Comments on: Ruin it, modernise it

by: Administrator

Wed, 17 Aug 2005 22:21:20 +0100

I’m happy to accept that under Maggie - who wasn’t really a conservative, more an economic libertarian - education wasn’t a priority. I think Keith Joseph introduced the GCSE.

Regardless, the decline over the last 8 years cannot be blamed on the administration that came before. Labour’s ideology - equality of outcome, no elitism, all must have prizes - is ruining things for everybody.

Bill, sadly you’re right; the only way to preserve anything in this country is to keep Blair’s hands away from it.

by: Bill Sticker

Wed, 17 Aug 2005 20:15:50 +0100

The only thing to do to ressurect standards in education would be to adopt the International Baccalaureat as an educational benchmark. It’s recognised the world over and what is better, the standard is international and so Blair etc. can’t screw around with it. Just a thought.

by: Thersites

Tue, 16 Aug 2005 22:01:24 +0100

We are seeing a long decline in examination credibility which, I'm afraid, commenced with the Conservative Government. The National Curriculum Council was established to oversee the content and assessment of the national curriculum (for 5–16 year-old children) as part of the 1988 Education Act. Before the 1988 Education Act, schools throughout England and Wales were free to decide the content of their curriculum and the examination boards setting the exams. In 1997 under a Labour Government, control was handed over to the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA); underpinned by the legislative framework set out in the Education Act 1997, as amended by the Education Act 2002. From the QCA website:

The QCA was set up under the Education Act 1997 as a non-departmental public body appointed by, and accountable to, the Secretary of State. It has responsibilities in the areas of the school curriculum (including the foundation stage), and all aspects of assessment, including external vocational and academic qualifications. It is required to conduct its business with a view to promoting quality and coherence in education and training.

The 1997 Labour Government insisted that the English boards merge to form three major ‘one-stop shops’ incorporating A levels, GCSEs and the General National Vocational Qualifications. Any remaining control over standards by the Universities was lost. In March 1999, the Government announced the outcome of the Qualifying for Success consultation. This proposed: a new AS qualification (Advanced Subsidiary), a new broader A level syllabus, and a new ‘synoptic’ assessment at A level. A levels were subsequently revised following this pattern in 2001. The most logical answer would be for the Universities to resurrect their examination boards for local A level examinations, those boards still exist & market A levels abroad. It would be a good idea to go back to assigning grades according to the percentage of candidates gaining marks ie the top x% getting an A, the next y% getting a B and so on. That way if the exam was easier or harder than usual the marks would be adjusted — as was the mechanism when I sat my A levels.

by: Bishop Hill

Tue, 16 Aug 2005 19:59:17 +0100

I think this decline has been going on since before Labour took power, but with the majority he enjoyed, Blair could easily have taken on the unions and brought about some meaningful reform of the system. Instead he has opted for trying to convince everyone that the system is fine, or before that there was the whole debacle of downgrading loads of people and hoping nobody would notice. Remember that?

The best we can hope for is that the budget private education providers take off in this country as they have in some other places.

by: DE

Tue, 16 Aug 2005 16:58:09 +0100

It hasn’t helped that teachers have encouraged the spread of “Media Studies” and “Sociology” as A level subjects. These don’t mean diddly squat to most job sectors.

by: driverchris

Tue, 16 Aug 2005 15:33:19 +0100

I agree with H. L. Mencken when he said:
“The only way to look at a politician is down”

But is it all the current governments fault? If things are in a bad way (health provision, educational standards etc) has it all been suddenly in the last eight years?

The worst aspects of policy in my opinion, PFI’s and a slavish devotion to ‘the market’ are not at all socialist, Blair has stolen the Conservatives clothes, and we’ve ended up with the worst of both worlds.

Someone who smiles and insists it’s for the best as he shafts you.

by: David Vance

Tue, 16 Aug 2005 15:13:20 +0100

Couldn’t agree more Gary - it is the creation of an underclass that feeds off Labour.