School and university reform

As John Gray wrote, Roberto Unger`s "proposals for a national project are mostly unworkable", but that does not necessarily include his ideas relating to education (How to remake Britain, 19 March). Unger is rightly critical of the national curriculum`s "intimate association with testing" and the value placed on "the memorisation of facts" (The system cannot hold, 19 March). Both resulted from Gove`s unnecessary assessment reforms in 2010, and can easily be remedied. The current debate about how our history has been manipulated, and how imperial amnesia has led to a distorted and misplaced view of Britain being somehow "exceptional", demands change. Many text books need rewriting,and many documents unearthing from their secrecy in Hanslope Park before the subject can justify a compulsory place in the curriculum up to year 11, but what better way is there of preparing pupils "to use information critically" than the study of historical evidence, using knowledge and understanding to evaluate and analyse its reliability and utility? Of course, fairness in education would be enhanced by the abolition of private education, which Unger recommends, but it would need a much greater commitment from Labour than currently exists. That does not mean the ridiculous financial incentives given to independent schooling, like charitable status, and fee exemption from VAT, should continue, nor the ability to bypass the highly regulated A-levels to gain university entrance qualifications. Private schools` exclusion, in the main, from inspection by the same regulator as state schools, Ofsted, is absurd! If ever the British people are to be released from "the bonds of belittlement", whether through a "national project" or the transformational policies of political parties, reforming education will be key! As Gavin Williamson says, the current university admissions system does put working class students at a disadvantage, but whether the introduction of post-qualification application will prove the answer is a moot point (Gavinn Williamson`s pitch to save his job,22/03/21). The phasing out of Pre-U exams, taken by many private school pupils to avoid highly regulated A-levels is to be welcomed but universities should now accept the so-called "privilege cap", which would limit the proportion of students accepted from private schools at the national figure of 7%. This would force universities into adopting contextual admissions policies, and make more room for pupils from the underfunded schools, from underprivileged families and from economically deprived areas, whose potential remains largely untapped. That would be "levelling up" in action rather than rhetoric! Oxbridge`s insistence on interviews hardly helps matters! Could there be a more effective deterrent to getting able pupils from working class backgrounds to apply to Oxbridge than the thought of an hour-long grilling by academics? It clearly put off Williamson`s "mates"! Test their ability after three years of their education, not after eighteen years of being disadvantaged! "Wholesale reform of universities" does not mean "tweaking the grading system", but levelling the field for admissions, and this Williamson almost certainly will not do!