The prime minister’s proposal to introduce a new qualification, the Advanced British Standard, to replace both A- levels and T-levels, has been met with a mix of scepticism and consternation within the education sector.
Criticised already as a populist policy, a mere nod towards levelling up and the coming election, it is easily derided, which is hardly surprising considering that the education sector has been treated like a rag doll by politicians of all sides.
After all, schools have had to answer to nine different ministers of education in the past thirteen years while dealing with pay disputes, teacher shortages, issues of funding and the safety of school buildings.
“Ten years is a long time in education politics.”
Before considering the proposal, however, the fine print tells us that the process is expected to take ten years of consultation and discussion before its possible implementation in 2033 – 2034. This is a particularly long time in politics where politicians come and go and take their best and worst ideas with them.
However, in contrast to the education secretary who was more concerned with giving all schools a copy of the King James Bible back in 2012, it is a step forward in posing a fundamental question about our school qualifications: whether they are the best measure of our children’s learning and abilities.
Some of the ideas put forward, for example introducing a minimum of an extra 195 hours of face-to-face teaching given the difficulties in staffing schools today, are going to raise hackles. And who knows what hold AI will have in education by then? And how will we marry up the different qualifications?
There will also be consternation at the idea of abandoning the A-level brand which is extensively marketed worldwide as a hallmark of excellence. Yet while it is easy enough to criticise the proposal, it is worth looking at whether it has, in fact, any merit at all.
“There will be consternation at the idea of abandoning the A-level brand.”
The first positive is the acknowledgment of the importance of teachers when the prime minister said: “Our teachers do one of the most valuable jobs in our society and we should reward them for that” and that there was a pressing need to make a better fist of recruiting, retaining and paying teachers.
The promise of an additional £600m over two years to increase the training of maths teachers, and funding for those studying for compulsory GCSE resits in colleges in maths and English will no doubt be welcome. But both statements will sound hollow to teachers who have long been agitating for salary increases and better working conditions.
Also welcome will the opportunity to debate the value of a broader qualification, particularly the proposal to shift from three to five subjects, (albeit that two of these have to be of English and mathematics), and to address the status of academic and vocational qualifications.
Many teachers will also feel that the move from three to five subjects (more in line with Scottish Highers) would be a good thing. Some A-Level courses, especially in the humanities, are content heavy and the same learning – arguably better learning – could take place with less content and more breadth of subjects.
“There are many issues that will bring out the pedant, the reactionary and the radical.”
We hear too many examples, even of the best teachers at the best schools, telling students that there is not time to be discursive, to think too deeply about what they are learning, because of content overload and course pressures. Perhaps, also, we can reflect on being more effective in the use of our teaching time before we start extending hours and stop treating the marketing of examination results as another inter-school fixture.
Of course, there are many issues that will bring out the pedant, the reactionary and the radical, those wedded to their subjects or the status quo or wanting a whole new paradigm of education. But politics aside, the time is right for us to enter a formal discussion about the qualifications we offer our students and to question whether they are relevant to the world they will be going into and fair and equitable.
Perhaps it is time to focus on what is the best education for our children, before worrying about how we measure it. If nothing else, the prime minister has poked the bear.
Let the debate begin.