Overhauling Our Education System!
This week I was happy to defend the Education Secretary over the leaked plan to overhaul secondary school exams.
I believe that Michael Gove was right to point out that the current system has become fragmented, exam results inflated, and Britain's international educational rankings had slumped.
The leak which last week provoked a political storm was not an announcement, but a departmental leak. We have yet to see the details but any changes were to be part of a 12 week consultation this autumn. What cannot be denied is that the present system is letting kids down.
Everyone accepts that action is needed to ensure that pupils are helped to realise their full potential. Mr Gove's main drive is to "put rigour and consistency back into the education system."
The demand for such an overhaul was coming from business and academia. We have fallen considerably behind in the international league tables. When you look at the OECD figures in 2011 and see that we have gone from seventh to 25th in reading, from eighth to 28th in maths and from fourth to 16th in science, you know something has to be done.
If Mr Gove's plan goes ahead, students would begin studying "tougher" O-level style exams in English, maths and the sciences from September 2014. They would take their exams in 2016.
Despite threats of a split within the coalition I hope the Liberal Democrats would see the need for change.
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David Bartlett
City editor of the Post and Echo covering politics, regeneration, and urban affairs.
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One things for certain, doing nothing is not an option.
50% of kids leaving schools without 5 gcse's a-c is a damning indictment of our education system (thanks labour). There are countries that do much better and spend a fraction of the amount we do on education.
So I'm prepared to consider scrapping GSCEs but I want to know that what replaces it is better, not just for the UK, but for the kids as well. Kids should have a say in this.
"So I'm prepared to consider scrapping GSCEs but I want to know that what replaces it is better, not just for the UK, but for the kids as well. Kids should have a say in this".
Mr McCann the changes to the secondary school exams will only affect England not the UK as a whole, education is a devolved matter.
Ms McVey has not made her self clear and is just like all the other British MPs, she can't quite get her head around devolution and how it works.
So if we measure a distance in miles, will it be longer than if we measure it in kilometers ?
If we measure a time in minutes, will it be longer or shorter than if we were to convert it to seconds.
This is sadly based on the ' when I was a lad ' philosophy of the person who stands in the corner of the bar holding court and who brings forth the number of years he attended school as 'experience' and the number of O or A levels he has as qualifications to do the job.
International comparisons are highly unreliable. Tests taken in unknown circumstances, supervised by unknown people. Selected pupils missed our or put in the test. The results are highly dubious.
Goves ultimate plan is to privatise the education system so even more money can go to offshore companies who pay no tax...and offer safe havens to old politicians
Esther should read yesterday's Times Educational Supplement.. The Confederation of British Industry sees the EBC as like to repeat all the mistakes of the past. Lord Baker, once an education minister sees it as "a huge mistake". The Sports and Recreation Alliance representing organisations such as the FA see it as seriously damaging to P.E.. The chief exec of Cambidge Assessment opposes it. The current Conservative chair of of the Education Select Committee describes it as "incoherent". Head teachers are opposed. The major Independent Schools are not going to touch them.
As long as everybody else is wrong Gove might be right!