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• 07Feb2013

  A U-Turn, Confusing Names and Consultations: All in a day’s work for education policy

  Posted by Julie Gibbings

  We knew that an announcement on the new national curriculum was imminent. We also knew that the proposed reforms to GCSE qualifications to the so-called ‘English Baccalaureate Certificate’ (EBC) were highly controversial and had been panned by teachers, their unions and others, including the CBI.

  Last night, my Twitter feed suddenly exploded with the news that the EBC was to be scrapped. That, along with announcements about the new national curriculum, would be the subject of a statement by Michael Gove in the House of Commons this morning. I’ll confess to being slightly over-excited about hearing the statement. Spot the educational policy geek.

  So what did Mr Gove have to say?

  The EBC, which would have ended competition between exam boards to offer examinations in the core subjects, is scrapped. Gove admitted that this was “one reform too many”. He then went onto say “instead we will concentrate on reforming existing GCSEs along the lines we put forward in September.” Essentially, this means:

  • GCSEs will remain linear, with assessments being taken at the end of the course in the vast majority of cases (a linear structure was implemented for all courses begun in September 2012) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-17238298
  • Higher and foundation tier papers will be scrapped. Extension papers will be made available for the most able
  • Ofqual have been asked to ensure that the new GCSEs in the core subjects of English, maths, the sciences, history and geography are ready for first teaching in September 2015.

  It’s not hugely surprising that the plug has been pulled on the EBC. The timetable for development and implementation of the qualification was unrealistic and the criticism of the policy left Gove with no real choice. It’s important to note that the only major change here is that the element of competition between exam boards will remain. Linear qualifications are here to stay.

  When it comes to the EBacc, Gove acknowledged that there had been considerable confusion between this and the EBC. I agree. A lot of people were rejoicing last night at the EBacc being scrapped. It hasn’t been. Just to clarify, here’s the difference in a nutshell:

  • EBacc (English Baccalaureate) http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/teachingandlearning/qualifications/englishbac/a0075975/the-english-baccalaureate: The core subjects upon which schools are measured for performance tables
  • EBC (English Baccalaureate Certificate): The now-scrapped qualifications that were set to replace GCSEs in the EBacc subjects

  At the moment, school performance tables are calculated based on the percentage of pupils who attain at least a grade C pass in the EBacc subjects. This has been criticised for not being a broad enough measure and for encouraging schools to concentrate on C/D borderline students “at the expense of their higher or lower-achieving peers.” Gove announced proposals to change to this accountability system and for schools to be measured by:

  • The percentage of pupils who reach an attainment threshold in English and maths
  • An “average points score showing how much progress every student makes between key stage 2 and key stage 4.” This will be across eight subjects: English and maths, at least three other EBacc subjects and in three additional subjects

  This actually makes a lot of sense. Not including the arts, design and technology, citizenship and other subjects in accountability measures was controversial and disliked by many. This proposal is now open for consultation.

  Alongside this, came the long awaited announcement on the new National Curriculum, which opened public consultation on the new proposals 

  The Department published draft programmes of study for all subjects at key stage 1-3  and draft programmes for English, maths and science at key stage 4  (the latter are for information only and are not being consulted on at this stage). It’s important to note that the National Curriculum only applies to maintained schools, and not to academies or free schools.

  Perhaps surprisingly to some, all existing national curriculum subjects will remain. There are also proposals to “disapply some aspects of the current National Curriculum from September 2013.” The justification for this is that it will give schools an opportunity to prepare for the application of the new curriculum from September 2014. Which is fair, I suppose, although it doesn’t give schools a huge amount of time to get their head round what they are and aren’t obliged to do next academic year.

  See the full statement and questions at the BBC and access all of the information and consultation documents.

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