SecEd The ONLY weekly voice for secondary education Inside this issue


Emerging from the shadows


Labour’s shadow education secretary, Andy Burnham, meets SecEd editor Pete Henshaw. He discusses his passion for comprehensive education and his priorities for Labour’s policy review Page 4


EBacc sparks anger among headteachers


Michael Gove accused of basing policy on ‘bar room gossip and personal hunches’ by Dorothy Lepkowska


They said: “How can schools


Changing the way we think


Given the information now easily available on the internet, why are we not getting much more clever, more quickly? We look at how the internet is changing the way we think Page 12


SecEddigital


and Twitter Thousands of teachers are reading SecEddigital, a virtual edition of SecEd, which is emailed out every week. You can sign up for free by emailing editor@sec-ed.co.uk. SecEd news and features are now also available on Twitter. You can follow us at www. twitter.com/SecEd_Education


Schools are threatening to defy government policy on the teaching of the new English Baccalaureate (EBacc) because it will disadvantage hundreds of thousands of pupils. Headteachers are furious with


the publication last week of school league tables, which included a new measure of achievement. The statistics showed what pro-


portion of pupils in each schools achieved A* to C grades in English, maths, science, a language and a humanities subject – the five com- ponents of the EBacc. Under the proposals, subjects


such as Ancient Greek or Hebrew are given greater weight than music, art or drama. The EBacc data, whose inclusion in the league tables was announced only last month, has skewed this year’s tables and shown many top-performing schools to have underachieved. Heads who are members of


SecEd’s editorial board expressed anger and frustration at the “mov- ing of the goalposts” and accused Michael Gove, the education secre- tary, of arrogance in forcing through the move without any consultation. One, who asked to remain anon-


ymous, accused Mr Gove of basing his policies on “bar room gossip and personal hunches”.


fail to hit targets they didn’t even know were targets at the time they could have tried to do so? “Who knows when Mr Gove


thought his latest wizard scheme up, but he announced it some months after students had already taken all their exams, and two years after they had chosen their exam subjects. “I hope that across the country


headteachers will have the integrity to continue to offer subjects which, in addition to being part of a broad and balanced education, also have the merit both of seeming relevant to their students and offering them some joy and excitement in their learning. “I expect that many heads will


feel bullied into changing the cur- riculum offer to avoid being pillo- ried by the government, Ofsted and newspapers.” Jo Smith, vice-principal of Long


Field School in Leicestershire, said it was recently praised by Ofsted for its diversity in catering for students of all abilities. “Our year 11s are on line to


achieve 80 per cent five A* to Cs and 60 per cent A* to Cs includ- ing English and maths. Under the EBacc measure only 15 per cent this year will achieve (the benchmark). Where is the sense in that?” she said. “Is Mr Gove trying to suggest


that an independent or grammar school curriculum is going to moti- vate and reward the borderline D/C grade students who could maybe achieve the EBacc but would find performing arts, creative arts, other social sciences, sport or design- related subjects more fulfilling? “Planning the curriculum for


year 10 next year has become a crystal ball-gazing challenge.” Vanessa Ray, principal of West


Lakes Academy in Cumbria, agreed that Mr Gove was seeking to impose a grammar school-style curriculum on all schools, regard- less of whether it suited pupils. She told us: “I am now going to


question very carefully any initia- tives from this government and try to decide whether or not they are in the best interests of the students that attend our academy. “Heads are going to have to


think for themselves a lot more in the future and decide what is best for the pupils in their school, regardless of whether it fits with Mr Gove’s ideas.” Ms Ray added: “I do not have a


sense of a team at the Department for Education, just of one individual and I am not clear about Mr Gove’s priorities for economically and socially disadvantaged children. I detect an elitism in him that favours


Continued on page 2.


Issue 271 • January 20 2011 Price £1.00 www.sec-ed.com


Anger: The new EBacc consists of maths, geography or his- tory, English, a modern or ancient language, and science


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