Education

London primary school education in crisis

A rise in the birth rate, migration and a drop in those leaving the capital could leave 12,000 without places between now and 2014, it is claimed.

Liberal Democrat MP Edward Davey says primary education in London faces a crisis and urgent action is needed.

The government says local councils are responsible for planning school places.

Other areas are also facing problems. In Birmingham, the birth rate in the inner city is rising and there are plans to create more than 1,400 new primary school places over the next five to 10 years.

A new primary school is planned and five schools will be enlarged.

In Bristol, about 300 four-year-olds are facing the prospect of being bussed across the city, as they are unable to get into a school close to their home. The council is considering opening extra reception classes.

Mr Davey, MP for Kingston and Surbiton, said in a Commons debate on the issue that local authorities had seen an "unexpected" rise in the birth rate and were struggling to provide enough school places for young children.

"It is no exaggeration to say that primary education in London faces a crisis - if it is not already in one - with a huge increase in the number of young children needing primary school places that simply do not yet exist," he said.

Research from the London Councils campaign group suggests there could be nearly 12,000 five-year-olds without places over the next six years in London and a further 15,000 being taught in temporary classrooms.

Mr Davey told MPs: "London Councils tells me that 25 out the 33 boroughs are facing capacity and capital funding problems at primary level - 17 outer-London boroughs and eight inner boroughs have reported problems."

He said Enfield and Merton predicted that more than 3,000 reception-aged children would be taught in temporary classrooms between now and 2014.Kingston estimated it would need 13 new entry classes by 2014.Across London, he said, councils were saying they would need between seven and 19 new classes.The government needed to intervene and put more money into funding school places, Mr Davey said, or it would be forced to break its promise of keeping infant class sizes to 30 children or fewer.

"When banks get bail-outs while schools get temporary classrooms and no revenue support, parents understandably get angry," he said.

"Families in Kingston and across London are not asking for the earth. They want a place in a quality local primary school.

"They do not want to return to the large class sizes that we witnessed under the Conservative government, when class sizes in Kingston were some of the largest in the country."Mr Davey said the birth rate in London was rising faster than in the rest of England.

Since 2001-02, London's birth rate had risen 20.5% compared with 16.8% in England as a whole.

The government insists local councils should not be facing unexpected rises in the birth rate, because information is available from health authorities. Schools minister Sarah McCarthy-Fry told the Commons: "Local authorities also use other factors and other methods to predict mobility. As was said, some local authorities are better than others at using the information at their disposal."But she said the government was reviewing emerging pupil number trends to inform the next spending review.

Later, Schools Minister Jim Knight said funding for schools for the next three years had been agreed based on pupil projections by local councils but the government would look at the research by the London Councils group.

Poor still shunning universities

The government has given universities £392m to get more working class youngsters in England to attend but progress has been slow, MPs say.

The Commons public accounts committee says it is "dismayed" the government seems to have little idea what they have done with the money.

Participation rose by two percentage points over five years to 2007-08 - newer universities doing better.The government says the committee's report has been superseded.Its report, Widening participation in higher education, points to a continuing large class divide.

"Although the gap is narrowing, more than twice the proportion of people from upper socio-economic backgrounds go into higher education than those from lower socio-economic groups."

It says: "Men from lower socio-economic backgrounds are significantly under-represented, particularly those from white ethnic backgrounds, as are young people living in deprived areas -compared with the general population."Youngsters can end up making the wrong choices because of poor guidance about which subjects to study.

One of the reasons is that some teachers base their advice on their outdated experiences of higher education.And some teachers and parents may be reluctant to recommend the more selective universities because of perceived prejudices about the types who go there.

So the MPs say it is essential that parents and teachers be included in the work universities need to do with reaching out to children while they are in school.Width of participation varies by the type of university, with those in the Russell Group of research intensive institutions having the poorest record.

But there are reasons for this."The Russell Group universities offer a mix of subjects such as medicine, law and engineering, which appeal to students from backgrounds with a tradition of attending university," the MPs say.

"As a result, the funding council believes that the Russell Group is not discriminating against applicants from under-represented groups, as they have a smaller pool of such applicants from which to select."

In any case the data on participation are suspect. The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (Dius) did not have information on the backgrounds of a large proportion of students.

In 2006-07, some 12,000 students did not apply for a bursary although many were likely to have met the necessary criteria."While information on financial assistance is available from a range of sources, it is not easily accessible or understood," the report says."The department should develop a single source of information to enable potential students to identify easily the bursaries and grants for which they may be eligible."Even then, the amount of tuition fee income that universities choose to redistribute as bursaries varies considerably, as does the amount students can get.

In 2008-09, the value of bursaries for students receiving full maintenance grants varied from £310 to £3,150.

Committee chairman Edward Leigh said: "It is of crucial importance to raise the aspirations of talented pupils from backgrounds where going to university is considered 'not for people like us' or the idea of doing so is never even entertained."

Slump in school computer lessons

The popularity of information and communication technology is declining rapidly in school despite its importance in adult life, Ofsted says.

In 2007 there were 45% fewer girls taking A-levels in the subject than in 2004, and almost a third fewer boys.

Teaching in some English schools is lagging behind and many pupils are taking qualifications of "doubtful value", the school inspectorate said.

The schools minister said the report showed "good progress" was being made.

Ofsted's report reveals that more and more pupils are taking vocational qualifications at Key Stage 4 (age 15-16) than GCSEs.

Such qualifications are worth four GCSEs in school league tables, but Ofsted says they "offer limited challenge".

It describes the situation as "serious" because it leads to fewer pupils studying ICT in the sixth-form, despite its increasing importance to our adult working lives.

The falling numbers of pupils sitting national qualifications troubles inspectors because many expressed enthusiasm for the subject, they say. The proportion of pupils taking double award GCSE or the shorter GCSE has fallen by a third since 2004, according to the report.

-BBC