1. Creativity and skills are being driven out of schools
GCSEs in design technology (electronics, food technology, graphics, resistant materials and engineering) have dropped by 42% since the Conservatives took control in 2010. They have been squeezed out by the narrow academic curriculum of the English baccalaureate and Progress 8 measure of school performance.
2. The death of technical education in our schools
Confirmed this year by only 10 students taking engineering at A-level. This is the only technical subject among the 40 most popular A-levels. The Department for Education boasts of increases in Stem subjects. But Stem means science, technology, engineering and maths. Schools do well in maths and science, but completely ignore technology and engineering. Design and technology A-levels are down about 40% from 16,000 to 10,000. After Brexit, the home secretary, Sajid Javid, will be pressed to admit even more skilled workers from abroad.
3 The total mismatch between the needs of industry and commerce and the output of schools
Take the entertainment industry where we are world leaders in theatre, television, music and computer gaming. Fewer students are now studying art, music, drama and dance — a 19% drop in these subjects since 2010.
3 The total mismatch between the needs of industry and commerce and the output of schools
Take the entertainment industry where we are world leaders in theatre, television, music and computer gaming. Fewer students are now studying art, music, drama and dance — a 19% drop in these subjects since 2010.
4 As exams are the main drivers in schools, too many children are being expelled to improve school league tables
There has been a rise of 3,000 in permanent personal exclusions (67%) and a rise of 114,000 (43%) in fixed-period exclusions over five years. These students are being virtually written off and it is a disgrace. University technical colleges have found that 6.8% of their students have been expelled in their earlier education, compared with the national average of 0.1%, but university technical colleges do not give up on these young people. They do not resort to further exclusion, but provide the practical training and education that improve their opportunities.
5 We are the only leading country that depends exclusively on three-hour written exams that are basically a test of memory
Coursework and continuous assessment are embedded in the exam assessments of other countries. We are going back to the exams of the 1940s — like the school certificate I took at 16 in 1950.
6 We have a growing tale of underachievement particularly for white girls and boys
In the new 1-9 GCSE grades, the department is making much of the improvement in levels 9, 8 and 7. But these are students who are going to do well in any event. The ones who really need help and attention are levels 4, 3, 2 and 1. Primary schools are now performing much better, but it all goes wrong between the ages of 11 and 14, which leads to many students being disengaged, behaving badly and playing truant.
7 Exams have been made much harder, but the results are being fudged and engineered
This is so that the underachievers are not discouraged. In Alice in Wonderland it was the Dodo who created a caucus race in which no one lost and everyone got a prize. We now have a Dodo-inspired exam system.
8 A-level students are walking away from foreign languages
Universities are culling their language courses — and that means a compulsory foreign language GCSE at 16 is not leading to greater numbers of students. Compulsion should be scrapped and a foreign language should be made a voluntary choice.
9 Universities this year have offered potential students 68,000 places without qualifications
This is what universities in France and Italy do, but many of their students drop out at the end of the first year. These “bums-on-seats” students should not qualify for £9,000 loans for this is likely to lead to wasteful public expenditure — they should get only £6,000. Going to a university is no longer the guarantee of a good job — higher apprentices will earn more than many university graduates.
10 We are not producing people with the skills needed for today’s jobs
Employers are looking for students who have had the following experiences: working in teams, problem-solving, fixing things, making things with their hands and designing things on computers. None of these are taught in secondary schools, but they are central to the teaching in university technical colleges. Computer science A-levels have remained at about 13,000 since 2010. The exam system has ignored the fourth industrial revolution.
Lord Baker of Dorking was education secretary from 1986 to 1989
No comments:
Post a Comment