Examination system`s "forgotten third"

How refreshing to read the interview with Sir Tim Brighouse, and actually be able to find agreement with so many ideas on education (Morning Star, 29/10/19). Naturally, I liked his ideas that exams should be "nationally set, internally marked and externally moderated", especially in view of the way the private schools are avoiding the newly-reformed GCSE and A-Level examinations.

   Brighouse`s views on the curriculum, that it should affect the "hearts and hands" as well as the minds of the young, were spot-on, especially as governments appear to have forgotten about the third of school pupils who are unable to gain grade 4 GCSE in Maths and English examinations every year.

The general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders described the fact that 190,000 young people "fall short" of grade 4s as a "tragedy" but the real sadness lies in them being  regarded as "failures". With so much attention on results, and so much publicity given to successful students, the depth of despair and demoralisation experienced by this "forgotten third" should be sufficient for any government, especially one claiming "one nation" status, to rethink both its examination and inspection policies. Judging schools almost entirely on their examination results has forced most of our underfunded state schools to devote totally insufficient resources to pupils unlikely to gain grade 4s.

       Whilst there has been justifiable concern about talent being wasted because of very bright working class students not being given the opportunities afforded by the so-called "top" universities, the plight of 35.6% of our young people  rarely gets a mention. The policy of forcing them to repeat the exams until they are "passed" is simply Dickensian!          These pupils do have skills, however, so one alternative is for examinations be devised for them which allow these skills to be exhibited and rewarded. Without a properly funded education for the non-academic pupils, these would undoubtedly be deemed, like the old CSEs, to be inferior. As Brighouse says, the current system is "designed to fail a third of pupils".

        Labour has much to write in its election manifesto on education, but remembering the "forgotten third", and funding a suitable curriculum for them, should be high on the list of priorities!