It's back to basics again (in education)

In remarks earlier today David Cameron promised to lead a change in teaching methods to ensure "the basics are taught properly".  He emphasised:

"Changing the curriculum to ensure a proper focus on the core subjects of English, Maths, Science, History and Modern Languages; changes to exams – including an end to key-word marking; and changes to league tables, to make sure they focus on the core subjects.”

The Press Association is also reporting that the Tory leader "backed greater use of setting, arguing that teaching pupils in groups according to their abilities would help stretch the brightest and support the lowest achievers."

Download a PowerPoint presentation on the Tory Policy Review's Mid-term report on education from this page.

Related links on 100policies.com: David Walsh's Compulsory British History at GCSE and Tony Emmerson's Biology, physics and chemistry - not single science

5.30pm update: The Reform think tank has issued a response to the Conservative statement:

"There is one key contradiction and one major omission in the Conservative Party’s Policy Review Mid-term Report published today – The state of state schools. On the one hand the Party suggests that it will consider intervening in considerable detail into the process of state education.  On the other, the key policy “direction” is that the Party will deliver educational well-being which will “depend on trusting and empowering professionals, and removing the barriers that hold them back”.  These objectives are in straightforward opposition. Overall the direction of the paper is overwhelmingly in the direction of greater regulation.  This is consistent with the approach taken by the 1987 Conservative Government which introduced the national curriculum, national tests and Ofsted, and which was continued by succeeding Conservative Governments and Labour Governments after 1997... Interestingly, the Government is moving in the opposite direction to the Conservative Party.  In his speech last week, the Prime Minister explained that the Government began with an emphasis on “standards not structures” – similar to the Conservative document today – but has since realised that structural issues of parental choice and school independence are essential."

Comments

[ouch - cameron's hug a hoodie gets the willie horton treatment on you tube]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoyXmJBjflY

[George Hinton]

Wouldn't it be easier and more fairer for the kids to take education out of the hands of politico's and vest it in an impartial committee of educationalists drawn from outside the UK.
Rather as NuLab did with the Bank of Egland all those years ago.

[Richard Weatherill]

"impartial committee of educationalists"

And where might one find such a chimaera? If you ask me, "educationalists" are more likely to contribute to the problem than to its solution.

[George Hinton]

And interfering politicians havn't already contributed to the problem with targets and constant fiddling that now calls into question the whole ethos of A levels and the standards of passes achieved.

[malcolm]

Some good examples of the problems faced by schools.Now for the solutions.....

[Ex Candidate]

This is a centralist "Whitehall knows best" managerialist approach. I wonder what the supporters of Direct Democracy will make of it. Not much probbaly but they will put their careers before principle.

Is it too much to expect a policy that gives more power to parents rather than bureaucrats? As Mr Willetts has already ruled out vouchers, it probably is.

[Michael McGowan]

Correct, Malcolm. We all know what the problems are: they have been with us for many years. A top-down approach will fall prey to political spin, target culture and the vagaries of the electoral cycle. Surely we have learnt at least that much from the last nine years? Which is why parents, especially poorer ones, need the clout which vouchers give them ... but Willetts denies them.

[TomTom]

"Changing the curriculum to ensure a proper focus on the core subjects of English, Maths, Science,

What pray is Science ?

Where did Physics, Chemistry, Biology go ?

Where did the Conservatives get all the old Labour policy documents from ? This is a re-make of an old film with a new cast

[Winchester whisperer]

Is "setting" cultural Marxist speak for "streaming"?

[Jonathan Sheppard]

Its about time we addressed the real issues in education. The party asks is the eduaction system preparing our kids for the real world.

My one questions would be why are modern languages being stressed? I havent used mine since I left school, and worked in Brussels for a short time (where everyone spoke better English that me!) - and unless it includes languages used in say Asia I wouldn't think languages such as French and German will help young people in the modern world.

Will they?

[Winchester whisperer]

Useful Modern Languages would be Spanish and Mandarin

[James Maskell]

When I was in school, I did the Double Science Award for GCSE. 2/3s of each of the three sciences basically. Single Science was 1/3 of each. I think thats what Cameron was getting at. Science is used as a generic term these days. I wouldnt be too harsh about it.

And since hes talking about setting, if he believes in it, why is he so critical of Grammar schools?

[Winchester whisperer]

He should bring back Greek and Latin

[James Maskell]

When I was in school, I did the Double Science Award for GCSE. 2/3s of each of the three sciences basically. Single Science was 1/3 of each. I think thats what Cameron was getting at. Science is used as a generic term these days. I wouldnt be too harsh about it.

And since hes talking about setting, if he believes in it, why is he so critical of Grammar schools?

[Winchester whisperer]

and Religious Education should be compulsory

[disillusioned activist]

The episode of "Yes, Prime Minister" entitled "The National Education Service" is as relevant today as it was in 1987 when the series was first braodcast...

[Mark Fulford]

Its about time we addressed the real issues in education.

The three real issues in education:

1. class size;
2. parent power;
3. choice.

The key difference between private and state schools is the teacher / pupil ratio. 25 should be the maximum class size.

Parents must have a greater influence over their local schools. Currently parents are powerless: head teachers are more answerable to centrally imposed targets than their parents.

Choice is essential. One size does not fit all. Central direction means that when educationalists get it wrong (like they have now), it's not just a single school but a whole nation whose education is harmed.

[Winchester whisperer]

Mark is correct and it's very depressing to see how thick many young people are as a result of this Govt's disastrous "education" policy.

[Katie]

'religious education should be compulsory'

Absolutely agree but need to be impartial and encourage debate. Mine was taught by a reverend who effectivly ignored all pupils who expressed doubts about christianity, or an interest in other religions.

[Winchester whisperer]

Hurrah for the Reverend!

[Mark Wadsworth]

Winchester Whisperer, "setting" is indeed Newspeak for "streaming". It is not even slightly different conceptually, it's the same thing (as far as I can see).

[Mark Fulford]

religious education should be compulsory

Religious education to the under 16s should be banned!

Once a child is 16 and has defences such as a fully developed BS detector, you can teach them whatever religious claptrap you like.

[SimonNewman]

Katie:
"Absolutely agree but need to be impartial and encourage debate"

That should be taught as comparative religion or theology. Actually I'm not sure how traditional RE can possibly work with a class that's most or all Hindu or Muslim. I'd rather see the time spent teaching Classical History & Civilisation, the most useful subject I did at school.

[Richard]

I have an idea.

Seeing as parents fund state schools through their taxes, they (or their children) should be able to have a say over which subjects their children do or do not study.

Aren't the Tories in favour of choice?

[Richard]

"Religious education to the under 16s should be banned!"

That's rather authoritarian. Besides, RE isn't just about saying "this is true", it is also about teaching the beliefs of other religions.

If you go to the sort of school that says "this is true", the chances are you go to a faith school and seeing as you or your parents chose to send you their you can hardly complain if you are taught along those lines.

"Once a child is 16 and has defences such as a fully developed BS detector, you can teach them whatever religious claptrap you like."

According to that logic, parents should be banned from taking their children to Church.

[Michael McGowan]

Mark, why is religion "claptrap" and atheism not?

[James O'Shaughnessy]

Nerd moment: much as I'd like to say that setting = streaming through a Frankfurt school Marxist filter, they are different. Streaming means being in the same class for all subjects, so year 8 form 3 means you're in the third stream across all topics. It's what happens in primary schools. Setting means being in different ability sets for different subjects depending on ability. So a child could be in the top set for maths, third set for english and bottom set for science. This happens alot at secondary school.

[Deborah]

A series of slides and bullet points? Slick but insufficient. I do hope there will be a proper report available soon.

[Deborah]

Jonathon Sheppard,
Foreign languages are the key to understanding foreign cultures. Yes, you can get by in most other countries by speaking English - and English is the language of business - but if you want to understand the French, Germans, Russians, Chinese etc that you are dealing with you need to understand their culture and it is very hard to do that without a knowledge of their language.

[TomTom]

File all your comments away and return to them in 2015..............nothing much will have changed, it never will. The English are incapable of delivering Education and prefer to have everyone with the same certificate for fear someone might get ahead.

There is absolutely no prospect of Education improving in Britain under Conservatives simply because State schools are for those who cannot afford to go private - and most Conservative Frontbenchers can

[TomTom]

File all your comments away and return to them in 2015..............nothing much will have changed, it never will. The English are incapable of delivering Education and prefer to have everyone with the same certificate for fear someone might get ahead.

There is absolutely no prospect of Education improving in Britain under Conservatives simply because State schools are for those who cannot afford to go private - and most Conservative Frontbenchers can

[James Maskell]

Ah, Im not the only one unimpressed with the Powerpoint presentation! Im pretty disappointed here by this report. Nothing radical or exciting. Ive given better reports than this...

[Richard]

TomTom, I fear you may be right.

[Mark Fulford]

Mark, why is religion "claptrap" and atheism not?

I'd love to go into this but, until the Editor starts up a freeform discussion area, it would take us too far OT.

[Jonathan Sheppard]

Deborah, modern lanugauages in this country have come to mean French and German. My argument is that perhaps if we are going to have languages in a core curriculum they arent the most relevant choices!

[James Maskell]

Having finished reading the presentation one question stands tall. What are we actually proposing here? From what I can see we want to tinker with the system...

The more I read this the more I wonder what we actually stand for that isnt Labout...

[James Maskell]

Good point Jonathan. I know when I was at school, German backed down to Spanish. They only joined to find out what "Another beer please" in Spanish meant for their jaunts in Ibiza...

[Jonathan Sheppard]

For my sins I actually went on a "cultural exchange" where my dad taught in a school in the US and I assume they sent someone here. Now given we share a common language with the US I didn't need to learn a new language to learn about their culture - though on my return aged 10 I was called Hank the Yank at school due to my newly acquired American accent!

I appreciate that learning languages is good, but if the French are fighting against English taking over their language, (and I like the French language) I just question how useful (given we are only prescribing certain subjects), it would be for say French to be one of them.

[Ted]

Tom Tom - ref your earlier comment on "Science" one of the things said by Tory spokesman on this was to get back to Physics, Chemistry & Biology rather than general science. In my day (Sounds like my age) Universities didn't rate general or combined science subjects so we only took them as an extra - in case of failure in the specialised paper. Rather than governments saying these subjects must be taught perhaps tertiary education and employers should let it be known that they prioritise specialist science in applications.

[esbonio]

Whilst I am generally in favour of grammar schools, I must admit that provided there is setting/streaming (call it what you will, but it was what we had in my day) it should have a positive effect. Where I think the comprehensive system can and does fall down (but not in all cases) is in the extent to which it can actually stretch kids given all the other issues they have to deal with e.g. discipline, social background etc. Of course the Tories have a right cheek knocking grammar schools by implication when as has been pointed out Tory MPs are unlikely to be products of the state system or use it themselves.

[esbonio]

Ted

I do not know how for how long Biology, Chemistry and Physics have been taught as one subject at GCSE but the mere fact that they have is proof positive of our dumbed down educational system.

[Mark Fulford]

Ah, Im not the only one unimpressed with the Powerpoint presentation!

I was most unimpressed with the slide “Sixth form: are we developing the scientists and engineers of the future?” It tells us the proportion of A-level students studying maths, physics and chemistry in 2001 and 2006:

Chemistry: 2001 = 16%, 2006 = 13%, down 10%
Physics: 2001 = 12%, 2006 = 9%, down 17%
Maths: 2007 = 24%, 2006 = 17%, down 48%

Have I’ve got early onset dementia or are those numbers barking wrong?

How does 16% down to 13% equate to a drop of 10%? A drop of 3 in 100 students is not 10% of 100, nor 10% or 16, nor 10% or 13.

Ditto getting “down 17%” from 12% to 9%.

Ditto getting “down 48%” from 24% to 17%

If our education policy review can’t get such basic maths right, how the hell can it lecture on a decline in standards and how the hell can we trust it to centrally dictate education policy?

[Michael McGowan]

Esbonio, the Tories (inlcuding one M Thatcher) helped Labour dismantle garmmar schools because they didn't want their kids facing competition from the lower orders. Cameron and Blair (especially Cameron) would have had a rather less effortless rise if the grammar schools had been going full throttle.

[esbonio]

Michael McGowan

If Tory MPs had to send their kids to state schools they'd proabably be pro grammar schools.

I take your point re Oxbridge. Gordon Brown did have a point to a degree.

[James Maskell]

Is there any mathematical explanation for the numbers as Mark Fulford pointed out? I was rather taken aback by those numbers as well...

[David Belchamber]

Mark Fulford @16.24:

"The key difference between private and state schools is the teacher / pupil ratio. 25 should be the maximum class size".

That is one vitally important difference, Mark, though you will find the good independent grammar schools in the Manchester area teaching larger classes than 25 and being very successful.

Other key differences are that many, by no means all, independents select via the common entrance exam for entry into senior school, classroom discipline is so much better (so teachers can actually get on with teaching), there are so many other things on the curriculum, such as sport, music, drama etc that there is plenty to occupy and interest pupils.

Some people have said that the tories are not much interested in state education; if that were true in the past, it must cease to be now.

However, it is worth remembering two successful initiatives brought in by the last tory government and promptly cancelled by Blair: grant maintained schools (that allowed heads and governors to manage their school) and the assisted places scheme, which, though by no means perfect, did give able pupils whose parents could not afford fees a chance to go to an independent school.

[Scotty]

Ted&Mark, "Physics, Chemistry & Biology rather than general science."
I think that we are beginning to see a serious shortage of science teachers. It's causing real problems in my area.
Hope someone is taking note of where there is long term shortages developing i.e. science teachers, dentists and engineers etc.
We need to have a strategy to encourage more people to take these courses at university.

[Perdix]

As usual on ConHome, not too many Tories who want to win.
J Maskell 16.09 - Cameron was never critical of Grammars.
TomTom 17.38 - negativism will get you nowhere.
Deborah 17.29 - you are correct. Learning a foreign language also helps to understand grammar.

[James Maskell]

If Cameron was never critical of Grammar schools, why did he promise not to have any more under a Conservative Government?

[Billy]

Perdix - do you think it compulsory that every child should learn a foreign language? Why?