News of education secretary Michael Gove’s plans to scrap GCSEs made headlines this morning and the story warrants some unpicking.
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News of education secretary Michale Gove’s plans to scrap GCSEs made headlines this morning and the story warrants some unpicking.
Chris Cook of the Financial Times has demonstrated how this plan could interfere with social mobility, but his projections have already been batted away by Gove.
A pressing question remains about the nature of the new exams. The claim is that O levels are coming back, and the moniker “traditional” is littered across reports.
The leaked document stipulates that the names of the new exams are undecided, though the description of a single exam model and emphasis on ‘core’ subjects suggests that something like O levels are in mind, with a separate exam for those not deemed fit for that challenge.
What is clear is Gove’s motivation: his aim is to ensure “that our education system stands in comparison to the world’s most rigorous”. Questioned this morning in the House of Commons, he defends his decisions by referring again and again to catching up with “the world’s best”, to the UK’s declining position in Pisa tables and to Singapore.
• Wales education minister: Gove’s way of announcing GCSE reforms was “bonkers” 21 Jun 2012
It is unfortunate Gove is so much a product of his times that he can only view education in terms of a global qualifications race, even when other countries are turning their attention to the actual conditions of a 21st-century world, and looking to align their education systems accordingly. When questioned about whether he was looking back rather than forward, Gove insisted that he was looking “outwards”.
It is high time he adopted a more nuanced view of drawing global comparisons in education.
It is all very well for him to call Finland “an outlier”, to avoid responding to the implications of its success, but he cannot claim that one country’s achievement cannot be replicated while seeking to turn the UK – with its divergent history, culture and economy – into Singapore.
US scholars rightly doubt replicating Singapore’s tough standards would have the same effect in their country, where, like the UK, factors such as parental aspiration are less uniform.
Gove also does not seem to have taken on board the analysis of U.S. Pisa results showing that their relative declining scores over time are strongly linked to child poverty. So the US is particularly bad at educating its low-income children, and England appears to the the same – according to this DFE analysis (pdf), in England, “the impact of pupils’ socio-economic background is significantly higher than the OECD average”. Incidentally, the same is true of Gove’s beloved Singapore.
The proposed changes will be reviewed in the Autumn and when the time comes, Gove must not be allowed to defend them on the grounds of global competitiveness, when he is picking and choosing those countries whose values he endorses.
That he is a successful product of exams that divvied up pupils on the basis of straightforward knowledge must not blind him to the fact that forward-looking tests (pdf)today embrace complexity and a wider range of skills, fit to be used by all – not 60 or 80% – of pupils.
31 Responses to “Gove must stop seeing the British education system as part of a global qualifications race”
EducateFirst Ltd⋆✰☆
Gove must stop seeing the British education system as part of a … http://t.co/1TiNmDSj
Amelia Peterson
Some inconsistencies in Gove's defence this morning: http://t.co/d7t6IeiN
Anonymous
It is unfortunate Gove is so much a product of his times that he can only view education in terms of a global qualifications race, even when other countries are turning their attention to the actual conditions of a 21st-century world, and looking to align their education systems accordingly. When questioned about whether he was looking back rather than forward, Gove insisted that he was looking “outwards”.
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So we should be looking for a dumbed down education system, because you don’t need qualifications on benefits?
No mention of the real failure. Vast numbers of pupils who cannot get 5 GCSE (even lower standard than proposed) after 14 years in education.
That has failed them. That has set them up for life in a way that means they won’t succeed in almost all cases.
One point I agree. Parental attitude. Change that and you make a big difference. That needs a big stick.
Yrotitna
Gove must stop seeing the British education system as part of a global qualifications race: http://t.co/Ku8WYr93 by @AKMPeterson
Geoff, England
There’s no such thing as a ‘British’ education system. The individual nations have long had separate systems. This has only become accentuated with devolution. Gove’s remit doesn’t go beyond the territory legally defined as England. Please learn the difference between England and Britain, and use the terms correctly.