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Contents

The Government's new measures	1
The present situation	2
The need for action	3
Curriculum	3
Examinations	7
Discipline	8
Truancy	9
Parents and schools	9
Teaching quality	10
Local education authority management	14
Minimum size of school	14
Education of ethnic minorities	15
The legal framework	16
Resources	17
The independent sector	18
Future progress	19

[page 1]

This booklet briefly describes the
Government's policies for schools in
England and Wales set out in the White
Paper Better Schools (Cmnd 9469)
published in March 1985.

• take the lead in promoting national agreement about the purposes and the content of the curriculum;
• encourage schools to do more to fulfil the vital function of preparing all young people for work;
• complete the reform of the public examinations taken at age 16 in the interest of the curriculum and standards;
• introduce a new examination, the AS level, to broaden the programme of students on A level courses;
• work towards a national system of records of achievement;
• make the in-service training of teachers more effective through new financial arrangements;
• give school governing bodies a more balanced membership, and improve the distribution of functions of governors, local education authorities and heads in regard to their schools;
• propose new guidelines on the minimum size of schools;
• take steps to reduce under-achievement, including that found among many ethnic minority pupils;
• tackle truancy through improvements in the work and training of education welfare officers.

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The present situation

There is much to admire in our schools. Over the last thirty years the school system has expanded and adapted. There have been marked improvements in both primary and secondary education. Many schools cope well, some very well, with their increasingly exacting task. But a number of weaknesses, some of them serious, are found in the others. The Government believes that the standards now generally attained by our pupils are neither as good as they can be nor as good as they need to be for the world of the twenty-first century. School education should do much more to promote enterprise and adaptability and to fit young people for working life in a technological age. If the high standards achieved by pupils of all abilities in some schools could be achieved in all schools in similar circumstances the quality of school education would rise dramatically.

In the best primary and middle schools pupils achieve very high standards of competence and consolidate their positive personal qualities through a broad curriculum. But in only a minority of schools is the best practice of individual teachers adopted throughout the school. In about three quarters of schools the curriculum is not well planned or effectively put into practice. In a majority of primary and middle schools there is over-concentration on practising basic skills in literacy and numeracy without relating them to real situations. Many children are still given too little opportunity for work in the scientific, practical and aesthetic areas. In about half of all classes much work is too closely directed by the teacher and there is little chance for oral discussion or setting and solving practical problems. Many teachers do not expect enough of their pupils: in most classes able pupils are insufficiently stretched and the weaknesses of the less able are not tackled appropriately.

By the end of the primary phase many pupils have achieved only a shaky foundation for some of their subsequent work, partly because teachers do not always insist that pupils should adequately understand the essentials and partly because they underestimate the pupils' potential.

The best secondary schools provide a broad curriculum in which pupils of all abilities reach high standards. They turn out young people with self-confidence, self-respect and respect for others, who are enterprising, adaptable, and eager and well equipped to face the adult world. But in most secondary schools agreed curricular policies appear to have little influence on the whole school.

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Many departments fail to put into practice their own and the school's declared alms and objectives.

In a large minority of cases, teachers' expectations of what pupils could achieve are clouded by inadequate knowledge and understanding of each pupil's aptitudes and difficulties; teaching is frequently directed at the middle level of ability so that the most able pupils are understretched and the least able cannot cope. In virtually all secondary schools and departments there is often excessive direction by the teacher and pupils have too few opportunities to learn for themselves. In about one fifth of secondary schools there is a serious problem of teachers having to teach a subject outside their competence.

The best special schools provide an education well suited to their pupils' capabilities and needs. But many special schools show many of the weaknesses found in primary and secondary schools.

[page 4]

as circumstances change. As the process develops, the Government after consultation will issue statements of policy, and Her Majesty's Inspectors (HMI) will continue to publish discussion papers. The objectives will be based on the best practice in local education authorities and schools.

The objectives are intended to have practical effect by becoming the basis of the curricular policies of:

• the Secretaries of State, who need a curriculum policy for discharging their statutory duty to promote the education of the people of England and Wales and their more specific duties, for example in relation to the pattern of schools and the supply and training of teachers;
• the local education authorities, for exercising their functions in such matters as the pattern of schools, the provision of resources, and the management of the teaching force;
• the schools, for organising and carrying out the actual work of teaching.

Reports made by local education authorities to the Government show that nearly every authority will shortly have an explicit policy for the curriculum as the basis of its work, but that many authorities' policies do not yet extend to all the matters for which a local policy is needed.

There is wide agreement about the purposes of learning at school, in particular that pupils should develop lively, enquiring minds, acquire understanding, knowledge and skills relevant to adult life and employment and develop personal moral values. To serve these purposes the Government believes that the curriculum offered to every pupil, whether at an ordinary school or a special school, should be:

• broad: it should introduce the pupil to a wide range of knowledge, understanding and skills;
• balanced: each part should be allotted sufficient time to make its special contribution, but not so much that it squeezes out other essential parts;

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• relevant: subjects should be taught so as to bring out their applications to the pupils' own experience and to adult life, and to give due emphasis to practical aspects;
• differentiated: what is taught and how it is taught need to be matched to pupils' abilities and aptitudes.

The progression through the school system

About 80 per cent of children are at school before they are five, in a nursery school or class or in the youngest class of a primary school. Local education authorities face problems of priority in determining the type and distribution of school places for the under fives. They have rightly tried to give preference to those children who most need help. The Government will aim to secure that authorities' expenditure on the under fives should continue, in cost terms, within broadly the same totals as at present.

Primary education is as important as secondary education. From the beginning of primary education, and throughout the compulsory period, each stage should help pupils to make the most of the process of growing up, to develop positive personal qualities and attitudes, and to establish solid foundations for what follows. The Government welcomes the wide agreement that throughout primary education and for the first three years of secondary education the curriculum should continue to be largely common to all pupils, but varied in pace and depth for differences in ability and maturity.

There should be some choice in the curriculum for the fourth and fifth years of secondary education but no pupil should be allowed to drop subjects whose continued study may be essential for subsequent learning, training or work. The Government believes that all pupils need to continue in these years with English, mathematics, a broad science course, and normally physical education or games; should study elements drawn from the humanities and the arts; should consolidate their understanding of the values and foundations of British society and develop economic awareness; and should take part in practical and technological work in a number of subjects, not least science. Most pupils should also continue with a foreign language, given Britain's membership of

[page 6]

the European Community and her place as a trading nation. The place of religious education is governed by law; the Government does not intend to change this.

A 5 to 16 curriculum on these lines will encourage the qualities, attitudes, knowledge, understanding and competences which are necessary to equip pupils for working life. With this aim in view the Government has established the Technical and Vocational Education Initiative (TVEl), which explores how best to fit work-related skills within initial full-time education. It is supporting in most local education authorities pilot projects for coherent courses at schools and colleges leading to recognised national qualifications over a four year period starting at age 14; the courses offer in the compulsory years a broad general education with a strong technical element followed, post-16, by increasing vocational specialisation. The Government is considering the wider application of the lessons of the TVEI.

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 to 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. The Government will work towards a more precise definition of what pupils of different abilities can be expected to achieve at age 11 and 16. This will be a difficult task. A start is being made in the new series of HMI discussion papers and, for age 16, in the development of grade criteria for the new GCSE examinations; the work will be supported by the findings of the Assessment of Performance Unit.

Developing the curriculum

In addition to the TVEI, the Government is supporting through education support grants the improvement of several aspects of the curriculum, notably the teaching of mathematics in schools; science teaching as part of primary education; and pilot projects to improve education in urban and rural primary schools. The Government will continue to consult with its partners about the balance of the essential elements within the curriculum, particularly for the fourth and fifth years of secondary education.

[page 7]

Examinations

The Government attaches great importance to public examinations at school. Examinations need to be designed and used to serve the curriculum. They are also an important preparation for employment. The Government, advised by the Secondary Examinations Council (SEC), has taken action to improve examinations and assessment.

GCSE

The new General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) will replace O Levels, CSE and the joint 16+ examinations. The first examinations will be held in 1988. The GCSE will be a single system, with a seven point scale of grades, A to G, and will use suitably differentiated papers or questions. It will operate under nationally agreed criteria published in March 1985 which have been developed by the examinations boards and approved by the Secretaries of State. These criteria will place a new emphasis on understanding, the application of knowledge, and oral and practical skills. They will be extended to include grade criteria which will define the main aspects of each subject which the examinations will be designed to test and the levels of attainment expected of candidates for the award of particular grades. The GCSE will be designed for all candidates, whatever their abilities relative to others, who are able to reach the standards - attainable but stretching for each ability level - required for the award of specific grades. It will be administered by five groups of boards in England and Wales. A special programme of training is being mounted to help all the teachers concerned to prepare for the introduction of the GCSE.

In order to encourage the ablest pupils to pursue a broad and balanced curriculum, the Government has published for consultation proposals for Distinction and Merit Certificates to reward candidates obtaining good grades in a specified range of subjects.

Pre-vocational courses

The Government will establish a working party, under an independent chairman, with representatives of the examining and validating bodies concerned, and serviced by the SEC, to draft national criteria for pre-vocational examination courses taken by pupils of statutory school age.

[page 8]

The Certificate of Pre-Vocational Education (CPVE) is a new post-16 qualification for those who are not pursuing A Levels or retaking, or adding to, subjects for the GCSE. CPVE courses will have general, practical and vocational elements. They are intended to replace a range of existing courses, including the pre-vocational courses of the City and Guilds of London Institute, the Business and Technician Education Council and the Royal Society of Arts, and the Certificate of Extended Education offered by most CSE and GCE Boards.

AS Levels

The Government is committed to keeping A Levels. It has decided to introduce a new examination in 1989, the Advanced Supplementary (AS) Level examination, so as to promote greater breadth for those engaged in A Level studies without reducing standards. This will widen the choice of subject combinations available to A Level students and so help to prepare them better for adult life and employment. The Government will invite the GCE Boards to prepare syllabuses, in cooperation with the SEC, higher education and others. Each syllabus will require about half the study time of an A Level course; the general quality of work demanded for the award of any grade will be comparable with that of A Level courses, so that full credit may be given to AS Level success in higher education admission processes.

Records of achievement

Many schools, including those taking part in the TVEI, are developing schemes to record and give credit for what pupils achieve beyond the results of public examinations. The Government, through education support grants, is supporting nine pilot schemes of records of achievement. The aim is to ensure by the end of the decade that all pupils leaving school will be provided with a record which recognises their achievements at school, including their examination successes.

[page 9]

public rightly regard standards of pupil 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 local education authorities and schools concerned have an urgent duty to tackle this problem.

More schools should offer more opportunities for pupils to acquire the habit of self-discipline, encourage and reward high standards of conduct, and rely less on disciplinary sanctions. The Government has introduced legislation which will give parents the right to exempt their children from corporal punishment at school. Schools and parents should cooperate in the matter of pupils' behaviour.

[page 10]

• have a greater say in the running of schools through the election of parent governors.

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those concerned and is constantly concerned to increase effectiveness.

Particular professional skills and training are necessary for teaching children with special needs. The Government considers that all initial training courses should include an introduction to the subject of special needs, that advice on special needs should be available to every school, and that teachers of classes of children with special needs should be prepared for that work by in-service training.

Teacher numbers

In 1984, local education authorities in England and Wales employed 439,000 school teachers, and the overall pupil to teacher ratio was 17.9:1. In 1974 the corresponding figure was 20.6:1. In the light of its policies for the curriculum the Government considers that although the number of teachers should fall during the next few years there should be some further limited improvement in the pupil to teacher ratio. How far and how fast this can be achieved must depend on future public expenditure plans; and it will be essential to find ways of improving the effectiveness with which the existing teacher force is deployed.

Quality of teaching

There is much excellent teaching in maintained schools but the Government's view, following HMI reports, is that a significant number of teachers are performing below the standard required to achieve the planned objectives of schools.

The Government plans a more rigorous approach to initial teacher training. The Government established during 1984 a new Council to advise the Secretaries of State on the approval of initial teacher training courses, and issued criteria in April 1984 which deal with:

• the selection of students for training;
• the academic and professional content of courses;
• the practical element of training.

[page 12]

In addition to being prepared as a class teacher, each new primary school teacher should be equipped to take a particular responsibility within the school for one aspect of the curriculum - such as science, mathematics or music.

In secondary schools teachers teaching a subject at GCE 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 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.

A good match between teachers' qualifications and their teaching programmes is one of a number of factors which promote high standards. Work of excellence is rarely found where match is poor. The Government will shortly amend the Education (Teachers) Regulations 1982 to require local education authorities and governors of aided schools to take account of the formal qualifications of teachers when determining whether the staff of a school is suitable for the purpose of providing education appropriate to its pupils. The Government welcomes indications from its 1984 surveys of secondary school staffing of a reduction in mismatch since 1977, and looks to local education authorities and schools to secure further reductions in the years ahead.

Demand for, and supply of, recruits to teaching

Shortages of teachers in certain specialisms - in particular mathematics, physics, and craft, design and technology (CDT) - have persisted for many years. In some cases they have been masked by the use of teachers with inadequate qualifications and experience in these subjects. In other cases schools have offered such subjects to fewer pupils than they would have wished. The Government's view of the place of science and CDT in the 5 to 16 curriculum implies some increase in their share of teaching time in the schools.

The Government will take existing shortages into account in determining target intakes to initial teacher training, but recognises that the institutions concerned have to compete against other professions in seeking to recruit students up to those targets. After some years of good recruitment to postgraduate training in mathematics and physics there are signs that it is now again becoming harder to attract students in those subjects. Because recruitment to training

[page 13]

for CDT has continued to be difficult, the Government has introduced a scheme of special awards for training in that subject. The Government will give further consideration to this difficult problem.

In-service training

In-service training has an important contribution to make to the career development of teachers. All teachers need from time to time to avail themselves of such training.

Resources devoted to in-service training are not always being used to the best advantage. More systematic planning is needed by schools and local education authorities to match training better to both the career needs of the teachers and the curricular needs of the schools. The Government agrees with the Advisory Committee on the Supply and Education of Teachers that a radical change is needed in the funding and organisation of in-service training.

Legislation is proposed for the introduction of a new specific grant to support local education authority expenditure on most aspects of in-service training.

Management of the teacher force

One crucial local education authority responsibility is to see that the teachers' professional commitment, skills and knowledge are used to best effect in the schools.

Individual teachers need support and encouragement for their professional development at all stages of their career:

• newly trained teachers need structured support and guidance during probation and their early 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 identified;
• all teachers need to be able to engage in in-service training relevant to their teaching programmes and professional needs.

[page 14]

comprehensive and up to date information necessary to facilitate effective professional support and development and to deploy teaching staff to the best advantage. Legislation is proposed to enable the Secretary of State, in appropriate circumstances, to require local education authorities to appraise the performance of their teachers.

The Government has decided 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, rather than through the introduction of a specific probationary period.

[page 15]

keep a village school with fewer than three full-time teachers and to augment its resources to give the pupils a good education;
• 11-16 comprehensive schools a school with five or fewer classes entering each year is unlikely to be able to offer a good curriculum without disproportionately generous staffing;
• comprehensive schools with sixth forms normally the school needs to be of a size which enables it to maintain a sixth form of at least 150 pupils, to provide an adequate range of A Level and other courses. With fewer pupils than this, effective coordination with other institutions is usually essential for the needs of sixth form pupils.

The Government will explore with its partners how more teachers can be drawn from the ethnic minorities without any reduction in the level of qualifications required. So as to provide accurate information for formulating and monitoring policy, the Government, despite the practical problems, will continue to try to identify an acceptable scheme to collect and use ethnically based statistics on pupils. It will also explore the possibility of similar statistics on teachers and those

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training to be teachers. The Government intends to commission research into the complex question of the causes of under-achievement wherever It occurs.

With minor modifications, the Government plans to implement its earlier proposals on the distribution of functions between the local education authority, the governing body and the headteacher of county, controlled and maintained special schools in accordance with the following principles:

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• the local education authority must have the powers necessary to carry out its statutory duties to provide sufficient and efficient schools, notably as the employer of staff, responsible for their appointment, dismissal and management; as the provider of resources, responsible for their effective use; as the owner of most of the premises, responsible for their fitness for purpose; and in relation to the curricular policies which inform its functions;
• the governing body should be able to determine, 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. It will have a voice in the appointment and dismissal of the school's staff, the aims and objectives of the curriculum, and the principles governing discipline; it will be informed of the cost of maintaining the school and given control over expenditure on certain items. Governors will receive training to help them do their job effectively;
• the professional responsibilities of the headteacher and staff must be respected. The responsibility of the headteacher for the day to day running of the school, notably the organisation and delivery of the curriculum and the maintenance of discipline, will have a firm legal foundation.

The governing body will be required to issue, free of charge, to the parents of all pupils at the school a brief annual report on the discharge of its functions; and to call an annual meeting of parents to consider the annual report and other matters relating to the life of the school.

Voluntary schools

The Government intends to preserve the dual system of county and voluntary schools which continues to serve the nation well. The distinctive features of voluntary schools will continue, including those relating to the composition of their governing bodies. Governing bodies of aided and special agreement schools will keep their existing functions, subject to minor changes.

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levels of expenditure per pupil are broadly maintained, education's share of public expenditure can be expected to decline significantly.

As pupil numbers fall, there will be diseconomies of scale. Nevertheless within the available resources the Government believes that there is also considerable and continuing scope for redeployment through increased efficiency. Substantial progress towards the objectives of the White Paper can be made if the education service secures the best use of what it has now. That effort can only help its future claims on resources. Sustained and purposeful action will be needed:

• to reduce the number of surplus school places. The Government will set new overall targets of surplus places to be removed for 1987 and later years, after discussion with the local authority associations;
• to achieve available economies on school meals. The Government is consulting on a proposal that the school meals service should be subject to compulsory competitive tendering;
• to reduce school caretaking and cleaning costs;
• to follow up the valuable analysis and recommendations of the Audit Commission for securing better use of resources.

[page 19]

him tuition in a broad and balanced range of subjects. The tuition must be appropriate to the pupil's age, ability and aptitudes and be offered with due regard to objectivity.

• broad agreement will be reached on those national objectives for the 5 to 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;
• the TVEI will be established in the great majority of local education authorities.

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The Government believes that, with good management of the teacher force and other resources by local education authorities and schools, the range of reforms and improvements now envisaged can be firmly established throughout the school system by the end of the decade.