Quality | 2009.08.26
Tories want to revive education divide, says Ed Balls
Schools secretary\'s critique of Gove\'s proposals to be published in Guardian on day GCSE results are announced
Ed Balls marks the publication of this year\'s GCSE results tomorrow with a scathing attack on the Conservatives\' education plans , claiming they want to revive a two-tiered school system relegating millions of children to take "second-class" exams.
The first generation of children to be entirely educated under Labour receive their GCSE results tomorrow and another record-breaking year is predicted. Writing in the Guardian, Balls, the schools secretary, claims the Conservatives have mounted a concerted campaign to "do down" the state education system, making accusations of "dumbing down" and "rubbishing the achievements of young people".
In a deeply personal critique of the position of the shadow schools minister, Michael Gove, Balls claims his policies would entrench the divide between academic and vocational education, relegating training to second best. He says Labour will push ahead with plans for new diplomas to rival A-levels, in order to "break the historic divide" in qualifications.
He writes: "Instead of breaking down the damaging old divide between \'excellent\' academic qualifications for some and \'second class\' for everybody else, the Tories seem determined to turn back the clock.
"Our diplomas, combining theoretical and applied learning, are our best chance to break this historic divide. They are widely backed by employers and universities and I\'m determined to do everything we can to make them a success."
He said Gove\'s stance betrayed his "increasingly narrow and deeply conservative view of education policy".
Last week, Gove outlined plans to overhaul school league tables, removing vocational qualifications and diplomas from scores and giving extra points for so-called "harder" subjects. Schools say this would force them to abandon vocational training courses for pupils who might struggle on academic courses.
The diplomas, which the government is rolling out to every school and college in the next four years, span academic and vocational learning, encompassing some GCSE, A-level and vocational courses as well as work experience. They have been slow to take off, with only 12,000 starting them in the first year. The first few hundred diplomas will be awarded tomorrow along with the GCSE results.
Some 600,000 pupils will receive GCSE results and they are expected to show another rise in the top grades. Two-thirds of all GCSEs will be at least a grade C, for the first time.
Last year, 23.5% of GCSEs sat by girls were awarded an A, compared with 17.9% for boys. The gap is expected to narrow, but girls are predicted to reach 25% A-grade pass rate for the first time.
One teaching union has called for GCSEs to be overhauled. Mary Bousted, the general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said that GCSEs as they stand are failing students. "In our exam-obsessed system students are taught to pass tests, rather than encouraged to learn skills," she said.
"Our exam system is particularly ill-suited to helping young people develop their creativity, initiative, team-working, problem-solving and reasoning skills, which they need in work and to continue in higher education. Schools and colleges find it increasingly difficult to make time in the over-packed curriculum to develop these soft skills.
"The perpetual focus on exams still fails the 40% of young people who do not get five GCSE passes. They continue to be spat out of an education system which has no room to develop their skills and talents, and so completely fails to meet their needs."
The Liberal Democrats today released data revealing that the number of 16-year-olds leaving school without five GCSEs graded A*-C since Labour came to power is expected to reach 3 milliontomorrow. David Laws, the Lib Dem education spokesman, said: "These shocking figures reveal the true extent of Labour\'s failure in education. After over 10 years in power, it is deeply concerning that around one third of pupils are leaving education without even achieving the basic standard of five good GCSEs."
A spokesman for the Tory party said it supported high quality vocational qualifications, but he accused the government of "botching" diplomas. He said: "Ed Balls keeps trying to persuade everybody that they should treat academic and vocational qualifications as if they are identical, but they are not. They should be respected equally, but devised and implemented differently. We will publish information about vocational qualifications and academic qualifications, but what we won\'t do is conflate the two. Ed Balls should fix the problems he\'s created instead of seeking to play politics with education."
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009[...]ls-attacks-conservative-policy
