Business leaders have called for a radical rethink of
England's schools system, including abolition of GCSEs at 16 and a break from
the "exams factory" of the national curriculum and league tables.
Ahead of its annual conference, beginning on Monday, the
Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has released a manifesto of proposed
changes to every layer of the school system, from pre-school to 18.
Employers sought school-leavers who did not just possess a
clutch of exam passes but were "rounded and grounded", said John
Cridland, the CBI director general. Emphasis on exams and league tables
"has produced a conveyor belt, rather than what I would want education to
be, an escalator," he said.
"It's very rigid and it emphasises the typical and the
average. It doesn't necessarily well support the 30% who struggle and doesn't
necessarily well support the 10% who are flying."
Given plans to raise the leaving age to 18, Cridland said,
it made less sense to have GCSEs at 16 followed by A-levels two years later.
"If we're all committed to raising the education leaving age to 18 over
the next few years, then the tests at 16 are hugely important but they're not
the end point. They're a staging post.Sometimes the entire debate seems to be
about our exams at 16," he said.
"The logic of what we're saying is that over time, the
critical moments become 13 to 14 and then 18. Thirteen to 14 because of the
choices people make, which school they go to and what subjects they study, and
then four years of learning which culminates in the choice of university.
Sixteen is important, but it's not an end point."
In its report, First Steps, the CBI argues that school
standards have slipped in comparison to those internationally after three
decades of policy focused on "narrow measures of performance" such as
league tables and exam passes. Matching the best standards in Europe would
boost GDP growth by about an extra 1% a year.
The CBI's prescription for change is varied, ranging from
better childcare in disadvantaged areas to an overhaul of the primary school
curriculum and a revised A-level system also offering "gold standard"
vocational qualifications for those less suited to academia. The report calls
for teachers to be allowed to tailor lessons to pupils' aptitudes and
interests.
"The best teachers we've talked to are rebels against
the system," said Cridland. "They have had to break out of the
straitjacket of the curriculum which has stopped them delivering the sort of
education our young people need."
New technology made this possible, he added. "You can
have Brian Cox beamed onto a whiteboard to teach science interactively. In
years gone by with one teacher, doing his or her best with chalk and talk in
front of 30 kids in the 1950s, there was no alternative. Now there is: laptops,
tablets, whiteboards, beamed-in satellites. There's much more we can do."
Brian Lightman, general secretary of the Association of
School and College Leaders, said the CBI was wrong to say standards had slipped
in international comparisons, but agreed there was far too much focus "on
statistics relating to institutional performance, as opposed to learning
outcomes for individuals".
Stephen Twigg, the shadow education secretary, said:
"This report suggests that the government's planned EBacc certificates are
the wrong approach. When business leaders say his approach to education is
wrong, [education secretary] Michael Gove looks seriously out of touch.
"It confirms that Michael Gove has focused on the wrong
thing by spending two years tinkering with exams at 16, rather than offering
all young people the skills and knowledge they need when they leave education
at 18."
A Department for Education spokesman said: "No school
should settle for second best – and every one of our reforms is designed to
drive up standards so all children have a first-class education.
"The CBI rightly recognises the importance of English
and maths, calls for greater rigour in the curriculum and in exams, welcomes
the academy programme, wants a new accountability system and backs greater
freedom for teachers. These are all part of the government's radical package of
reforms that will give England's education system the thorough overhaul it
needs."
Source: 19 November 2012, The Guardian by Peter Walker
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