NEWS FOCUS SecEd: On Your Side


Questions raised by Wolf 's review


THERE ARE positives and negatives in the review of vocational education by Professor Alison Wolf, published this week. You can read our full report on Prof Wolf’s numerous recommendations on page 2, including full reaction from the sector and from teachers and heads themselves. There are 27 recommendations in the 200-page report, and here are some of my initial thoughts.


Pete


Henshaw Editor SecEd


League tables


I agree that league tables have added a perverse incentive for schools to promote the study of certain vocational courses and it’s good to see that Prof Wolf is calling for schools to be able to offer any qualifications at key stage 4, regardless of whether they are included in performance measures. However, it seems a bit rich of education minister Michael Gove to agree so whole-heartedly with this assessment and promise a reform of league tables when his English Baccalaureate is about as perverse as incentives come. We all know that Mr Gove would happily scrap all vocational qualifications from the league tables, and I suspect we shall see this happen before long. But how about we scrap league tables entirely and trust schools to deliver the appropriate qualifications to every student – academic or vocational?


Work experience


It is of concern that the report says that work-related learning should not be a compulsory part of a student’s education at key stage 4. Instead, Prof Wolf has called on the Department for Education to look at models of work experience for 16 to 18-year-olds who are full-time students. This is not a terrible idea, but I feel strongly that work experience is vital for all students, and key stage 4 is an ideal time for this to take place, as children are considering their options for future study and life. Modern education has to be based in a real-world context with a focus on skills and gaining experience.


English and maths


Prof Wolf wants every student who does not achieve a C grade in English and maths at GCSE to continue to study these subjects post-16 “as part of their programme”. I see the reasoning, but once again I dispute the arbitrary use of the C benchmark as meaning a “good” qualification. Thousands of students will achieve very good D grades in these subjects after applying themselves and trying their hardest. I’m not adverse to students continuing English and maths study post-16, but this must be balanced with the vital need to focus on helping every student to choose the right qualification for their skills, talents and ambitions.


Diplomas


I disagree strongly with the implication that the Diploma qualifications have failed. Yes take-up has been low, but the Diplomas were not given a chance to succeed by this government. A tremendous amount of work has been put into these qualifications by teachers and employers and simple reforms and support could have made Diplomas a gold standard of vocational education. As it stands, the government has turned its back on the Diploma, and left 3,000 students hung out to dry. It’s only one per cent they say – try telling these students this.


College at 14


Prof Wolf argues for 14-year-olds to be allowed to enrol in colleges so they can benefit from vocational training. I am unsure about asking children to take these kind of decisions so early. It comes alongside the interesting proposals for University Technical Colleges, which would also see students choosing a vocational pathway at 14. It is good that Prof Wolf says that colleges taking on these students must “be required to offer them a full key stage 4 programme” and UTCs propose a similar approach. However, can it be right to ask a 14-year-old to take this decision when many of them will not yet be sure of what they want to do with their lives?


• Pete Henshaw is publisher and editor of SecEd. Email editor@sec-ed.co.uk or visit www.sec-ed.co.uk. Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SecEd_Education


THE SPECIALIST Schools and Academies Trust’s (SSAT) second annual Chinese Lecture last week marked the opening of 22 new SSAT Confucius Classrooms across the UK. Confucius Classrooms


are accredited by the Chinese government and act as centres of excellence in teaching and learning of Chinese. Many of the centres work alongside local schools to promote the study of Chinese. The number of students taking


GCSE Chinese has increased by 63 per cent over the past decade, making it one of the fastest growing languages taught in English schools. Education minister Michael


Gove has long been a vocal supporter of the language and also the culture of education in China, pointing regularly to the fact that Shanghai is ranked at the top of the PISA international league tables. Mr Gove spoke at the SSAT’s


Chinese Lecture, which took place at The Barbican in London on March 1. He said that the teaching of


Chinese was important for Britain’s economic engagement with China, which has one of the fastest growing economies in the world. He also said that learning


Mandarin and learning and adopting Chinese values and attitudes towards education would


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Mandarin mandate


Education minister Michael Gove this week spoke about the impact that learning Mandarin can have on not only a student’s


education, but on our entire culture as a nation. Daniel White reports


be a means for improving social mobility in Britain. He spoke about his trip to Beijing


last year as part of prime minister David Cameron’s entourage. He told delegates that during his


visit he went to a school and was given a science book, which was in Chinese and English with diagrams. He thought it had been written


by the teachers, but in fact had been created by students. He told the SSAT delegates that this was a standard of education that the UK should aspire to. He said: “Every year there are


80 teachers who come across from Hanban (the Chinese government’s body to promote Chinese language teaching across the world) to teach the Mandarin language. There are now 134 UK Confucius schools who can work alongside other schools to help teach Mandarin.” Mr Gove continued: “Learning


IN RESPONSE…


There has been an increase in the amount of students being accepted into their first choice secondary school, early admission figures show. Around 540,000 children


found out this week which secondary school they will be attending in the autumn. Although the full statistics


will not be released until later this month, 23 local authorities have published figures, with 17 of these reporting an increase in the percentage of applicants being accepted at their first choice of school. The biggest increases came


in Manchester (up to 83 per cent from 78.2 per cent last year), Newcastle (up to 90 per cent from 85.3 per cent), and East Sussex (up to 93.9 per cent from 89.3 per cent). However, in London


SecEd


35 per cent of children did not get into their first choice schools compared to 34.3 per cent last year. The London figures show that 87 per cent of pupils did get in at one of their top three choices. Last year, 89,000 students


were unable to attend their first


choice of school, while 18,000 did not get a place at any of their preferred choices. It comes after the government


announced plans in its Education White Paper to simplify admissions procedures, including ending the requirements for local authorities to establish admissions forums and give annual reports to a central schools adjudicator. It also signalled the government’s intention to simplify the Admissions Code.


Brian Lightman, general secretary, Association of School and College Leaders: “Especially in places like London where there is a large concentration of schools, it is wrong to automatically assume that because parents do not get their first choice, they have been let down. There are many good schools and a second choice is not necessarily a second- rate option. However, the rhetoric of the


last few years around admissions has led misled parents. They can express a preference, but they do not and cannot have unbridled choice. We fully support


fair admissions but the current Admissions Code is far too detailed and complex. It needs to be simplified so that it is easier for parents to understand and schools to implement.”


Chris Kiernan, chairman of the Pan-London Admissions Board: “For the seventh year running, London’s co-ordinated admissions system has been very successful in enabling more parents to be allocated a school of their preference by a fairer distribution of available offers. More than 93 per cent of pupils


have an offer from a school of their preference and 65 per cent have been offered a place at their first choice school. It is important to emphasise


that, however proficient the admission system is – and our arrangements in London are about as efficient and fair as it is possible to have – it cannot create additional places at the most popular schools.”


The Education White Paper, The Importance of Teaching, on the Admissions Code: “We will simplify the code so that


it is easier for schools and parents to understand and act upon, while maintaining fairness as the code’s guiding principle. We will retain the principles and priorities of the current code, and looked- after children and pupils with a statement of SEN which names a particular school (including academies and free schools) will continue to be guaranteed a place at the school of their first choice. We will consult on a simplified and less prescriptive Admissions Code early (in 2011) so that a revised code is in place by July 2011.”


Chris Keates, general secretary NASUWT: “The plans for ‘simplifying’ admissions policies is simply watering down the rules and removing checks and balances from the system. We are concerned that fair selection will be undermined and some schools could return to the practice of covert selection. It’s nonsense to think this will improve choice for the majority of parents and pupils – more choice for some schools will mean they can cherry-pick their intake.”


Mandarin or another language enables students to see life from another culture. It teaches them values from an early age, makes them tolerable to other cultures, and interested in learning about other cultures and how the culture has grown and works.” Modern languages have seen a


dip in uptake since 2004, when the subject was made non-compulsory after the age of 14. Something which Mr Gove is eager to change after making a modern language one of the qualifications essential in the English Baccalaureate. However, the percentage of


schools offering Mandarin has increased from two per cent to 14 per cent in the past three years, according to CILT, the National Centre for Languages, and there is now a Confucius Classroom in each government region. Mr Gove told SSAT delegates


that in last year’s GCSEs, the highest performing group was Chinese girls not eligible for free school meals (FSM), with the second highest being Chinese girls eligible for FSM. He continued: “In this country


when a child starts in poverty, then by five the gap widens, and at the end of key stage 2 the gap widens, after key stage 3 the gap widens, and even further by key stage 4. “We need to change the culture


and thinking of students in this country. We need to learn and have the values that people with Chinese ethnicity have. “The Chinese speak up about


problems in education, they have more ‘tiger mothers’, they have fathers saying how and what their values and the standards at school should be. “We need to learn from this


and implement them in our society. Learning Mandarin helps access a different culture, a different way of thinking, and a differing way of teaching modern languages.” The SSAT has signed an


agreement with Hanban to train 1,000 teachers of Chinese in the next five years, with the first recruits starting postgraduate courses in July.


• For more information, visit www. ssatrust.org.uk/teachingandlearning/ networks/chinese/


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SecEd • March 10 2011


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