The government’s EBacc measure should be broadened into a “new Baccalaureate” including opportunities for computer science, creative and technical subjects, the architect of the national curriculum has said.
Lord Kenneth Baker, in his role as chairman of the Edge Foundation, has published a report criticising the government’s current target to have 90 per cent of students studying the EBacc.
He says that the “narrow academic curriculum” of the EBacc is “regressive” and will do nothing to remove the barriers faced by disadvantaged pupils.
He points out that the current EBacc is “nearly the reincarnation of a curriculum first enshrined in legislation over a century ago” in 1904, adding that it ignores the skills needed for today’s workforce, including expertise in emerging technologies.
The claims follow Lord Baker’s Digital Revolution report in May, when he warned that 15 million jobs will be lost in the UK in the coming years because our national curriculum is failing to teach the technical expertise the future workforce will need (Curriculum is ‘failing to prepare students for digital revolution’, SecEd, May 2016:
http://bit.ly/2dpdx0G).
The EBacc was launched in 2010, since when the proportion of students entered for a full suite of EBacc GCSEs has risen from 22 per cent in 2011 to 39 per cent last year. The Department for Education (DfE) now wants 90 per cent of students who started school last September (2015) to take the EBacc subjects. However, the Edge Foundation is calling on the government to introduce a broader EBacc, which would include creative and technical subjects as well.
In the report, entitled 14 to 19 Education: A new baccalaureate, Lord Baker states: “There is a correlation between affluence and academic success. I wish it were not so, but wishful thinking will not solve the problems of deprivation, and nor will the EBacc, in its current form.
“Our workforce needs a new set of skills, including expertise in emerging technologies. This narrow academic curriculum is regressive and will severely limit learning of the technical and creative subjects we desperately need in our new digital age.”
Lord Baker point outs that students are entered on average for 8.1 GCSEs, meaning that a compulsory EBacc leaves little room for other study. Furthermore, students with low attainment, which Lord Baker says include those most likely to be disengaged from education, are typically entered for 6.9 GCSEs – meaning the “narrow EBacc would become their entire curriculum”.
The report states: “As more young people are directed towards this narrowly academic curriculum, the risk of disengagement will increase. The symptoms of disengagement start with boredom, but can develop into disruption, disobedience and truancy. The point has already been made by the Social Mobility Commission.”
The report says, for example, that to meet the 90 per cent target, 225,000 students will have to drop a subject and take a foreign language instead, while 136,000 will have to take either history or geography instead of a subject they prefer.
It highlights the already stark decline in entries for design and technology GCSE, which have fallen 27 per cent in five years.
Lord Baker is fearful that the EBacc is also contributing to the view that technical study is only for those who “fail” academically. He goes as far as to say that he regrets not ending the national curriculum at age 14.
He explains: “With hindsight, I now wish I had ended the national curriculum at 14. This narrow-minded view persists that ‘technical’ and ‘vocational’ forms of education are for those who fail to achieve academically; in reality, the countries with the lowest youth unemployment and the most highly skilled workforce are those where technical subjects are studied side-by-side with academic subjects.”
Lord Baker outlines his vision for a 14 to 19 phase, with a “broad and balanced” national curriculum up until 14 and a 14 to 19 phase that would allow students to “accumulate passes in EBacc subjects over a longer period”, with exams not necessarily being taken at age 16.
He adds: “All students would follow a single, coherent 14 to 19 framework leading to a leaving diploma recognising the full range of academic and technical achievement.”
Lord Baker proposes that the broader EBacc would include:
- English.
- Maths.
- Two science GCSEs – one of which could be computer science.
- A creative GCSE from a list which would include art and design, music, dance and drama.
- A humanities GCSE from a list which would include history, geography, religious education and foreign languages.
- A design and technology GCSE or an approved technical award. Examples include the Cambridge National Certificate in Engineering and the Pearson BTEC First Award in Construction and the Built Environment.
The report adds: “The revised EBacc is broader in conception. It paves the way to higher level learning in academic, creative and technical subjects. It closes no doors. It links to the needs of the economy. Above all, it enables young people to study subjects which support their personal talents and ambitions.”
- Lord Baker’s full report can be found at http://bit.ly/2dkmM6p