The announcement in the chancellor’s budget for a new “T level” system, overhauling how technical education is taught and administered, aims to put the courses on an equal footing with academic work.
One of the main problems to the success of any vocational education in England is the EBacc. In research commissioned by the NUT from Kings College London, 74 per cent of respondents reported that the EBacc has led to a reduction in the number of GCSE subjects on offer in schools.
The EBacc has created a special status for the more traditional academic subjects, with creative, vocational and technology subject teachers reporting a decrease in entry rates, reduced resources and less time being allocated to their subjects. At the same time classrooms have become even more focused on exam and test preparation, especially in the subjects that are most heavily weighted in the Progress 8 basket.
The research also highlights that the EBacc has adversely affected students from low-income households, low-attaining students and those with SEN, who have been entered for fewer qualifications since the measure was introduced. There is a major set of issues here that remains neglected by policy-makers – though it is all too apparent to schools.
The Department for Education’s plan to increase to 90 per cent the proportion of students taking EBacc subjects should have been dropped the day that Nicky Morgan left office, but instead it continues to enjoy a half-life, under the protection of Nick Gibb. The target, as almost the entire world of education knows, is not only unrealistic but is a real threat to young people’s engagement with their education. It is time it was explicitly rejected by ministers.
English policy-makers do not have to look far for better examples of curriculum and assessment design. In Wales, work on the integrated “Donaldson curriculum” is progressing steadily. In Scotland, the Curriculum for Excellence enables all young people to follow a flexible pathway which incorporates both academic and technical training on an equal footing. The Westminster government should adopt the same approach, supporting the needs and aspirations of students, and not confining them to a single pathway.
An ever-changing economy and labour market require a broad education; it is not clear how T levels will offer one, particularly when the EBacc pulls schools in a very different direction.
Secondary education, like primary, has taken a wrong turn. A massive effort will be needed to get it back on course. It is essential that we develop a system in which the achievements of all students can be recognised and in which students’ individual strengths and interests can be used as catalysts for supporting good progress and positive life chances.
But this can hardly be done without addressing broader issues. Since 2010, post-16 education and training have been cut to the bone. With £3 billion a year in real-terms set to be lost from school budgets by 2020 and with 98 per cent of schools to have their per-pupil funding cut, the education schools can offer will be severely affected. Curriculum reform without investment can only be an empty promise.
There is another issue too. To achieve student take-up, the T levels will need to offer a clear path to rewarding jobs. Here educational reform needs to be linked to wider changes. Employers, whose record of investment so far leaves much room for improvement, are as crucial to raising productivity as the transformation of the qualification system. Improving the training on offer for young people and raising the status of technical education are both issues which need addressing.
Teachers welcome reform – but they are realistic to the point of scepticism about its chances of success in a country so weak in its funding commitments and with a poor record of investment in training.
- Kevin Courtney is general secretary of the National Union of Teachers. Visit www.teachers.org.uk