Education white paper
The education secretary has pledged to keep A-levels and GCSEs and raise the "effective" school leaving age to 18.
Publishing the government's white paper on reform of the 14-19 education system on Tuesday, Ruth Kelly said the exams will be made harder and more diverse but not scrapped.
Promising to give the "same emphasis in more vocational education as we currently do in academic", she also took steps to ensure all 16-year-olds stay on at school, college, or in a workplace-based learning role.
Government Response: Department for Education and Skills
Ruth Kelly, education secretary, said: "We have a lot to be proud of in our education system. It educates the vast majority of young people very well. We have seen continued rising standards in primary and secondary schools - in fact standards have never been higher. But we are not complacent - there is more to do.
"I want every teenager educated to the very limit of their ability. That means ensuring that we have an education system that tackles the historic weakness in the system; so that every single teenager, not just the vast majority, get the education they need and deserve to get on in life.
"A key weakness has been vocational education. Today will mark the end of the divide between vocational and academic study. We will move to a truly comprehensive education system for every teenager by ensuring real choice from the age of 14.
"We can't have second class, second best vocational education - it is valued abroad and it must be valued here. We must have a truly world-class workforce. It is vital to the future prosperity of the country.
"I would like to thank Mike Tomlinson and the working group for all their hard work. All our thinking behind the White Paper has been informed by their excellent work."
Stakeholder Response: Professional Association of Teachers (PAT)
Jean Gemmell, PAT general secretary, said: "PAT welcomes the increased status and support for vocational education. However, we are disappointed that the indications are that the government has no plans for one over-arching diploma for both academic and vocational courses at present.
"We hope that this is an interim position and that the full diploma structure recommended in the Tomlinson report will be introduced in the future.
"There is much debate surrounding the right and wrongs of retaining or scrapping A-levels and GCSEs. What is important is parity, recognition and support for vocational qualifications.
"Ideally, GCSEs, A-levels, and vocational qualifications could all have equal importance, allowing students to study a broad, flexible curriculum that meets their needs and to leave school with a recognised and respected qualification that more accurately reflect their skills and abilities.
"The emphasis should no longer be on where you do your learning as long as you’re doing it somewhere, whether it be in school, college or workplace. If some students can learn at further education colleges some of the time from 14, perhaps they will remain engaged and see more relevance to their learning and thus be less likely to become disaffected.
"Not only is it manifestly unfair to ignore those who posses vocational rather than academic ability, but we are running out of plumbers, electricians, and bricklayers.
"There must be no distinction in status between academic and vocational. The challenge is to put this into practice.
"PAT has been calling for greater professional freedom for teachers to be able to teach according to their students’ needs and abilities, so we are delighted by the government's acceptance that there should be fewer exams and more teacher assessment.
"Our survey, Tested to Destruction?, revealed that young people between five and 18 were likely to have undergone over 100 exams. That is too many.
"Change won't be easy and cannot happen overnight, but the report and the government's response to it set out the road ahead to the future.
"The whole 14-19 debate has involved tilting at one of the great education windmills that has existed since the War - how to maintain a rigorous, academic system of learning, without devaluing those who follow a vocational route and alienating a significant proportion of young people.
"We think that Mike Tomlinson and his team and the DfES's response have set this in motion. Now is the time for schools, colleges, students, and parents to reach out towards what could become the most radical education reform in 60 years."
Stakeholder Response: Association of Teachers andLecturers (ATL)
Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: "Perhaps this white paper would have been better if it had come after the election. ATL shares the bitter disappointment at a missed opportunity. The government has ignored a carefully developed consensus and has failed to provide the leadership needed for reform.
"In going for votes, the government has misread the growing dissatisfaction with the14-19 curriculum and qualifications amongst pupils and parents as well as teachers."
Stakeholder Response: National Union of Teachers (NUT)
Steve Sinnott, general secretary of the NUT, said: "This looks like a failure of nerve by government. The Tomlinson report attracted a remarkable degree of consensus ranging from the chief inspector of schools to all organisations representing teachers.
"His report made it clear that if there are two separate routes for students divided on academic and vocational lines, then a two tier system will continue to be embedded.
"I cannot see the Russell group of universities according a vocational diploma the same status it gives to A-levels.
"The NUT supported the government’s commissioning of Tomlinson and the support it appeared to be giving to his proposal for an open diploma. Now it looks as if short-sighted electoral considerations have over-ridden sensible policy making.
"There are opportunities in the white paper which should be grasped. For this reason I call on the government to establish a review and implementation body including the main political parties, trade unions, and employers to monitor and advise governments on 14-19 reform."
Stakeholder Response: NASUWT
Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT, said: "The proposals in the white paper address critically important matters and NASUWT will wish to give them the same detailed and careful evaluation, which we afforded to the Tomlinson report, before rushing to judge their merits or otherwise.
"The principles on which the proposals are based of tackling disaffection and disengagement, and increasing educational opportunities for every youngster are ones to which NASUWT subscribes wholeheartedly.
"Teachers are all united on the need to tackle these issues but, as NASUWT’s detailed consultations with members on the Tomlinson report revealed, there is vigorous debate within the profession on the most effective way of achieving this. Consequently, the response to the secretary of state’s announcement is likely to be mixed.
"The secretary of state recognises and places emphasis on the fact that the key to tackling disaffection is curriculum flexibility and securing parity of esteem between academic and vocational learning. This is in fact the real challenge of the whole exercise.
"NASUWT considered the Tomlinson proposal for an overarching diploma - which validated and accredited all courses in the same way - had the potential to deliver this and therefore the fact that it has not been discounted entirely as a longer term strategy is welcome.
"Whilst teachers’ professional opinions on curriculum content and strategies for validating and accrediting learning may be diverse, they will undoubtedly be united in their concerns about the organisational implications of the proposals.
"It will be essential to clarify at an early stage what collaboration with the FE sector, a common thread throughout the white paper, will mean in practice.
"How the government deals with the discrepancies between teachers’ and lecturers’ pay and conditions of service and the logistics and implications of sharing staff and students could well be a deciding factor in determining the profession’s response to these proposals."
Stakeholder Response: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)
Victoria Gill, adviser on learning training and development at the CIPD, said: "The government should take care not to cherry-pick elements of Mike Tomlinson's report in order to try and satisfy everyone.
"We would support the incorporation of A-levels/GCSEs within a new diploma, so that the qualifications that employers are familiar with are not lost altogether.
"However, if they are not incorporated in some way, we are concerned that vocational studies will continue to struggle to gain the credibility with employers that is needed.
"Any solution that steers clear of integration for fear of upsetting the traditional education lobby is likely to make the split between academic and vocational qualifications both more clearly defined and entrenched.
"When the government unveil the new white paper tomorrow, we hope to see a system that allows flexibility and is focused on the needs of the learners. Learners must be allowed to combine vocational and academic studies and the diploma shouldn't be seen as second class to A-levels/GCSEs.
"Employers would welcome 'functional' assessments of literacy and numeracy for all students. They will also want to be extensively involved in the development of work-based studies for 14 to 19-year-olds."
Stakeholder Response: Institute ofDirectors (IoD)
Miles Templeman, director general of the IoD, said: "The government is right to reject the Tomlinson proposals for a diploma to replace existing qualifications such as GCSEs and A-levels.
"Rather than initiating an upheaval in the qualification system we need better standards and results in schools. In particular, businesses expect pupils leaving school to be literate and numerate.
"The proof of the pudding is in the eating. While the emphasis on literacy and numeracy is right, employers want to see the government's aspirations transformed into results.
"Ultimately, the thrust of this white paper on literacy and numeracy is right. If employers have access to a literate and numerate workforce, further job specific training will be infinitely easier."
Stakeholder Response: Campaigning for Mainstream Universities (CMU)
Professor Michael Driscoll, chair of CMU and vice-chancellor of Middlesex University, said: "Ruth Kelly’s rejection of Tomlinson’s proposals for a single flexible examination system makes this a bleak day for the whole of the higher education sector.
"Her insistence on maintaining a separation between academic and vocational qualifications and reaffirming the Thatcherite ‘gold standard’ of A-levels will do exactly the opposite of what she claims and will simply reinforce the second class status of vocational qualifications.
"This was confirmed today [23rd February] in evidence given to MPs on the education and skills committee by Dr John Hood, vice-chancellor of Oxford University, who confirmed that he did not expect Oxford to accept vocational qualifications."
Stakeholder Response: Secondary Heads Association (SHA)
Dr John Dunford, SHA general secretary, said: "The white paper is a lost opportunity to create the coherent, unified qualifications system that this country needs.
"The Tomlinson diploma, carefully crafted with the support of employers, universities, colleges and schools, has been strangled at birth.
"A-levels and GCSEs should remain in the short term as the building blocks of the new system, but in the long term they must be absorbed into a diploma if we are to have a qualifications system that gives due value to both academic and vocational achievements.
"Only through a diploma framework can this country overcome the historic undervaluing of vocational qualifications.
"Electoral tactics, it seems, have taken precedence over educational logic.
"I welcome the hint in the white paper that the government is prepared to look again at the question of a diploma in 2008.
"However, 2008 may well be in the run-up to a 2009 general election and, if the current debate is any guide, it would be better to examine the merits of a diploma in a non-election period.
"The other big disappointment today is the government’s failure to reduce the bloated external examination system, which is costing schools and colleges £610 million per year [according to last week’s report from PricewaterhouseCoopers].
"The failure to adopt the Tomlinson recommendation for chartered assessors is a severe blow and suggests a lack of confidence on the part of the government in the professionalism of teachers to carry out internal assessment to external standards.
"University degrees depend on moderated internal assessment by lecturers: why cannot qualifications for 16 and 18-year-olds be based partly on moderated internal assessment by teachers?
"I welcome the slimming of the curriculum for 11 to 14-year-olds, which will provide space for secondary schools to prepare pupils better for the start of the 14 to 19 stage; the emphasis on English and mathematics in the white paper; employer involvement in the design of the specialised diploma; and the renewed commitment to introduce a post-qualifications applications process to university.
"In her statement to the Commons, Ruth Kelly stated that the education system has produced a high achieving elite, but has failed the majority. The limited reforms announced today will do little for those who have hitherto been failed by the qualifications system."
Stakeholder Response: Open University
Professor Brenda Gourley, Open University’s vice-chancellor, said: "The OU’s national reach, flexibility and expertise in distance learning – together with our commitment to making higher education available to all – means we have the capability and vision to deliver higher education programmes to the most talented and able school students utilising economies of scale.
"We welcome the government’s initiative to provide increased opportunities for sixth form students and look forward to making an important contribution to this exciting new programme.
"Successful YASS students need to be able, motivated and committed. School students who demonstrate self-discipline and application to their studies are best positioned to cope well with the formal structure of OU courses.
"School students who have gained higher education credits through OU study can set themselves apart, differentiate themselves as highly talented students, and demonstrate they can succeed at university level study."
Stakeholder Response: Forum of Private Business (FPB)
Jim Redman FPB senior policy adviser said: "The Tomlinson report recommended major reform of the UK secondary school system of examination and qualification, by replacing the present A-level exams with a 'Baccalaureate' style diploma. The advantage of such a system would be the flexibility to include cocational qualification on an equal level to academic recognition.
"However, Mike Tomlinson has emphasised that such a system could not be introduced on an immediate basis, as his view was that the reform of the infrastructure of education has to take place before changes to the examination system could happen.
"On behalf of small firms' employers, FPB continually emphasised in the consultation process that literacy and numeracy had to be significantly strengthened in the education of all pupils, and that the value of vocational education must be similarly recognised.
"Much work continues to be done, for example, on recognition of previous learning or "acquired" competence, and this form of training is most often employed in small businesses [on-the-job training].
"It is now the subject of consideration in the European Credit Transfer System for Vocational Education and Training and the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority is currently consulting employers on a Framework for Avchievement that would recognise skills acquired in the workplace. FPB is closely involved in this consultation.
"Whilst the implementation of the full recommendations of the Tomlinson report is supported by most employer organisations, there must remain questions over the timing of any changeover, and the confidence, particularly of small employers, to grasp the implications and the value of equivalences of qualification as related to occupational competence, if there is to be a major change to the present system.
"FPB will continue to advocate progression to a more substantial recognition of vocational education and training as well as greater emphasis on 'enterprise' (entrepreneurship) education that will better support the success of new and established small businesses.
"If the forthcoming proposals by the secretary of state for education for partial acceptance of the Tomlinson report establish a firm basis for advancing both academic excellence as well as vocational skills (for example, the role of NVQs in the new process), without 'bandaging' the existing system in a fudged process that is inevitably complicated and difficult to understand, they will meet much of the expressed need of small employers."
Stakeholder Response: CITB-construction skills
Peter Lobban CITB-ConstructionSkills chief executive said: "Vocational skills cannot be taught unless the industry that practices that vocation is involved at every level. We have enough problems with classroom based vocational courses not preparing students with the qualifications and practice they need. You can teach skills but you need practice to master them.
"We will work with government to ensure that employers in our industry are at the core of the drive to make to achieve parity of esteem between vocational and academic education.
"After all, without vocationally trained construction workers, who will build the schools, the new university departments and the Skills Academies of which Ruth Kelly speaks?"
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