Michael Gove announce a major climb-down on Thursday over his controversial plans to scrap GCSEs in favour of a new English Baccalaureate.
In a surprise statement in the Commons, Mr Gove revealed that he is abandoning plans to introduce the new qualification in 2015 and that GCSEs will remain, although they will be “reformed”.
Michael Gove announce a major climb-down on Thursday over his controversial plans to scrap GCSEs in favour of a new English Baccalaureate.
In a surprise statement in the Commons, Mr Gove revealed that he is abandoning plans to introduce the new qualification in 2015 and that GCSEs will remain, although they will be “reformed”.
The country is already seeing some schools pushing pupils with low attainment away from doing the EBacc subjects in order to try to game the system, exacerbating divides. So some young people are discouraged from studying subjects like English, Maths, Sciences, Humanities or Languages. Creative subjects like art, design, drama and music are also being side-lined despite the incredible value that our creative sector brings to the UK economy.
As a teacher of many years Anne Snelgrove, Labour’s Candidate in South Swindon for MP at the next General Election, has followed the developments closely since they were announced. Anne said, “This has been a very difficult and worrying time for Swindon’s schools and young people studying GCSEs. Michael Gove announced his reforms without having consulted either teachers or many of the education experts in his own department, so I am not surprised that he has found the planned changes to be unworkable. Had he gone ahead, it is likely he would have faced challenges in the courts by the examination boards, which would have destabilised the system even more than it has already been. This is a sorry story of incompetence and arrogance, which has done nothing to help Swindon’s children.”
Instead of trying to recreate an out of date, narrow education system, nationally Labour is developing plans for a rigorous, high quality curriculum and set of exams, that prepares young people for the future and properly teaches and assesses both their skills and knowledge between the ages of 14 and 18.
With the leaving age for education rising to 18, we need a set of gold standard qualifications that tests academic, practical, creative and technical learning.