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Government responds to Wolf Report


by Daniel White


Students who fail to achieve at least a C grade at GCSE in English or maths will have to continue to study the subjects after the age of 16. The new policy was announced


as the Department for Education (DfE) released its response to the Wolf Report into vocational edu- cation, which was published by Professor Alison Wolf in March. The government’s formal


21-page response said that English and maths were the “most vital foundations for employment” and it confirmed that other qualifications are to be identified for students who are not able to achieve an A* to C grade in the GCSE. The response said: “For those


who fail to achieve these GCSEs by age 16, we will consider wheth- er there are other qualifications that provide significant progress towards future GCSE success. Once we have established which qualifi- cations are suitable we will develop new indicators for the performance tables showing the progress made by pupils in English and maths after the age of 16.” Furthermore, the DfE said it will


commission a maths CPD support programme by autumn this year to provide teachers with a “detailed subject knowledge to become rec- ognised as specialist teachers”. The DfE has accepted all of Prof


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Wolf’s recommendations, including the need for work experience for all 16 to 18-year-old students in full- time education – while removing the statutory requirement for work placements at key stage 4, which is expected to disappear in September 2012. The response said: “We will seek to remove the statutory duty to pro-


vide every young person at key stage 4 with work-related learning. This will … involve, among other things, a public consultation in autumn 2011 and Parliamentary debates in early 2012. “We anticipate that the duty will


be removed from the start of the academic year 2012/13 and release support for more work experience for older pupils. However, schools will be free to determine whether and how work experience at key stage 4 is provided.” The government also said col-


lege lecturers with QTLS status (Qualified Teacher, Learning and Skills) should be able to teach in schools as soon as possible. A reform of league tables has


also been laid out. As well as new measures tracking achievement in English and maths post-16, the government has spelled out new measures to track the variation in performance between pupils. It also said it would “identify the best vocational qualifications for this age group (key stage 4) and will recog- nise them in performance tables”. The response said: “There is a


risk that steps to limit the vocational qualifications that can contribute to performance indicators will lead to some schools paying less attention to their less academically successful pupils. It is also true that threshold measures, such as the percentage achieving five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C, can cause some schools to neglect their more able pupils. It is vital that performance indicators do not inadvertently cause schools to concentrate on particular groups of pupils at the expense of others. “To avoid this we will continue


to include performance measures, like average point scores, which capture the full range of outcomes


Wolf Report: Key policy milestones


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ISSN 1479-7704


May 2011: Announcement clarifying the rules around professionals teaching in schools. Summer/autumn 2011: Consult on core attributes for 14 to 16 vocational qualifications to be included within the performance tables. Summer/autumn 2011: Consult on alternative English and maths qualifications for 16 to 18-year-olds. Autumn 2011: Maths CPD support programme launches. March 2012 onwards: Implementation of the new 16 to 18 funding formula. September 2012: Statutory changes enacted removing requirement for work-related learning at key stage 4.


for pupils of all abilities. In addition, from 2011 the performance tables will show for each school the varia- tion in performance of low attaining pupils, high attaining pupils and those performing as expected.” In a statement following the


publication of the formal response, Mr Gove said: “For too long the vocational education system has been devalued by attempts to pretend that all qualifications are intrinsically the same. Young peo- ple have taken courses that have led nowhere. “Good qualifications in English


and maths are what employers demand before all others. Young people must be able to demonstrate their understanding of these subjects. “We will reform league tables,


the funding system and regulation so children are given honest infor- mation and take the right courses. We will make sure that employers are more involved in the system. We will encourage them to offer more high quality apprenticeships.” However, shadow education


secretary, Andy Burnham, wel- comed the majority of the propos- als, but said the introduction of the English Baccalaureate has devalued vocational education. He told the House of Commons:


“I will give careful consideration to the new measures (Mr Gove) proposes but I do gently point out to him that already it sounds com- plicated. So can I ask him – isn’t he in danger of re-creating in another form a complex target regime of the kind of which he complained about so much in opposition? “Won’t teachers’ hearts sink


when they hear that there are to be more targets and won’t they ques- tion whether he is delivering the autonomy to get on and teach that he promised?” Speaking this week, Professor


Wolf added: “There are many excellent vocational qualifications, teachers and institutions – they are the examples that should be the norm. They prove that vocational education is a great choice for many young people. “I am delighted that the gov-


ernment has agreed to implement the changes I have proposed. They must be made if vocational educa- tion is to be a great choice for all young people, as it is in so many other countries.” For more information, go to www.education.gov.uk


2


Wolf Response: Commentary


Chris Dunne, headteacher, Langdon Park School, London, and SecEd Editorial Advisory Board member: “I am becoming intensely angry at the denigration of the efforts of students who arrive in secondary school often barely literate and who, through enormous hard work, attain a grade D, E, F, or G in English and/or maths. As anyone who has ever actually taught these courses, or even read the exam boards’ grade criteria knows, these grades indicate real and transparent levels of attainment in literacy and numeracy, and the students who attain them are not automatically ‘failures’ just because they didn’t get a grade C. I’m not sure who they would listen to, but someone needs to try and convince ministers that it is simply not possible for everyone in the country to attain a grade C in English and maths. One issue that does need a spotlight thrown on it, by politicians


and journalists, is the very high proportion of 16-year-olds not attaining a grade of any kind in English and maths. The inference has to be that some schools are seriously neglecting the interests of students who are not going to contribute to their schools’ A* to C floor targets in any meaningful way, which if true is economically counter-productive and of course immoral.”


Wolf Response: Further reaction


Ofqual: “It is clear that we are now entering a period of qualifications reform. Vocational qualifications have the capacity to help improve the life chances of millions of people of all ages. Public confidence in them is therefore vital. Reforming qualifications can be risky. As the independent regulator, Ofqual has a critical role to play in bringing regulatory discipline to the reform programme, so that past problems are not repeated.”


Confederation of British Industry: “Maths is particularly important so that the UK can compete and grow in a range of key industries, but currently only 15 per cent of students study this beyond GCSE, well behind competitor nations such as France and Germany. All young people should do work experience and we’re concerned that the government removing the statutory duty on schools could lead to some students missing out on this vital way of developing employability skills.”


AQA: “We support the call for a continuance of maths and English post- 16 for learners who don’t achieve GCSE. We need to think carefully about what they need and be more creative by looking at different approaches to teaching this group and the particular skills they need.”


Association of School and College Leaders: “Before proposing further reforms to GCSE or the development of new qualifications it is essential that practitioners and employers are fully involved in the creation of meaningful and worthwhile schemes of work which foster (literacy, numeracy and wider employability) skills, motivate students and meet the needs of young people and their future employers. In order to achieve this there is an urgent need for an informed discussion which defines the skills employers require. Repeating GCSEs ad infinitum is not a solution.”


NASUWT: “Whether the coalition likes it or not, this country ranks as high performing against all international indicators. Indeed this country’s vocational qualifications framework has been used by many other European countries as a model for their own. The system wasn’t broken when the coalition came into office but they are well on the way to ensuring it will be by the time they have finished.”


National Union of Teachers: “It is extremely disappointing that Michael Gove proposes to introduce yet more measures to feed into league tables by assessing the performance of both higher and lower attaining pupils. No amount of tweaking alters the fact that league tables have a distorting effect on pupils’ learning.”


Association of Teachers and Lecturers: “We fully supported Prof Wolf’s view that young people should not be pushed into irrevocable choices at age 14, but we are concerned that the government’s promotion of university technical colleges and annihilation of the Connexions careers service risks exactly this. While we welcomed the view that apprenticeships should be less occupationally focused and contain more general education, we question why the government perseveres in promoting and subsidising private employers.”


National Association of Head Teachers: “Performance tables don’t work. And there is no performance table that won’t distort or can’t be gamed. The debate about the ‘perfect’ table is as sterile as a debate about how many cabinet ministers can dance on the head of a pin. Especially when the solution is staring us in the face: trusting good people to do a good job.”


SecEd • May 19 2011


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