As well as the excellent proposals made in your editorial for the steps which "can be taken straight away" to deal with the "inequality-generating machines" which are private schools, others are worthy of consideration (Private schools present obstacles to social mobility that must be overcome, 13/02/19). Closing the loopholes which allow schools in the independent sector to by-pass the newly-reformed, more rigorous, and coursework-free GCSE and A-level examinations by entering pupils for coursework-included and lightly regulated IGCSE and Pre-U examinations is essential. Coursework was seen by Gove as the main reason for grade inflation, and recently described by the Ofsted chief inspector to the education select committee as a vehicle for "mark collection", so why Cambridge Assessment examinations are still allowed to include it for final assessment beggars belief.
The only entry qualifications for our state-funded universities should be A-levels, described by Ofqual as "national qualifications based on content set by the government", and BTEC`s vocational qualifications. As private schools "educate around 6% of the UK`s school population", banning universities from having more than 6% of their undergraduate intake from the private sector, as many have suggested, also appears eminently sensible!
If GCSEs "are the gold-standard qualification", as the spokesman for the Department for Education says, why are schools in the independent sector allowed to avoid them, and enter their pupils instead for Cambridge Assessment`s IGCSE examinations, which allow coursework (GCSE exams must be scrapped, says Tory MP, 11/02/19)? Robert Halfon`s idea for a Baccalaureate which recognises academic and technical skills is a good one, but only if all schools, including private schools. are forced to adopt it as their only leaving qualification!
Robert Halfon rightly says that "a well-rounded education requires more breadth" than on offer with the current exam-obsessed system (Influential Tory calls for GCSEs to be scrapped in exam overhaul, 11.02.19).The problem with his idea, however, is whether the new baccalaureate, which includes "vocational skills and personal development", would also be compulsory in the independent sector. It is well known how private schools avoid the newly reformed exam-based GCSEs and A-levels by entering pupils for Cambridge Assessment`s lightly-regulated IGCSE and Pre-U exams, which are still allowed to include coursework as part of the final assessment. Interestingly, the Ofsted chief inspector told the education select committee last week that exams which include "coursework components" turn into "something about mark-collection" rather than "exciting projects"!
Unless all schools are forced to adopt the new baccalaureate, and universities accept its grades as the only viable entry qualification, Halfon`s idea will have the effect of decreasing social mobility even further!
That the "reversal in the rise of state school enrolments" to university matches the slow progress being made in recruitment "from areas of low education achievement" is hardly surprising (Proportion of state school pupils starting university declines, 08/02/19). These areas have suffered the worst excesses of the Tories` callous and unnecessary austerity policies, and their schools will be the ones suffering most in terms of underfunding, leading to inevitable curriculum and staffing problems. Pupils from such schools do brilliantly if they manage to get the A-level grades needed for university, but many with unfulfilled potential do not.
Pupil motivation in these schools is a real challenge, especially when funds are being reduced, which makes the facts that wealthy private schools receiving state handouts "of more than £200m a year", and also being allowed to gain university entrance qualifications through lightly-regulated exams which unlike A-levels, include coursework as part of the total assessment, even more galling (Critics take aim at subsidies given to private schools, 05/02/19). Universities have to recognise the potential in pupils from poor backgrounds, from schools in deprived regions, with discipline and staffing problems, poor leadership, and lower-than-average results, who manage to get 3 A-level passes. The idea of denying student loans to students with less than 3 Ds at A-level is a disgraceful one, and one which the government should reject immediately (Denying loans to weaker A-levels will "penalise poor families, 05/02/19)!
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