreement schools. The new powers and
responsibilities of governing bodies for county, controlled and maintained
special schools in respect of discipline (paragraph 234), finance (paragraphs
246 and 247), the governing body's annual report and parents' meeting
(paragraph 250) and the information and training of governors (paragraph
251) will be applied to governing bodies of aided and special agreement
schools, with appropriate modifications to reflect the statutory position of the
governing bodies in the direction of their schools, and, in particular, the
status of an aided school governing body as employer. As regards admissions,
to complement the change in paragraph 249, the governing body of an aided
or special agreement school will, before publishing its admission
arrangements, be required annually to consult the LEA.

258. Section 23 of the 1944 Act vests control of the secular curriculum in
the governing body of aided secondary schools. The Government believes it is
right to extend this to aided primary schools and to all special agreement
schools.

259. The 1944 Act has always allowed aided schools to revert to controlled
status; and special agreement schools, though a closed category, may attain
aided status. There is, however, no route by which controlled schools may
achieve aided status. As proposed in the Green Paper, such a route will now
be opened by legislation. Only a few schools are likely to wish to take

75
advantage of this change, but the Government believes that this added
flexibility will strengthen the dual system.

260. The new procedure will be broadly analogous to that relating to

changes in the character of schools under Section 13 of the 1980 Act and will
entail the following steps:
(1) the governing body of a controlled school seeking aided status will be
required to consult first with its maintaining LEA. The views of the
LEA on the proposed change and its effects on local provision will be
important, given its responsibility for its area. The LEA will not have
the power to prevent the governing body from making the proposal,
but the Government presumes that the governing body will not
normally proceed in the face of LEA opposition;
(2) if the governing body decides to proceed (and, in particular, is ready to
pay appropriate compensation-see below), it will publish statutory
proposals enabling those in the locality (including the LEA and other
voluntary schools) to make objections;
(3) it will then be for the Secretary of State to consider the proposals in the
light of any objections. Part of the evidence that the Secretary of State
will require in support of the proposals will be a demonstration by the
governing body that it can meet the immediate and continuing
financial obligations of aided status;
(4) if the Secretary of State approves the proposals, he will make an Order
conferring aided status.
Where the LEA has incurred capital expenditure on the premises of the
controlled school, the governing body will be required to pay compensation
of an amount determined by an independent valuer. Unlike subsequent
capital expenditure on the building by the governing body, this compensation
will not be eligible for Government grant.

Allowances for governors

261. As announced in the Green Paper, the legislation now intended will
be used to give effect to the Government's previously announced decision
about allowances for governors of schools and further education
establishments. On the general principle that service as a governor should be
regarded as voluntary service for every category of governor, the legislation
will:
(1) empower, but not oblige, LEAs to pay travelling and subsistence
allowances to governors of maintained schools and further education
establishments;
(2) permit differentiation between different categories of institution, but
not between the governors of a particular institution;
(3) permit LEAs to disallow excessive and trivial claims by setting upper
and lower mileage limits;

76
 (4) stipulate that service as a governor does not entitle councillors or
co-opted authority members to any allowances in either of these latter
capacities.

Resources
262. Following consultation on the Green Paper the Government has
examined further the additional costs arising from all the changes set out in
this Chapter. In the light of this further study it estimates that these extra
costs would be about £lOrn in a full year. The introduction of the new
arrangements will be phased, and the full extra annual cost deferred, over
several years. Extra costs will fall to be met within the resources to be made
available for the years in question.

Guidance
263. After enactment, the Secretaries of State propose to issue guidance
on the detailed application of the new arrangements. The Government is also
considering the possibility of offering financial support for pilot projects in
order to develop models of good practice in the training of governors.

77
 CHAPTER 10

ASPECTS OF LEA MANAGEMENT

264. The preceding Chapters have identified a range of management tasks

that fall to the LEA. These have to be exercised in the light of often sharp
demographic change. None of them can be effectively carried out unless they
are rooted in the authority's policies for the curriculum. This Chapter briefly
considers certain other aspects of these tasks.

The authority's professional staff

265. In order to manage the service it provides, each LEA needs to have
access to professional advice across the whole range of its responsibilities.
The Chief Education Officer (CEO) and his professional staff are the
principal means through which the LEA performs its functions. The role of
the professional is both to assist the authority in the formulation of its
policies, and to be the main agent of their implementation. In both capacities,
the CEO and his staff have a key role in developing and improving the quality
of the education service.

266. Within each LEA, important functions are exercised, under the
direction of the CEO, by local advisers (sometimes called inspectors). They
play a central part in reporting to the authority, on the basis of visits and
inspections, on the quality of the education being provided in its schools; in
promoting curricular and other development in primary, secondary and
special education; and in providing advice based on professional expertise
and knowledge of the area's schools in order to assist with the formulation of
policy, and subsequently to help schools to put policies into practice. An
authority's advisers also have an important role in promoting the professional
development of teachers and in advising on many aspects of the management
of the teaching force.

267. The Government has considered with the local authority associations
how the role of local advisers in England might be clarified and their work
made more effective. Jointly with the associations it is preparing a document
setting out the principles which underlie agreed good practice. The Secretary
of State for Education and Science intends to consult more widely on the
completed document and, thereafter, to commend its contents as guidance to
LEAs in the development of their advisory services.

HMIreports
268. LEAs, like the rest of the education service, stand to gain from the
information and assessments contained in HMI reports. In addition to general
reports on aspects of education, and those made in respect of particular
authorities, an increasing number of schools in every LEA are the subject of a
published report. For the authority, such a report relates not only to the
school in question, but also has messages for the spread of good practice and
the correction of weaknesses in the other schools which it maintains.

78
 269. In their follow-up to the publication of a report, the Education
Departments ask LEAs not only what action they propose to take or have
taken in relation to the institution inspected, but also what application the
findings of the report might have for other institutions maintained by them.
Presented with an HMI report, it is for the LEA to consider the evidence
about the performance of the school inspected, and the implications for the
authority's general policies. The Secretaries of State intend in 1986 to ask
LEAs for a summary account of the action they have taken, across their
schools, in the light of the reports published during the three years since the
publication of such reports was inaugurated.
270. The general messages which emerge from published reports on
individual schools are drawn together, and made widely available, in HMI's
twice yearly reviews of its reports, which are published under the title
'Education Observed'. LEAs can use these reviews both to take direct
account of the general messages they reveal, and as a general picture against
which to set detailed assessments of individual schools (from HMI reports and
their own sources).

TVEI
271. Chapter 2 notes some of the problems which arise in the management
of an effective curriculum for the 14-18 age range. The Government expects
the TVEI to provide important lessons about such matters as the
arrangements for selecting pupils for particular courses and for co-operation
between institutions.

Minimum size of schools

272. If the LEA is to manage the pattern of schools in its area in the interest
of good education, each school should as far as possible be kept large enough
to justify sufficient teachers to provide all pupils with a curriculum which
measures up to the principles set out in Chapter 2. This requirement becomes
particularly important when pupil rolls are falling or expected to fall. Such
factors as geography, population sparsity, and the need for denominational
choice within the dual system may sometimes necessitate unusually small
schools, which require to be staffed and supported more generously in
relation to pupil numbers than the LEA would think right for the other
schools it maintains. Since the resources available to the LEA are limited, it is
in the interest of the pupils in both these categories of school that the former
should include only those schools which for valid educational or practical
reasons cannot be included in the latter.

273. HMI's national primary and secondary surveys provided the basis for
the guidance which the Secretaries of State gave in 1981 (DES Circular 2/81,
Welsh Office Circular 30/81: 'Falling Rolls and Surplus Places') about the
desirable minimum size of certain types of school in the interest of
educational standards and the efficient use of resources. The advice was that
primary schools of less than 100 pupils, and 11-16 comprehensive schools of

79
less than five forms of entry* required levels of staffing and other resources
which were more generous than the average; and that the same principle
applied to 9-13 and 8-12 middle schools which are below three and two forms
of entry respectively.

274. The Government has reviewed this guidance in the light of HMl's
more recent reports of formal inspections, the policies on minimum size of
school adopted by a number of LEAs when ration ali sing school provision in
the face of falling pupil numbers, and the new demands on teachers' time and
other resources as the policies set out in this White Paper are implemented.

275. The Government believes that while the previous guidance for middle
schools remains valid, new guidance is now needed in relation to certain other
types of school. It will therefore propose the following principles to the
LEAs, the voluntary bodies, and its other partners in the education service:
(1) in order to secure the necessary range and mix of teacher experience
and expertise, particularly for older primary pupils, it is desirable that
5-11 schools should have at least one form of entry. Because of the
smaller number of year groups, 7-11 schools need at least two forms of
entry to cover the equivalent range and mix of teacher experience and
curricular expertise. To the extent that educational or practical
grounds necessitate smaller schools, the LEA needs to consider, case
by case and in accordance with pupil numbers, how far the experience
and expertise of the teachers need to be augmented by any of the
means at its disposal;
(2) the number of pupils in a primary school should not in general fall
below the level at which a complement of three teachers is justified,
since it is inherently difficult for a very small school to be educationally
satisfactory. But geographical and social factors need to be given their
full weight. In isolated communities it is often right, given appropriate
augmentation of its resources, to retain a small village school;
(3) an 11-16 comprehensive school of five or less forms of entry is unlikely,
without disproportionately generous staffing, to be able to offer to the
whole range of its pupils a curriculum appropriately broad, balanced,
relevant and differentiated and delivered through a sufficient number
of teaching groups;
(4) a comprehensive school catering also for pupils aged 16-18 normally
needs to be of a size which enables it to maintain a sixth form of at least
150, if it is to provide an adequate range of A level and other courses.
Where such a school cannot maintain such numbers, the needs of sixth
form pupils can usually be adequately met with a reasonable use of
resources only if the LEA succeeds in securing effective arrangements
for co-ordinating the programmes of individual pupils between the
school and one or more other institutions .

• A form of entry is the number of pupils deemed by the LEA to constitute a teaching group requiring the
equivalent of one full·time teacher in the year in which the pupils enter the school: eg for planning purposes a
form of entry to a secondary school is usually assumed to consist of 30 pupils.

80
Accommodation
276. The quality of school education is enhanced when school premises
serve the purposes of the school effectively and economically. In discharging
their responsibilities for securing good education, the Secretaries of State,
through regulations, lay down minimum standards for school accommodation
to ensure that it is suitable for the curriculum and teaching methods. In 1981
changes were made in the regulations to increase the minimum teaching area
required for pupils aged 9-11 so as to permit the provision of a wider range of
facilities, including those for practical work, and to enable outdoor facilities
to serve more effectively the needs of physical education and games.

277. LEAs need to manage their stock of schools in the interest of the
curriculum within the resources available for capital and current expenditure.
In particular they need to adapt accommodation, where appropriate, in the
light of changes in pupil numbers and developments in the curriculum and
teaching approaches and methods, and to keep premises in a state of repair
which gives a good educational return. LEAs and governors of aided and
special agreement schools have done much to secure that school buildings
remain fit for their purpose. But there are still disparities in quality of
accommodation and standards of maintenance which may hinder the
implementation of the policies set out in this White Paper. The Government
is discussing these with the local authority associations with a view to
promoting good practice in estate management and making the best use of the
resources available.

81
 CHAPTER II

RESOURCES
278. There has been a long and sustained period of growth in national
expenditure on education in schools. In the last 20 years current expenditure
on school education by LEAs has doubled in real terms in England and
Wales. Over the same period pupil numbers rose by 11 per cent During the
last decade the pupil to teacher ratio (PTR) in primary schools has improved
by 15 per cent and that in secondary schools by 6 per cent. In the last 5 years
current expenditure on education in schools has risen by over 10 per cent per
pupil in real terms. Over that period pupil numbers have fallen by 12 per cent.

279. The level of expenditure per pupil varies widely between authorities.
According to LEA estimates of current expenditure for 1984-85 there is a
broad range in the expenditure per secondary pupil, with the average in the
10 highest spending LEAs exceeding the average in the 10 lowest spending
LEAs by about 50 per cent. In January 1984 primary PTRs in individual
LEAs ranged from 17.3:1 to 25.1:1.

280. The number of pupils in maintained primary and secondary schools is

expected to fall from over 7.8m in 1984 to some 7.1m in 1991. These large
changes in pupil numbers mean that if current levels of provision per pupil are
broadly maintained, education's share of public expenditure can be expected
to decline significantly. The Government's Green Paper, 'The next ten years:
Public Expenditure and Taxation into the 1990s' (Cmnd 9189) published in
March 1984, said that if the cost per pupil were maintained at existing levels,
every 100,000 fewer pupils would lead on average to savings of around £90m a
year. It went on to suggest that a number of factors are likely to work in the
opposite direction. In particular, it said that "in addition to inescapable
diseconomies of scale as pupil and student numbers fall there is a case for a
better as well as a smaller teaching force and better in-service training." The
balance to be struck between these various factors needs to be seen in the
context of the Green Paper's broad conclusion that to the extent that some
expenditure programmes will need to increase, such increases will have to be
financed either by reductions in programmes of lower priority or by further
efficiency savings.

281. The Government's plans for expenditure by LEAs in 1985-86 and,

provisionally and in outline, for 1986-87 and 1987-88 are set out in the Public
Expenditure White Paper (Cmnd 9428). The significant increase over the
plans in the previous White Paper (Cmnd 9143) for 1985-86 should allow, for
example, for some continuing improvement in the pupil to teacher ratio, in
England and Wales taken together, and for some limited increase in
expenditure on such crucial items as books and equipment. The
implementation of the rate-capping legislation and preferential targets for
low-spending authorities in 1985-86 should also help to bring about a more
equitable distribution of expenditure on schools between LEAs. The actual
level of services LEAs can provide will however depend crucially on their
ability to contain costs, in particular pay which accounts for about
three-quarters of their net current expenditure. It is therefore important that

82
they seek to restrain pay increases for their employees and also look for
possible savings in their manpower. The planned totals for capital
expenditure in 1985-86 and later years should enable LEAs to meet the need
for new school places due to movements in population and to make
continuing progress in removing surplus school places and rationalising school
provision.

282. Within the available resources, the Government believes that there is
considerable and continuing scope for redeployment through increased
efficiency. It intends to continue its efforts in discussion with LEAs to point
out the opportunities for further progress towards ensuring the best possible
use of the resources available. Many LEAs have already made valuable
savings through increased efficiency. But much still needs to be done. The
following main areas identify themselves for further action:
(1) the adjustment of school capacity as rolls continue to fall will remain a
high priority, increasingly so in the secondary sector where the decline
in pupil numbers is only now beginning to affect schools in many areas
and will continue for the rest of the decade. For all LEAs the reduction
in school rolls will bring sharply into focus issues about the minimum
sizes of schools, discussed in Chapter 10 (paragraphs 272-275), and the
best use of available resources. As a result of progress made since 1975
authorities in England are already well on their way to taking over one
million surplus places out of use by March 1986. If no further reduction
in places occurred, the surplus in England by 1991 is likely to be as
high as two million places, some 60 per cent of which will be in the
secondary sector. The Government therefore intends to set new
overall targets, for the purposes of the Government's expenditure
plans, of surplus places to be taken out of use for 1987 and later years
and will be discussing these with the local authority associations;
(2) the provision of special schools also needs to be rationalised so that the
resources available secure a good education for their pupils. The
Government does not intend to set overall targets for removing surplus
special school places: it is not at present possible to predict reliably the
distribution of pupils between special and ordinary schools since LEAs
are reviewing their policies on provision and the distribution will be
affected by decisions on individual children which cannot be forecast
nationally. For the comparatively small number of pupils whose main
disability is one of sight or hearing, where provision has to be planned
on a national or regional rather than a local basis, the Government is
taking the lead in encouraging a rationalisation of provision in
consultation with LEAs and the voluntary bodies concerned;
(3) the Government has recently published a consultation document on
contracting out local authority services * , proposing that certain
services, including school meals and cleaning of buildings, should be
carried out by directly employed local authority manpower only if the
work has been successfully competed for against outside contractors,
on the basis of detailed comparable tenders. A limited number of
LEAs have since 1979-80 achieved substantial net savings on school
·'Competition in the Provision of Local Authority Services.'

83
 meals through increased productivity and it is evident that comparable
further savings are potentially available from most other LEAs. The
Audit Commission in its recent report on aspects of non-teaching costs
in secondary schools· has suggested that savings are also available on
school cleaning if more up-to-date and efficient methods are
introduced. Subjecting these services to the process of a rigorous cost
comparison with private sector tenders should provide the best test of
whether they are being run as efficiently as practicable;
(4) the Government has outlined in this White Paper certain principles
which in its view should govern changes in the size and deployment of
the teacher force over the next decade. It intends to continue its
discussions with the LEAs about these matters.
283. The Government believes that the Audit Commission has an
important role in encouraging the best possible use of resources in order to
obtain further improvements in value for money. The report referred to in
paragraph 282(3) emphasises the scope for savings that arise from taking
surplus school places out of use. It also points to the opportunities for
reducing caretaking and cleaning costs and for achieving greater efficiency
within the resources available for repairs and maintenance. Other recent
reports on purchasing arrangements and transport provision also have
significant implications for LEAs. The Government intends to discuss with
the local authority associations how best to take advantage of the analysis
made by the Audit Commission in the interests of the education service.

284. Education support grants will be paid to LEAs for the first time in the
1985-86 financial year. The Government believes that these grants have an
important contribution to make towards a limited and cost-effective
redeployment of expenditure into activities which particularly advance the
shared objectives set out in this White Paper. The activities to be supported in
1985-86 have been chosen in the light of detailed consultation with the local
authority associations. In England ninety-five LEAs bid for education
support grant support in 1985-86 and for each of the 11 activities for which
bids were invited the bids exceeded the amount available for support. In
Wales all the LEAs and the Welsh Joint Education Committee made bids
which, in total, exceeded the amount available for the 11 activities being
supported.

285. The Government, the LEAs and teachers attach particular

importance to in-service training as a means of further developing the skills of
teachers in schools in response to changing demands and priorities.
Expenditure by LEAs supported by pooling arrangements or by the scheme
of in-service training grants first introduced in 1983-84 has roughly doubled in
real terms over the last 5 years. As explained in paragraphs 175-176, the
Government now intends to introduce a new specific grant to support LEA
expenditure on most aspects of in-service training, including that currently
supported through the pool, with the aims of securing more systematic,
purposeful and cost-effective planning of in-service training. The expenditure
to be supported by this grant will be determined each year.
·'Obtaining Better Value in Education.'

84
 286. Progress towards the objectives set out in this White Paper will
depend critically upon the effectiveness of the co-operation of the different
partners within the education service. The Government acknowledges,
however, that even if LEAs take all the steps open to them to secure savings
and to improve the efficiency and effectiveness with which they deploy their
resources, it may be difficult to achieve in full these objectives within existing
real levels of expenditure per pupil, not least because of diseconomies of scale
arising from the continuing fall in pupil numbers overall, and such factors as
the· increasing introduction of technology and practical work into the
curriculum. The resources available for education in the future will depend on
many factors including the increasing demands on other services. But the
education service will do its future claims on resources nothing but good, at
both national and local level, if it is seen to be taking sustained and purposeful
action to secure the best use of what it has now.

85
 CHAPTER 12

THE INDEPENDENT SECTOR

287. Independent schools are an important part of the school system in

England and Wales. At anyone time, about 6 per cent of the school-age
population are at independent schools, and increasing numbers of pupils
attend both independent and maintained schools during their school careers.
The Secretaries of State have a general responsibility towards independent
schools by virtue of their national duties under Section 1 of the Education Act
1944. They also have specific duties under Part III of the Act to ensure that
the schools meet minimum standards.

288. Among the strengths of our schools system are its diversity and the
extent of choice, increased by the Assisted Places Scheme, which it offers to
parents. The independent sector makes a significant contribution on both
counts. Its work in education goes back over many centuries. There has been
a long tradition of high standards in its best schools, which have shown
particular strengths in certain elements of the curriculum. A number of
independent schools have been in the forefront of curriculum development,
for example in mathematics, science and technology. But independent
schools, like maintained schools, vary greatly in quality and many fall short of
the standards achieved by the best.

289. The independent sector also provides opportunities for parents who
wish their children to receive forms of schooling not found in the mainstream,
for example, in the schools for children of foreign nationals and in those
where the process and aims of education are intended to reflect and transmit a
particular religious or philosophical view of life. Additionally, the sector is
well placed to make provision which LEAs could not offer economically: it
makes an important contribution to the national stock of boarding places; it
also makes significant provision for those with special educational needs and
for the artistically gifted, particularly in music and ballet. In recognition of
these latter considerations, about one in six pupils in independent schools is
assisted with his fees from various central and local government funds.

290. The independent sector's contribution continues to enrich the

education system, and the Government is committed to preserving and
fostering it. Diversity cannot, however, be pursued at the expense of
standards. Part III of the Education Act 1944 requires all indepedent schools
to be registered, and requires the Secretaries of State to take action against
schools which fall below the standards which need to be met for registration.
Such action is necessary in respect of the small minority of schools which are
ill-equipped in terms of staffing, resources or teaching aims and methods to
meet the needs of the pupils in their charge. The Secretaries of State exercise
their duties under Part III of the Act on the following principles:
(1) as regards standards of premises and accommodation (including fire
safety and other health and safety matters), the Secretaries of State
expect these to be broadly comparable with those required of
maintained schools;

86
 (2) as regards the curriculum and standards of teaching, Section 36 of the
1944 Act requires parents to cause their children to receive efficient
full-time education suitable to their ages, abilities and aptitudes. This
requirement takes precedence if it conflicts with other considerations,
such as any general parental preference and the particular objectives
or style of a school. The interests of the child dictate that what is
offered in the school should make it possible for him to get the most
out of his school years and to keep all reasonable options open to him
for his future education, training or employment. This entails offering
him the opportunity to acquire a broad and balanced range of
knowledge and skills through appropriate and effective teaching over a
worthwhile period of time. Each school is expected to seek to develop
the personal qualities of each pupil and to give him tuition, offered
with due regard to objectivity, appropriate to his age, ability and
aptitude in English, mathematics, science (including practical and
investigative work), the humanities, aesthetic subjects, practical
activities, physical education and religious or moral education. Most
pupils should have the opportunity at an appropriate stage to study
another language. Timetabling and actual practice should reflect an
appropriately balanced provision of all these elements.

291. The Education Act 1981 introduced the requirement that

independent schools at which LEAs are to place children with statements of
special educational need should be approved for the purpose by the Secretary
of State. In order to secure approval, the independent school has to attain
standards of accommodation, teaching staff, curriculum and, where
appropriate, residential care comparable with those expected in maintained
special schools. The schools in question are being appraised by HMI and most
of them have been approved or are expected to reach the standard for
approval after remedying specific deficiencies.

292. This White Paper has set out the principles which should govern the
curriculum. These apply to all schools. Independent schools as a whole can
learn much from good practice in the maintained sector. Equally, best
practice in the independent sector can offer much of value to maintained
schools, as well as to other independent schools. To assist the Secretaries of
State in the discharge of their Part III duties and in the interest of good
education, independent schools are periodically visited and inspected by
HMI. The publication of HMI reports helps to raise standards by
disseminating good practice wherever it is found in both maintained and
independent schools, by pointing the way to the elimination of bad practice,
and by reducing the professional isolation that can be felt by some teachers.

87
 CHAPTER 13

FUTURE PROGRESS

Links with other policies

293. The policies and the programme of action set out in this White Paper
reinforce each other and pursue coherently the aim of raising standards in our
schools. They have been designed also to support the Government's policies
for the other sectors of education, and link with the Government's policies
outside education.

294. The Government is committed to improving opportunity and quality

in post-school education and training. A broad, balanced, differentiated and
relevant school curriculum, effectively delivered, will provide the most useful
foundation for all subsequent phases of education and for training. It will
enable those who leave school, at the end of the compulsory period or later,
to continue full-time or part-time education through more specialised study.
It will enhance the value of the extended Youth Training Scheme, which will
provide all those leaving full-time education at 16 or 17 with an opportunity to
acquire recognised occupational qualifications. It will permit a wider choice of
study post-16 and support the acquisition of specific understanding or
competence by the broad understanding and generic competence which it will
have conferred. It will also provide a basis for training and for education later
in adult life.

295. Higher standards in school education will also reinforce those

Government policies outside education which are designed to strengthen the
economic and social fabric of our society. More rapid technological change in
an increasingly competitive world places a premium on enterprise, personal
versatility and national cohesion. These values are the goal both of the
Government's policy for education and of its policies for revitalising the
economy and for maintaining that freedom under the law which is a
precondition of each individual's fulfilment.

296. Industry and commerce are among the school's main customers. They
have a vital role in raising standards at school by explaining their needs to the
education service and by taking part in the development of its policies and
activities. The Government will continue to invite industry and commerce to
participate in national discussions of objectives, and in the work of national
committees concerned with school education. It looks to firms to involve
themselves at other levels, notably in the work of school governing bodies and
examinations boards.

Monitoring
297. All those concerned with the programme set out in this White Paper
will want to know whether and how quickly their efforts are bearing fruit. As
Chapter 1 explains, it is difficult to measure the performance of the school
system. The DES, in Statistical Bulletins 16/83 and 13/84, has published some
findings on the relationship between socio-economic factors and examination

88
results, but it is not possible to measure many of the factors which determine
the input into the system or many of the aspects of its output; and the
definition of good education changes over time. It is nevertheless possible to
identify certain indicators and to attempt to compare present and future
achievement in relation to them. Such monitoring, though incomplete, is
essential for the assessment of policy. It also serves to inform those who rely
on the school system, and those who pay for it, how far its performance
measures up to the curricular objectives which the Government intends to
publish on the basis described in this White Paper. It is complemented by the
judgements made by HMI in reporting on the state of school education.

298. The Government proposes the following action in relation to teaching

quality and pupil performance. Steps will be taken to plug the gaps which now
exist in the centrally available information about the academic qualifications
of newly trained teachers so that comparisons can be made over time. The
quality of newly trained teachers was assessed through the sample survey
whose results were published in 1981; similar surveys will be made and
published at 5-yearly intervals. Results from the recent surveys of the staffing
of secondary schools in England and Wales to be published this year will
provide information on the qualifications of teachers in secondary schools and
the match between their qualifications and their teaching tasks. The
Government intends to repeat these surveys at 5-yearly intervals. Later this
year the Government will explore with its partners in the education service
the feasibility of undertaking similar surveys of the staffing of primary
schools.
299. As regards pupil performance, the Secretaries of State will publish in
due course accounts, based on surveys conducted by the Assessment of
Performance Unit between 1978 and 1985, of levels of performance achieved
in various aspects of mathematics and English by pupils aged 11 and 15; in
science by pupils aged 11, 13 and 15; and in foreign languages by pupils aged
13. It is the intention that, when APU surveys come to be repeated in these
subjects towards the end of the decade, similar accounts of pupil performance
will be published for comparison with the earlier findings. The APU is also
planning a national survey in 1988 of the performance of 15 year old pupils in
design and technology.

300. The new GCSE examinations, based on a grading system which

attests specified levels of performance, will make it possible to monitor over
time what pupils know, understand and can do by age 16 in relation to many
important aspects of many areas of learning. They will permit comparisons
over time on a basis more objective than is available under the existing system
of 16+ examinations. The national picture of GCSE results will help to show
how far progress is being made towards the aim, set out in paragraph 80, of
raising levels of attainment by age 16 throughout the ability range so that
80-90 per cent of all pupils reach and surpass levels now achieved by the
average. The results will also enable LEAs, governing bodies, and teachers to
review changes in attainment at age 16 at the level of the LEA or the school,
having regard to all the factors which affect that attainment. Success in
establishing targets for attainment at age 11 and 16 at various ability levels -
an aim described in paragraph 81 - would make it possible similarly to

89
review, at national, local or school level, what pupils attain at age 11 and their
attainments at age 16, having regard to the GCSE results and all other
relevant factors.

The pace of progress

301. The aim for attainment at age 16 set out in paragraph 80 is a
longer-term aim and the programme of action designed to achieve it will take
many years to complete. But the Government is confident that, within the life
of the present Parliament, broad agreement will be reached on those national
objectives for the 5-16 curriculum which relate to the purposes of learning at
school, the content of the curriculum as a whole, and the contribution of its
main elements; the first GCSE courses will be leading to examinations based
on new grade criteria in many subjects; the first AS level courses will be
starting; schemes for records of achievement will be widespread; initial
teacher training will conform substantially to the new criteria laid down by the
Secretaries of State; a start will be made in improving the composition and
entrenching the powers of school governing bodies; and the TVEI will be
established in the great majority of LEAs in England and Wales. The
Government believes that, with good management of the teacher force and
other resources by LEAs and schools, the range of reforms and
improvements envisaged in this White Paper can be firmly established
throughout the school system by the end of the decade.

CONCLUSION

302. The Government's central aim is to improve standards in schools,

using the available resources to yield the best possible return, so that the
schools more effectively help all our children and young people to become
responsible and law-abiding citizens, to bring enterprise, versatility and
application to their employment, and to foster those qualities and attitudes
which will enable them to develop their talents as individuals and as valued
members of society. To this end it is taking the lead in four linked initiatives:
- pursuing broad agreement on the objectives of the curriculum;
- introducing reformed examinations together with records of
achievement;
- improving teaching quality in all its aspects;
- harnessing the energies of parents and others in a reformed system
of school government.
In these initiatives, as elsewhere, the Government cannot act alone. Their
success depends on the ready co-operation and mutual support of all the
partners in education and of the customers of the schools. The Government
intends to work closely with all of these, recognising that many of the factors
which bear on the task are beyond the reach, let alone the control, of public
policy.

303. That task will itself change as the work proceeds and its results are
assessed. It is already clear that the task is hard but urgent. The accelerating

90
pace of technological development, its effects on our society, and the
country's economic circumstances, may make the task harder and more
urgent still. School education, like other aspects of our national life, will
flourish only if it succeeds in adjusting to the demands of the time more
rapidly and flexibly than it has hitherto been cqlled upon to do. The
Government pays tribute to all those, within and outside the education
service, who are laying the foundations of success. The prize to be won is a
better, more prosperous future.

91
 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

CURRICULUM
HMI Publications
Primary Education in England. A survey by HM Inspectors of Schools.
HMSO 1978. (Reprinted with corrections 1981) (ISBN 0112704840)
Aspects of Secondary Education in England. A survey by HM Inspectors of
Schools. HMSO 1979. (ISBN 0 112704980)
Education 5 to 9: An illustrative survey of 80 first schools in England. HMSO
1982. (ISBN 0 11 270530 8)
9-13 Middle Schools. An illustrative survey. HMSO 1983.
(ISBN 0 11 270556 1)
Curriculum and Organisation of Primary Schools in Wales. Education Issues
7. Welsh Office Education Department 1984. (ISBN 0 86 3480058 6)
English from 5 to 16. HMI Curriculum Matters Series No. 1. HMSO 1984.
(ISBN 0 11 270472 7)
The Curriculum from 5 to 16. HMI Curriculum Matters Series No.2. HMSO
1985. (ISBN 0 11 270568 5)
Aims and Objectives of Teaching and Learning Welsh for 5-16 year old pupils.
Curriculum Matters. Welsh Office Education Department 1984.
Slow Learning and Less Successful Pupils in Secondary Schools. Evidence
from some HMI visits. DES, July 1984. (ISBN 0 855221445)
Education for Employees: An HMI study of part-time release for 16-19 year
olds. HMSO 1984. (ISBN 0112703976)
Education Observed: A review of the first six months of published reports by
HM Inspectors. DES, April 1984. (ISBN 0 855221410)
Education Observed 2: A review of published reports by HM Inspectors on
Primary Schools and 11-16 and 12-16 Comprehensive Schools. DES,
December 1984. (ISBN 0 85522 1569)

Other Publications
The School Curriculum. DES and Welsh Office. HMSO 1981.
(ISBN 0 11 270383 6)
The Organisation and Content of the 5-16 Curriculum. A discussion paper.
DES and Welsh Office, September 1984.
The Organisation and Content of the 5-16 Curriculum: Special Schools. A
discussion paper. DES and Welsh Office, September 1984.
Foreign Languages in the School Curriculum. A consultative paper. DES and
Welsh Office, 1983
Science 5-16: A statement of policy. DES and Welsh Office, March 1985.
(ISBN 0 11 270572 3)

92
Mathematics Counts. The report of the Committee of Inquiry into the
Teaching of Mathematics in Schools in England and Wales under the
Chairmanship of Dr W H Cockcroft. HMSO 1982. (ISBN 0 11 2705227)
TVEI Review 1984. MSC, June 1984. (ISBN 0 86392 062 4)
Special Educational Needs. The report of the Committee of Inquiry into the
Education of Handicapped Children and Young People under the
Chairmanship of Mrs H M Warnock. (Cmnd 7212) HMSO 1978.
(ISBN 0 10 172120 X)
School Libraries: the Foundations of the Curriculum. Library Information
Series No 13. HMSO 1984. (ISBN 0 11 6307137)

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSESSMENT

General Certificate of Secondary Education: The National Criteria. HMSO
1985. (ISBN 0 11270569 3)
General Certificate of Secondary Education: A General Introduction. HMSO
1985. (ISBN 0112705715)
AS Levels: Proposals by the Secretaries of State for Education and Science
and Wales for a broader curriculum for A Level students. DES and Welsh
Office, May 1984.
Records of Achievement: A Statement of Policy. DES and Welsh Office, July
1984.
A Survey of the Use of Graded Tests of Defined Objectives and their Effect on
the Teaching and Learning of Modern Languages in the County of
Oxfordshire. HM Inspectors' Report 7/83. DES, 1983.

ASSESSMENT OF PERFORMANCE UNIT

A list of Reports for Teachers and other publications is available from the
Department of Education and Science.

TEACHERS
Teaching Quality. (White Paper, Cmnd 8836) HMSO 1983.
(ISBN 0 10 1883609)
Schoolteacher Numbers and Deployment in the Longer Term. A discussion
paper. DES, September 1984.
Schoolteacher Numbers and Deployment in the Longer Term in Wales. A
discussion paper. Welsh Office Education Department, December 1984.
Future Demand for Primary and Secondary Schoolteachers. A report to the
Secretaries of State for Education and Science and Wales by the Advisory
Committee on the Supply and Education of Teachers. ACSET 1984.
The Selection of Secondary School Headteachers, by Colin Morgan, Valerie
Hall and Hugh Mackay. Open University Press 1983. (ISBN 0 33 510410 X)
A Probationary Period for Newly Appointed Headteachers. A consultative
document. DES, April 1984.

93
EDUCATION FOR ETHNIC MINORITIES
Education for All. The Report of the Committee of Inquiry into the
Education of Children from Ethnic Minority Groups under the Chairmanship
of Lord Swann. (Cmnd 9453) HMSO 1985
Education for All: A brief guide to the main issues by Lord Swann. DES,
March 1985.
Mother Tongue Teaching in School and Community: AN HMI enquiry in four
LEAs. HMSO 1984. (ISBN 011 270398 4)

SCHOOL GOVERNMENT
Parental Influence at School: A new framework for school government in
England and Wales. (Green Paper, Cmnd 9242) HMSO 1984. (ISBN 0 10
1924208)

RESOURCES
The Government's Expenditure Plans 1984-85 to 1986-87. (Cmnd 9143)
HMSO 1984.
The Government's Expenditure Plans 1985-86 to 1987-88. (Cmnd 9428)
HMSO 1985.
The next ten years: Public Expenditure and Taxation into the 1990s. (Cmnd
9189) HMSO 1984.
Obtaining Better Value in Education: Aspects of Non Teaching Costs in
Secondary Schools. Report of a study by the Audit Commission. HMSO
1984.
Competition in the Provision of Local Authority Services. A discussion paper.
Department of the Environment, 1985.
Reports by Her Majesty's Inspectors on the Effects of Local Authority
Expenditure Policies on the Education Service in England -1981-1983. DES,
1982-1984.

DESIWELSH OFFICE CIRCULARS

DES Circular 4/73; Welsh Office Circular 47/73.
Staffing of Special Schools and Classes.
DES Circular 2/81; Welsh Office Circular 30/8l.
Falling Rolls and Surplus Places.
DES Circular 6/81 ; Welsh Office Circular 44/81.
The School Curriculum.
DES Circular 8/83; Welsh Office Circular 59/83.
The School Curriculum.
DES Circular 3/84; Welsh Office Circular 21184.
Initial Teacher Training: Approval of Courses.

94
DES Circular 6/84; Welsh Office Circular 39/84.
Education Support Grants.

DES STATISTICAL BULLETINS

Statistical Bulletin 16/83.
School Standards and Spending: Statistical Analysis.
Statistical Bulletin 13/84.
School Standards and Spending: Statistical Analysis. A Further Appreciation.

95
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