During the past few weeks, head teachers all over the country have been proudly parading the “outstanding” exam results achieved by their pupils. This has become an annual ritual with the same claims of “more people than ever before…” trotted out year after year. The clear implication is that schools are performing better than ever.
It is difficult to square these claims with all the other evidence. Evidence like the view of Sir Digby Jones, former CBI head, that half of all school leavers are unfit to enter the job market. Or the comment of Tesco’s CEO, Sir Terry Leahy that too many children have been leaving school after 11 or 13 years of compulsory education “without the basic skills to get on in life and hold down a job”.
If education is improving so markedly why is it that, according to Education Secretary, Michael Gove, the UK has slipped from 6th to 18th averaged across three key subjects? And why do so many employers now need to look outside the UK for skills and ability which are simply no longer available in the UK?
Despite all the evidence, teachers argue that teaching is becoming more effective and examinations more difficult year on year. There has, they say, been no dumbing-down of exams.
Not so, says former director at the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, Mick Waters. He claims that exam boards are conniving in the dumbing-down of school exams. Until he began working for the QCA he thought such claims were “unfair”; but now thinks the system is “diseased, almost corrupt”. Is it any wonder that concerned parents are beginning to take control and setting up their own schools?
Critics of Michael Gove’s Free Schools policy have made much of the fact that only fourteen applications for Free Schools have been lodged with the Dept of Education. Considering the degree of organisation, commitment and time required to succeed, it is a wonder that any applications have seen the light of day. In fact, it is a clear indicator of just how bad the situation has become.
Parents have an understandable resistance to criticising their son or daughter’s school. Not only is it risky to put one’s head over the parapet, but we fear undermining the hard work our children are doing. The problem is that a child’s time at school is the most influential in terms of their life chances. Surely we all have a duty to ensure that they are given the best opportunities available. Second best just isn’t good enough.
Parents need to wake up to the reality and recognise what is really going on in their local schools. Those who continue to be hood-winked by the smoke and mirrors of the education sector will suffer a rude awakening when they find that their son or daughter’s 2.1 degree is nothing more than a ticket to a lifetime on jobseeker’s allowance or a lowly paid job working for a properly-educated Indian or Chinese short-term immigrant.
Perhaps the next time the school newsletter arrives proclaiming the enormous success of the entire exam year, parents will remember the views of those who actually deal with the output of our schools and take it all with a rather large pinch of salt!
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Here Come The Exam Results – Pass The Salt!
It is difficult to square these claims with all the other evidence. Evidence like the view of Sir Digby Jones, former CBI head, that half of all school leavers are unfit to enter the job market. Or the comment of Tesco’s CEO, Sir Terry Leahy that too many children have been leaving school after 11 or 13 years of compulsory education “without the basic skills to get on in life and hold down a job”.
If education is improving so markedly why is it that, according to Education Secretary, Michael Gove, the UK has slipped from 6th to 18th averaged across three key subjects? And why do so many employers now need to look outside the UK for skills and ability which are simply no longer available in the UK?
Despite all the evidence, teachers argue that teaching is becoming more effective and examinations more difficult year on year. There has, they say, been no dumbing-down of exams.
Not so, says former director at the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, Mick Waters. He claims that exam boards are conniving in the dumbing-down of school exams. Until he began working for the QCA he thought such claims were “unfair”; but now thinks the system is “diseased, almost corrupt”. Is it any wonder that concerned parents are beginning to take control and setting up their own schools?
Critics of Michael Gove’s Free Schools policy have made much of the fact that only fourteen applications for Free Schools have been lodged with the Dept of Education. Considering the degree of organisation, commitment and time required to succeed, it is a wonder that any applications have seen the light of day. In fact, it is a clear indicator of just how bad the situation has become.
Parents have an understandable resistance to criticising their son or daughter’s school. Not only is it risky to put one’s head over the parapet, but we fear undermining the hard work our children are doing. The problem is that a child’s time at school is the most influential in terms of their life chances. Surely we all have a duty to ensure that they are given the best opportunities available. Second best just isn’t good enough.
Parents need to wake up to the reality and recognise what is really going on in their local schools. Those who continue to be hood-winked by the smoke and mirrors of the education sector will suffer a rude awakening when they find that their son or daughter’s 2.1 degree is nothing more than a ticket to a lifetime on jobseeker’s allowance or a lowly paid job working for a properly-educated Indian or Chinese short-term immigrant.
Perhaps the next time the school newsletter arrives proclaiming the enormous success of the entire exam year, parents will remember the views of those who actually deal with the output of our schools and take it all with a rather large pinch of salt!