However, following the Conservative government’s
loss of majority in the June 2017 election, plans to expand selective schools were scrapped and restrictions on expansion still remain in place. The re-written plans now call for “every child to go to a good or outstanding school”. The government also wants to see independent schools offer more support for increasing the quality of provision in state schools. Independent schools are currently required to demonstrate a benefit to the public in order to maintain their charitable status. Mrs May would like them to work harder for this privilege. She suggested a raft of options that would range from undertaking full sponsorship of a local state school to providing direct school-to-school support. This could include supporting teaching in minority subjects, such as further maths or classics, which state schools often struggle to make viable.
NEW CURRICULUM AND ASSESSMENT Over the past three academic years, the government has introduced a new, “more ambitious” National Curriculum and reformed qualifications and assessment at GCSE and A Level. The curriculum has been slimmed down significantly so that teachers can focus on the “essential knowledge and skills every child should have”. The bar has been raised considerably for children’s learning in the areas of maths, English, computing and science. For example, children are now expected to know their 12 times table by the age of nine. Assessment of the primary National Curriculum takes place at the end of Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. Key Stage 1 pupils take externally set but internally marked tests in spelling and grammar (SPaG), maths and reading. Key Stage 2 pupils take externally set and marked tests in the same subjects. The tests result in a scaled score, which produces a precise number for each test. The government’s ‘floor target’ is that 85 per cent of all children should achieve the expected level of 100.
EXCELLENCE IN UK EDUCATION GCSE AND A LEVEL REFORM
From September 2015, schools in England began teaching
new, revised GCSE and A Level programmes. Students sat the first set of examinations under the new system in summer 2017. Assessment for the new-style GCSEs has moved away from coursework assessment and is mostly by exam. A new grading scale of 9–1 is being gradually implemented, with 9 being the highest grade. This permits greater differentiation, particularly at the top, where the new grade 9 is higher than an A*. English language, English literature and maths were the first of the new GCSE subjects to be taught in schools in England with results using the new grading scale being issued in summer 2017. Further subjects are being introduced until summer 2019, when all subjects will be taught under the new system. Exam resits will only be available in November, and only in English language and maths. New AS and A Levels have also been taught in schools in England since September 2015. The first results for the new AS Levels were announced in 2016, and those for the new A Levels in 2017. As with the GCSEs, the main changes are that assessment is now mainly by exam. AS and A Levels have been ‘decoupled’, meaning that AS results will no longer count towards an A Level in the way they do now.
As Theresa May said in her speech on education reform,
“We are facing a moment of great change as a nation. As we leave the European Union, we must define an ambitious new role for ourselves in the world. That involves asking ourselves what kind of country we want to be: a confident, global trading nation that continues to play its full part on the world stage.” It is clear that the government is placing a strong emphasis on education as part of its vision for a post-Brexit UK, with plans to offer a range of education provision that, in the words of Mrs May, “caters to the individual needs and abilities of every pupil”. For globally mobile families seeking school places, the continued assistance of leading British independent schools and the promise of an increase of quality school provision can only be a good thing.
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