Beyond the Ebacc – Choice and opportunity in schools
and colleges
A policy paper from the Regional Policy Committee of West Midlands
Liberal Democrats
Introduction
“And the evidence is overwhelming: good schools need
high-quality teaching; sufficient freedom; diversity and choice.”
Nick Clegg September 5th
2011
Liberal Democrat ministers
in the coalition government rightly make great play of two aspects of
education. One is the importance of early years and second is the need to
invest in the most disadvantaged pupils through the pupil premium.
However, for all
students, the age of 16 is critical because that is when, for the most part,
they will achieve exam results which may mark them for life and will
demonstrate to the wider world their educational achievement.
If you cannot
demonstrate your achievements and aptitudes at this age your life opportunities
become restricted. So we make no apology for focusing on the critical 14-16 age
range.
Indeed we remain
stuck with a system that tolerates massive “failure” at 16. Barely half of
students achieved Labour’s target of five A-Cs including English and Maths. A
smaller proportion is achieving Michael Gove’s English Baccalaureate – in 2011
it was just 16.5 per cent. This means that thousands of pupils who leave
primary school having achieved appropriate levels at SATs “fail” to progress to
recognised standards at GCSE. And there are significant gender differences in
achievement.
Existing Liberal
Democrat policies for this age range are bold but under-developed. Our aim is
to develop the principles set out in those policies – which were “liberal and
democratic”.
We recognise that
those on the party front benches most deeply involved in the coalition will
want to defend the English Baccalaureate. We believe we have a proposal that
can adapt the Ebacc to become an Ebacc Mark 2 encapsulating liberal principles.
This involves a radical new focus on extending student choice.
Those principles are
not about “dumbing down” education. The very opposite. We think Nick Clegg,
perhaps unwittingly, seized on them correctly in his September speech. It is
the extension of “diversity and choice” that can engage young people and their
teachers and create real opportunity for all – if a suitably radical approach
is adopted.
Cllr Jon Hunt, chair, West Midlands regional policy committee
Contents
1. Our key proposals
2. Objectives
3. The proposal
4. What this would
mean for:
- schools
- students
- local authorities
5. What this would
mean and how it would be better
6. How would this be
achieved?
-
resources
-
assessment
-
developing
vocational education
-
examination
boards
-
foreign
languages
7. Policy motion for
Federal Conference
8. Your comments
Appendix 1: Existing
Liberal Democrat policy
Appendix 2: Modular?
Appendix 3: Some
specific subject issues
Appendix 4:
References
Appendix 5:
Postscript
Beyond the Ebacc – Choice and opportunity in schools
and colleges
1. KEY PRINCIPLES:
- Students undertaking GCSEs should have
real choices, allowing
them to develop their aptitudes and abilities. These choices should be
embedded within individual GCSEs as well as within the range of subjects
on offer.
- There should be a core entitlement, a
minimum offer, to which all students should have equal access at the time
they make choices about GCSEs.
- So-called vocational education should
not be a “second-class” offer.
Indeed students undertaking supposedly academic subjects may
benefit from having access to vocational modules.
The coalition
government has introduced the English Baccalaureate (the Ebacc). In some
respects it seeks to broaden the curriculum offer in many schools, for instance
by ensuring that students have access to foreign language qualifications. Labour’s
approach focused almost entirely on the two GCSE subjects of English and Maths,
used as proxies for literacy and numeracy. However the Ebacc is also leading to
a significant narrowing of the curriculum. Vocational options are being
abandoned or down-graded. The option of using the new functional literacy and
numeracy qualifications is also being abandoned. And yet in 2011 fewer than 25
per cent of students sat the full range of Ebacc subjects.
In this paper we set
out radical proposals for a Liberal Democrat government to adapt the Ebacc to
achieve the above principles. At its heart is a massive extension of student
choice – also allowing schools to diversify and make choices, but not at the
expense of students.
2. Some broad objectives
that we considered:
a) to
enable a Liberal Democrat government following the next general election to
adapt coalition policy to meet Liberal Democrat objectives;
b) To
free teachers to teach using their full range of skills and imagination;
c) To
give real choices to students to learn according to their aptitudes and
interests, engaging the disengaged;
d) To
enable schools to be diverse while maintaining basic standards;
e) to
develop policy to meet the aspirations of students and parents;
g) to
put an end to the ‘educational see-saw’ which means that educational fads and
policy-makers constantly seek to impose different but still uniform learning
styles on hugely diverse groups of students.
3. The proposals
1/ The Ebacc Mark2 would
become a core offer that must
be available to students at GCSE level. The full precise composition of the
Mark 2 is likely to be a matter of continuing debate – but it must be wider
than the present Ebacc.
We suggest maths,
English, a foreign language, sciences, history or geography and one other
subject. The key difference in our proposed approach is that schools and local
authorities will need to work together to ensure that students have access to
core subjects. It is an offer, not a requirement for study. Schools will be
judged as much by the extent to which they engage students with learning and
how they make the offer as by their results. And assessment of results will
involve all subjects. The sixth Ebacc subject is likely to comprise a range of
subjects such as RE, psychology, economics and specifically “vocational”
choices. The effect is to increase the minimum number of GCSEs that students
are expected to study from six to seven (assuming that science is 2 GCSEs).
2/ So far as possible
all GCSE courses would include modules and options that represent practical
courses of study and can be used for vocational study. We set out below some
ideas about how students can be ensured access to these options. This is not a
devaluing of the GCSE. At university level it is common practice. Students
undertaking degree courses will have many options to choose from – and these
will range from the intensely practical to the highly theoretical.
3/ Students could
achieve a range of “portfolio” qualifications.
These will be achieved by collecting specific modules within
individual subjects. They might involve functional skills in literacy, numeracy
and IT. They might contribute to a vocational qualification, e.g. by
undertaking aspects of construction or engineering in physics and maths.
Existing Liberal Democrat policy envisages students at 16
achieving a single portfolio qualification, a diploma. The present Ebacc is
also a single portfolio qualification – but if it became a requirement for
university admission would mean a return to the days when students had to have
a foreign language in order to study science. In fact early results suggest it
is doomed only ever to be achieved by a minority of students.
This proposal would allow students to achieve a diverse
portfolio within the ‘gold-plated’ GCSE subjects of the Ebacc Mk2, preventing
them being disadvantaged because they have taken ‘vocational’ options.
It recognises that the key objective for students at Year 10
is to achieve a clutch of GCSEs, not the Ebacc. And it deals with the criticism
that anything else is “second class” – as courses of study are undertaken under
the GCSE umbrella.
4/ School achievement
in these subjects would continue to be published and benchmarked - although not
necessarily in league table form. This because benchmarking must include a
number of measures with no single measure used as an absolute standard. Local
authorities, government and Ofsted should be using sophisticated measures, such
as contextual value added, to ensure that schools are driving achievement and
engaging all students. It is clearly no good offering students an entitlement
if it is, in practice, offered sparingly and badly.
5/ Awarding
organisations (exam boards) will be expected to offer a significant choice of options
allowing for a diversity of aptitudes
and interests. By aptitudes we do not mean ability levels - we mean
critical thinking skills such as engagement with research, manual application,
gathering of facts and exposition of ideas.
6/ Within the modular
approach students would still be expected to demonstrate command of core skills, working to a minimum curriculum that
includes functional skills and standards of literacy and numeracy. There would,
in most subjects, have to be at least one standard paper undertaken by all
students.
We have considered two ways in which students might be
examined in this system. One is by offering a choice of papers, the other is by
a choice of questions within papers. In practice awarding organisations might
choose to use both methods to create diversity.
7/ There will be a
need for flexibility for students and schools in accessing the 14-16 curriculum.
Some students may want to change schools at the age of 14 to pursue the new
choices available. Some schools may want to offer particular specialist
modules, gathering students from a wide area. There is no need for the most
exciting and engaging options to be confined to the school week (e.g. field
trips and expeditions are often undertaken during holidays)
8/ The Open School – The creation of
a national open school, analogous but not identical to the Open University,
would support schools, in particular rural schools, that might struggle to
offer choices. Students could have direct access to virtual teaching and
teachers would also have access to on-the-spot training.
4. What this would
mean….
For schools:
Many schools might feel themselves unable to offer the full
range of modules. However by choosing modules they can shape their own offer.
Schools should be required to publish their choice of
modules.
Schools might choose to develop a particular culture and
ethos reflected in their choice of module.
For instance a school with an ASD resource base might offer
a full range of fact-based options
Another school might emphasise practical study, choosing
modules based on field trips, project work and laboratory work
Another school might emphasise functional skills and
employability, offering GCSE courses fully integrated with vocational study.
This might lead schools to compete to make the most
attractive offer but there are also opportunities for sharing of resources and
creating diversity of choice across clusters of schools. Some local authorities
were encouraging schools into collegiate clusters, specifically to deliver the
vocational Diploma. A similar approach could be applied more broadly.
Nick Clegg’s quote about diversity, introducing this
document, we suspect referred in part to the development of a new generation of
specialist technical academies. Unlike the previous generation of specialist
schools, these may help to demonstrate how a school can make a distinctive
offer, e.g. in the field of engineers or creative media, whilst offering a full
education.
For students:
All students would learn a minimum curriculum. But they
would be entitled to a much expanded range of options sitting alongside the
minimum curriculum. This would enhance their interest in key subjects, enabling
them to develop general knowledge and applicable skills.
And, just like graduates who may choose different options
within their degree course, they would get the same qualification regardless of
their choice of modules within the subjects they have studied.
for local
authorities:
Liberal Democrats believe local authorities should retain a
key strategic role in education by virtue of
a) their
local democratic accountability;
b) their
ability to take an over-arching view of local needs.
We see them as having a key role in developing Ebacc2.
Indeed the process is analogous to the vocational diplomas which required
significant cooperation between schools and colleges to deliver.
Local authorities would have to be more light touch and
strategic in delivering the Ebacc Mk2. However they would be challenged to
ensure their students had access to the same level of choice as in other local
authorities. It is critical that all schools are in turn accountable at some
level to the local authority.
We considered the example of students commuting from rural
areas into a single, edge of town secondary school. In many cases the rural
town may support other secondary schools. The issue is transport access to
enable students to access offers made by other schools.
5. What this would
mean and how it might be better:
The sort of options that might emerge are (these are
illustrative):
In science:
history of science options, allowing students to gain a wide knowledge of
scientific achievement;
modules centred on practical work and experiment, research methods, and introduction of psychological and
social sciences. This might for instance include an option to undertake a
project in basic engineering or fluid dynamics(plumbing) in physics;
enhanced opportunities to study
biology and physiology for those interested in careers in health.
In history: options
based on facts and dates suitable for students with an aptitude for memory and
n interest in the broad sweep of history
Options based on archaeology allowing schools and students
to undertake highly practical work and to study periods such as the Saxons and
Romans.
Geography; a very
similar range with options ranging from very factual study to field trips and research.
In English: fact
based options about great writers, again suitable for students with an ability
to master facts;
options based on creative writing allowing students with a
creative bent to demonstrate mastery of poetic or literary forms;
(Note both these might incorporate different approaches to
learning about Shakespeare and other greats)
options allowing students to devote more time to functional
skills and practical application of literacy, recognising that functional
skills must be part of the core curriculum in English (3);
the present approach to 'the anthology' of poetry – which has become controversial among students
- would become no more than one option.
In foreign languages;
options based on linguistics allowing students to acquire generic skills in the
learning of languages;
options offering students a chance to demonstrate rigorous
knowledge of vocabulary and grammar;
we do not think foreign languages should be confined to
modern European languages. Quite the opposite – Chinese, Japanese, Urdu, Hindi
and Punjabi are among key languages in the modern world. Classical languages
can underpin linguistic and other skills.
Maths: Options
allowing students to devote more time to functional skills and practical
application of numeracy;
options allowing students to explore abstract ideas;
options developing the idea of
“maths for” e.g. maths for engineering, for psychology, for business.
Currently maths sits alongside
other subjects such as advanced maths or statistics. We recognise that some of
these ideas may sit better in a Maths 2 qualification.
6. Making it
Happen. How would this be achieved?
What are the obstacles? Is it government policy, the awarding
organisations (exam boards) or “conservative” teaching habits in schools
themselves?
The government can play a significant role. However by
interfering incessantly it can also destabilise teaching quality. The present
Secretary of State has had little difficulty in securing changes of emphasis in
the examination system, moving away from coursework to time assessment and pressing
for changes in assessment of literacy.
Nevertheless schools do currently have some choices. Why are
these exercised in a limited fashion? Is it fear of league tables? In this section
we touch on issues of resources, assessment and examination boards.
Resources: the
creation of a national Open School, using modern IT, would be a key factor in
ensuring equal access to resources. There might still be a particular problem
in rural areas where changing schools at 14 would have limited attractions? How
do you resource the transport needs of students who need to access different
schools and colleges, especially in rural areas?
Assessment: There
are issues that will require expert analysis but they are not insuperable.
Indeed universities will give the same degree to students who have undertaken a
wide range of different options and courses of study. Why should this not be
possible earlier on?
How do you ensure equality of assessment between modules of
very different content, between say coursework and fact-based study? This is
not a new issue and is currently done Europe-wide through assessment of levels
of critical thinking.
How do you ensure command of core skills? Is there are a
marking structure that can provide the right mix of incentives? Would a minimum
standard be required in the core skills paper to achieve a C grade?
Development of
vocational education:
The Liberal Democrats were the only party to sign up fully
to the 2004 Tomlinson Report which called for the integration of academic and
vocational education. Indeed this was expressed in the party’s 2010 policies.
We think our proposals take significant, practical steps in
this direction. More work is needed to develop this. For instance, a student
interested in plumbing might take the following options: maths for engineers,
practical fluid dynamics in physics. For the student to achieve a basic
vocational qualification, if it were even needed, would then require limited
additional practical study. However these modules in themselves might provide a
more than adequate basis for the student to gain a good vocational
qualification post-16.
Awarding organisations
Do these need reform to ensure
dynamism in the curriculum and consistency of marking?
Role of foreign languages
There is not a universal welcome
for their inclusion in the Ebacc. It can be difficult for schools to find good
teachers and this may act as a barrier to the Ebacc becoming a portfolio
qualification. The advantage of a portfolio qualification is that achievement
in basic skills, such as literacy, numeracy and IT can be demonstrated across a
range of subjects.
Our proposal is that Ebacc Mk2
should be seen primarily and initially as an offer, not a qualification.
Assuming the Ebacc Mk1 lasts at least the course of the present Parliament,
there will be some indication of its effectiveness in reintroducing languages
by 2015.
Success of Ebacc Mk1
In 2011 just 22.7 per cent of year
10 pupils “sat” the Ebacc and just 16.5 per cent “achieved” it. In spite of all
the publicity around the project it was an improvement of just 0.9 percentage
points.
7. Proposed policy motion
7. Proposed policy motion
This is a policy paper drawn up by one region of the
Liberal Democrats. We are grateful for the expert help, advice and ideas we
have received from a range of professionals including experienced headteachers
and staff in awarding organisations. We have taken key principles and explored
their implications. We do not imagine we have come up with all the answers or
even necessarily the right ones. We do however believe we have painted a
picture of how real choice could prevent the alienation from learning of large
numbers of young people who have been judged as failures through a narrow focus
on ever-changing league table targets.
Motion for Federal Conference
Conference
welcomes aspects of the English
Baccalaureate, such as the reinstatement of language teaching into schools and
the efforts to broaden the narrow emphasis of Labour’s National Challenge;
believes the English Baccalaureate
in its present form is not compatible with the party’s principles set out in
the policy paper Equity and Excellence
in 2009.
It, further, expresses concern
that:
many young people will remain disengaged from
learning while they are confronted with a “one size fits all” curriculum at secondary
school;
that the Coalition government may
seek to benchmark GCSEs by a qualification achieved by just 16.5 per cent of
students in 2011.
welcomes the work undertaken by
the West Midlands region set out in its paper “Beyond the Ebacc – Choice and
Opportunity in Education”.
believes that :
1/ diversity and choice should be
for students as well as providers of education;
2/ equality of opportunity in
education means all students can develop their interests and aptitudes;
3/ good teaching responds to individual
students.
calls for the Federal Policy
Committee to develop educational policies for the 2015 general election that
continue to embed liberal democratic principles, in particular to develop
proposals for an Ebacc Mark 2 and a radical revision of GCSE exam content that
would:
a)
embed opportunities
for vocational and practical learning in all subjects;
b)
offer GCSE students an
entitlement to a broad curriculum, in particular by extending the range of
subjects included in the Ebacc;
c)
guarantee a minimum
curriculum that would deliver high standards of literacy and numeracy for students sitting GCSEs;
d)
allow students at GCSE
real choice in their approaches to learning and in the examination papers they
sit , maximising their engagement with mainstream subjects ;
e)
enable students to
acquire broad general knowledge of the world in which they live, its science
and history;
f)
ensure that school
curricula and the choices offered to students are not driven by narrow and
selective targets but by a requirement to demonstrate real achievement by all
students;
g)
enable and support
genuine diversity in secondary school provision together with good teaching and
school leadership;
h)
enable local
authorities to take a truly strategic role to foster diversity and choice for
students and to drive achievement.
Conference supports the
development of a national Open School, using modern technology to provide
access to resources and options for both students and teachers.
7. Your views and
comments.
We’d
welcome your comments. Please add here or email to policy @ wmlibdems.org
Appendix 1
Briefing on existing Liberal Democrat Policy
This is contained in the document Equity
and Excellence, policy paper 89, and the policy motion supporting the
paper approved at the Harrogate conference in Spring 2009.
The motion called for “a broader
curriculum and better teaching.”
It envisaged a “slimmed down
Minimum Curriculum Entitlement” to replace the National Curriculum.
There would be a General Diploma,
to be taken by all pupils, incorporating within it existing academic
qualifications such as GCSEs, A-Levels, and existing proven vocational
qualifications.
It calls for “incentives to meet
the needs of all pupils by replacing the Government's present GCSE target which
places too much emphasis on C/D borderline pupils.”
The paper Equity and Excellence
states “The Minimum Curriculum Guarantee would specify the core educational
provision which every school would have to make available to each child from
age 7 to age 19.”
Paragraph 3.1.3 states:
Technology, school federations, flexible teaching models,
and innovative learning
practices, should enable schools and colleges to provide
access to as wide a curriculum offer as
possible. Local authorities could support access to this
wide range of options by publishing a single
prospectus for their locality, as currently happens in some
areas for 14-19 courses.
The General Diploma proposals
state:
Pupils would typically start our General Diploma at age 14,
with existing academic,
vocational and apprenticeship qualifications being
incorporated as its building blocks. It
would be
awarded at different grades at ages 16 and 18. The ESA would be responsible for laying out
the
framework of points awarded to each qualification block
within the General Diploma. While
internal assessment could be part of some, especially
vocational, courses as at present, external
assessment would remain central to these qualifications.
3.2.5 We would maximize choice, by allowing students to
take both academic and vocational
courses within a single General Diploma.
3.2.6 states: “To facilitate
greater access to vocational education, we would legislate to give pupils the
right to move from school to
college or work-related learning provider at age 14 and put in proper
support arrangements for such
pupils and the people teaching them.”
Section 3.3 deals with testing and
assessment.
The principles stated in 3.3.1 are
that We would overhaul the existing
testing and assessment regime so that testing and assessment is focused on
pupil needs, and not just on school accountability. In doing so, we would address concerns about
the quality of the assessments and the effects on standards of ‘teaching to the
test’ and narrowing of the curriculum.
3.4.5 states, under the heading
Measuring Progress: As part of developing
the General Diploma we would introduce a new way of measuring individual
standards which would take the average points total achieved per-pupil for
their 8 best GCSE or equivalent results, including English and maths. This would replace the existing target of 5
A*-C GCSEs, including and excluding maths and English, which puts excessive
focus on the C/D borderline, and discourages schools from giving attention to
improving the performance among both lower and higher performing pupils.
Critique
What’s in a name? The objective,
drawn from the Tomlinson report, of a single qualification for all is good but
the notion of a General Diploma seems guaranteed to upset university admission
tutors and aspirational families. As does the notion that you cannot do better
than 8 A*s at GCSE (3.4.5)
However the document sets out
principles for a “liberal education.” These include a wide range of options –
and, so far as possible, equal opportunity for all to achieve these options.
3.2.6 recognises in particular
that to encourage mature choices and equal opportunities, students may need
access to more resources than are provided in their school. The option of
moving to a work-placed provider at 14 could be dropped but we agree flexibility
at the age of 14 is necessary to ensure choice and opportunity .
The document does not successfully
address the issue of how vocational study might be comparable with academic
study under the umbrella of the General Diploma (or Ebacc). Our proposal is
that some kinds of vocational activity might be included as options within the
traditional curriculum e.g. engineering activities within science and maths.
The issue of comparability would not then arise.
The document refers to 8 GCSEs and
may mean this as a minimum target – rather than five or two. However the
scoring system would make 8 a maximum for most students. That proposal should be dropped. We therefore
like the idea that our Ebacc Mk2 will encourage the study of, probably seven subjects
as a minimum i.e. English, Maths, 2 sciences, 1 language, 1 humanity from group
A i.e. history/geography and 1 humanity from a more broadly defined group B e.g.
history, geography, Eng Literature, RE, economics etc
The concept of the Minimum National Curriculum Entitlement is essential, with emphasis on the word ‘entitlement’. Equity and
Excellence does not develop it and indeed our proposals really only focus on
the 14-16 range of study – so more work needs doing at other ages.
Appendix 2
Defining modular.
We think our proposal has to be
called “modular” while recognising the criticisms of the present modular exam
systems.
The present modular system defines
each paper or item of coursework as a module which has to be passed. It is not
clear how much choice students ever get over these modules. What they do get,
often, is the choice to retake the same module to build up their marks or to
ensure a pass is achieved. The Secretary of State for Education has declared
his intention to restrict these opportunities.
We have discussed whether our
proposal requires modular papers at all. It may not and this can be left open.
The essence lies in students having options or choices, not just of subjects
but of how they approach those subjects. There may be a range of ways of
testing those options. For instance a single exam could offer a choice of
questions. Take the example of history. A single paper might cover the period
of Roman Britain. Some questions would invite conventional essay responses.
Some might invite responses based on research undertaken and visits to
archaeological sites. Some might allow the expression of knowledge of facts and
dates.
Is there another word or simple
phrase that could be used to encapsulate the concept?
Appendix 3
Other subject issues:
During our consultation at West
Midlands regional conference a number of subjects were mentioned, with
questions about how they fit in.
These include RE, citizenship,
Art, music and IT.
By allowing the Ebacc Mk2 to
include a seventh, unspecified subject, this is partly resolved. However
students should continue to be encouraged to study more than seven GCSEs if
appropriate.
Some thoughts on individual
topics:
RE – there is potential
controversy within our party about the content of this subject. Some courses of
study already merge it with philosophy and it remains compulsory up to the age
of 16
Art – Is this a subject that
should be broadened to encompass some topics that have ended up as separate and
popular vocational courses i.e. fashion and hair-dressing?
IT – there appears to be confusion
about what is taught and its purpose. Basic IT skills should now underpin all
courses of study – and should be demonstrated in all courses, as are literacy
and numeracy. It would be good to see IT courses developed with a vocational
bent, allowing students to gain skills in programming and electronics.
Foreign languages – there is not a
universal welcome for their inclusion in the Ebacc. It can be difficult for
schools to find good teachers and this may act as a barrier to the Ebacc
becoming a portfolio qualification.
Appendix 4 – References
1.
Ofqual launched a consultation on September 26 2011 on reforming GCSEs
Details can be found here
The focus is on spelling, punctuation and grammar and on
making the exams “linear” i.e. removing the opportunities for retakes of
individual papers and preventing mid-year attempts.
2. The Department for
Education briefing on the English Baccalaureate can be found here:
3. Functional Literacy and Numeracy – a report of Birmingham City Council Education
Scrutiny committee 2010
4. Literacy and Numeracy – a report
of Birmingham City Council Education scrutiny committee 2008 (this had a
particular focus on gender differences in learning styles and the “gap” in
attainment)
5/ The Liberal Democrat policy
document Equity and Excellence, February 2009, can be located here:
Appendix 5
Postscript
“I think key to this debate is creating a
system that
a) actually, really ‘grows’ students in
knowledge skills,
b) can
be measured and standardised in a fair way,
c)
getting ‘the world’ to accept its outcomes as valid and valuable.”
Successful
headteacher.
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