To address the shortage of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills, the Department is encouraging more students into STEM education and training, at all stages from primary school to higher education. As part of the Industrial Strategy, the Government has committed substantial spending on mathematics, digital and technical education to increase the take-up and better teaching of STEM subjects in schools. For example, the Department is funding a new £84 million programme to improve computing teaching and participation, and the Advanced Maths Premium which aims to support schools and colleges in tackling some of the financial barriers to increase participation in post-16 maths.<\/p>
<\/p>
The Department is committed to tackling the gender imbalance in STEM subjects, and has invested in programmes to address female participation, particularly in subjects like computing and physics. This includes the Stimulating Physics Network which has a specific strand focusing on increasing the number of girls\u2019 in physics A level. A Gender Balance in Computing pilot programme will also be launched this year to identify practical interventions that schools (at all stages, excluding post-16) can implement to improve girls\u2019 participation in computing.<\/p>
<\/p>
The Department is improving careers advice in schools so that young people are aware of the high quality options available for both technical and academic routes into STEM and that they have access to information about the variety of careers that STEM pathways have to offer. STEM activities, including employer talks and work visits, are built into school career programmes and the Careers & Enterprise Company funds opportunities for young people to meet a wide range of STEM employers.<\/p>
<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/111", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Nick Gibb"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Bognor Regis and Littlehampton"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Nick Gibb"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-04-02", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-04-02T16:54:44.823Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "60"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Education"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Education"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-03-25", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "STEM Subjects: Skilled Workers"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to tackle the skills gap in STEM subjects.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4131", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Jim Shannon"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Strangford"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Jim Shannon"} ], "uin" : "236376"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1083516", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Education"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1083516/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
Teaching the history of the Holocaust is a compulsory part of the history curriculum at Key Stage 3 in maintained schools in England.<\/p>
<\/p>
The Department provides funding to University College London\u2019s Institute of Education\u2019s Centre for Holocaust Education to train teachers on how best to teach pupils about the Holocaust. In addition, it funds the Holocaust Educational Trust to run the Lessons from Auschwitz project which provides educational visits for teachers and sixth form students to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau.<\/p>
<\/p>
In October 2018, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced funding of £1.7 million for a new programme to commemorate the 75th<\/sup> anniversary of the liberation of Bergen-Belsen.<\/p> <\/p> Education is a devolved matter, and approaches to Holocaust education may differ in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland.<\/p> <\/p>"}
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], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps he has taken to ensure that pupils are (a) taught the history of and (b) well informed about the holocaust.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
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, {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1063843", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Education"}
], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1063843/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : " All schools should be safe and disciplined environments within which pupils feel happy and able to fulfil their potential. This Government is committed to ensuring that all teachers are equipped with the skills to tackle both the serious behavioural issues that compromise the safety and wellbeing of pupils and school staff, as well as the low level disruption that too often gets in the way of teaching.<\/p> Any form of violence in school is completely unacceptable and should not be tolerated. The workplace should not be a setting where people, including teachers and pupils, are subject to threats of, or actual violence, harassment or bullying. The Health and Safety Executive has provided advice for schools to use to put in place strategies to prevent or minimise workplace harassment and violence. Schools\u2019 behaviour policies should set out how poor behaviour, including incidents of violence, are dealt with.<\/p> If there is a violent attack on a teacher or any person on school premises, the Department expects schools to take immediate and robust action. This should include ongoing support for the person concerned and a review of the incident to establish what lessons can be learned. Any decision on how to sanction a pupil is a matter for the school. Where the incident constitutes a criminal offence, the school should report it to the police.<\/p> To further support schools, the Department provides head teachers, teachers and governing boards with a range of information to help them develop policies to manage disruptive and poor behaviour within the classroom in order to help reduce the likelihood of violent attacks on teachers and pupils.<\/p> The Department has also given teachers a range of powers to promote good behaviour. The Department\u2019s advice on behaviour has also been updated to outline a range of sanctions that it is permissible for teachers to use.<\/p> The Department is investing £10 million to create behaviour hubs in England to facilitate the sharing of best practice in classroom and behaviour management.<\/p>"}
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], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to reduce the level of attacks on teachers by pupils in schools.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
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, {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1054023", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Education"}
], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1054023/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : " On 28 January 2019 we launched the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy.<\/p> Designed collaboratively with the education sector, the centrepiece of the strategy is the Early Career Framework, which will underpin a fully-funded, two-year package of structured support for all teachers in the first two years of their career.<\/p>"}
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], "questionText" : "What steps his Department has taken to strengthen the teaching profession.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
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, {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/997546", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Education"}
], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/997546/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : " No representation has been received on the exclusion of Christianity from religious education curriculum or the GCSE in religious studies.<\/p> <\/p> Teaching about Christianity is a mandatory element of religious education. All state funded schools in England are required to teach religious education from age 5. This must \u2018reflect that the religious traditions of Great Britain are in the main Christian whilst taking account of the teaching and practices of the other principal religions represented in Great Britain.\u2019<\/p> <\/p>