The annual debates on the deteriorating quality of the education system are surfacing once more as results-day approaches. The Conservatives, spearheaded by Shadow Minister of Education Michael Glove, attacked Labour’s education system, accusing them of “meddling, micromanaging, and dumbing down”. Gove gave his support to the Tories’ own overhaul of the education system, announced yesterday.
The Tories’ plan includes the removal of the current system of assessment of schools, which is based on the proportion of pupils who achieve five grades between A* to C in their GCSEs. The Conservatives claim that this means that schools will place emphasis on borderline C-grade pupils in order to boost their ranking, thereby neglecting the needs of more able students, who are as a result unjustly condemned to underperform.
The proposed alternative system supported by the opposition will consist of a points-based system, which allows more focus on students at the more advanced end of the spectrum.
Gove has also criticised the lack of distinguishing between “hard” and “soft” subjects. But Manchester head teacher Tarun Kapur defends this egalitarian perspective that “all subjects should be offered [because] what some pupils find harder, others find easier.” Yet the Tories opine that the gap in difficulty between “hard” subjects such as Maths or Chemistry and “soft” subjects such as Media Studies is unreasonably large, and that subjects like the latter are “nowhere near as academically demanding” as the former.
In response to this issue, Gove has proposed a function of the Tories’ suggested points system, which would see more points awarded to success in more academically demanding fields.
In spite of all the good intent and new ideas fuelling this topic, one does not need to be cynically inclined to share Kapur’s notion that the Tories’ proposition is more an appeal to voters than a genuine call for change. The issue of dumbing down schools is one that has seen as much debate as inaction and lack of improvement – and that is as unlikely to change as the education system itself.

Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, has announced that he plans to bring in contracts for parents, to help improve schoolchildren’s behaviour.

The Home Schools Agreement (HSA) would make parents confirm that they will support their children and encourage them to behave well.

Other parents will be able to complain to the Local Education Authority if they feel that a HSA is not being upheld.  If the contract is broken, it could be used as evidence in court to support a parenting order.

Under the proposals, a further 20,000 families in every local authority area will also be given help under Family Intervention Projects.

The plans will be in an education Bill in the next session of Parliament.

Similar contracts, such as parenting orders, have proved successful for local authorities, particularly in relation to absenteeism and anti-social behaviour but is this one step too far, or a necessity to keep children under control?

We’re sure that those parents who take their responsibilities seriously and can keep their kids in order would find signing a contract insulting and offensive. However it’s very clear that there’s a minority out there who need a little reminder that ultimately their children are their responsibility.

As Ed Balls has said: “If the large majority of parents are doing the right thing, but a small minority do not engage, you can have one lesson for 30 kids disrupted by one child.”  If HSAs can go even a small way towards improving education for the majority, any minor annoyance will be worth it for the result.

A huge row broke out today over Government plans to cut education spending by £100 million after the next election.

The story featured in many of today’s papers after figures published on the Treasury’s website showed how funding will fall from £85.1 billion in 2009-10 to 85 billion in 2010-2011. It is the first such drop since the late 1980s.

Although figures show that spending on schools will increase by 0.8 per cent, there will be a 2.4 per cent cut in areas of innovation, universities and skills.

The Treasury has hit back however, claiming that the cuts were due to cash being brought forward in a bid to stimulate the UK’s economy. Schools Minister Vernon Coaker said it was “absurd and totally misleading” to suggest spending was being cut adding: “The fact is we have brought forward almost £1 billion of capital investment in schools from next year to support local businesses and jobs, particularly in the construction industry, during the recession.”

The Conservatives have called for Gordon Brown to abandon his dishonest claims that he can go on increasing spending.