The consultation on the implementation of the English Baccalaureate closed in January and, as we await the outcome, discussion as to its strengths and limitations continues apace. Tom Middlehurst urges us to keep in mind five points

In early 2013 the then secretary of state for education Michael Gove stepped back from his proposal to introduce “EBacc Certificates” in place of GCSEs in English, maths, sciences, history, geography, and languages.

Hailed by many as a “u-turn” at the time, Mr Gove’s Parliamentary colleague Nick Gibb instead described the changes to the reforms as “a tweak”. Three years’ later on, we can see how much the Conservatives’ thinking in this area has changed, and what the implications might be for future dialogues and school practice.

The EBacc is a new performance measure, indicating the percentage of key stage 4 students who are entered for, and achieve a good pass in, a core academic curriculum of English, maths, double science, a language and history or geography.

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