“I’d be very, very surprised if they actually got this thing to work.”
It’s not often that I find myself agreeing with an education secretary, but when Gillian Keegan said this about Labour’s VAT on school fees policy this week, I found myself nodding along.
She was reacting to a report from the Adam Smith Institute which suggested that, if enough children switched from the private to the state sector as a result, levying VAT on fees could actually end up costing the Government money.
“How many parents of SEN children do you have to upset to make a point?”
There are a lot of unknowns and no report – however well-researched – can really tell us what the impact will be. Predictions range from “a storm in a teacup” to “the end of independent schools” and everything in between.
And I won’t pretend to know. But the policy feels like complicated, labour-intensive “gesture politics” rather than a genuine attempt to raise state sector funds. It’s going to be an unholy headache for everyone involved and we don’t know what the outcome will even be.
How many parents of SEN children do you have to upset to make a point?
If they genuinely want to transform education and make an equal society (yes please), they’ll have to try something far more ambitious than this and work with, rather than against, the private sector to make this happen.
“They’ll have to try something far more ambitious than this.”
Meanwhile, independent schools were out in full force at the Next Generation Assessment conference in Manchester on Monday discussing ways to improve the way we measure students’ achievements in school.
A new piece of research revealed that while universities take a broad approach to assessment, through oral tasks, group work and written assignments, schools are stuck on an “outdated” exams-focused track that doesn’t prepare them for higher education.
While extremely high-stakes “linear” exams might seem fairer because they cut out the potentially dubious and socially divisive coursework elements, this is not necessarily so.
They surely favour the detached last-minute crammer over the curious student who likes to investigate subjects for themselves, but doesn’t enjoy the pressures of the exam hall.
“Linear exams might seem fairer but this isn’t necessarily so.”
Rethinking Assessment should be applauded for daring to think differently and questioning the prevailing attitude that in the name of fairness all must suffer.
Talking of fairness, this week a survey from Trinity College London revealed that the teaching profession is somewhat divided on that new disruptor in education: artificial intelligence.
While the majority of headteachers are excited by its potential to transform learning, only 23 per cent of teachers have actually used it in their teaching in the past term. Nearly two thirds thought it was too inaccurate or unreliable to be used in lessons.
One thing’s for certain though: even if the teachers aren’t using it much, the pupils will be.
Oral exams, rather than written assignments, are likely to be used more to counteract this, many school leaders have predicted.
“Even if the teachers aren’t using AI much, the pupils will be.”
Geoff Barton, the outgoing general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, is perhaps speaking elequently up the right tree with his move – announced this week – to lead a commission on oracy which aims to make it an entitlement across all age ranges.
Keir Starmer announced back in July last year that he wanted to see the development of more speaking and listening skills woven into lessons under a Labour government.
A laudable goal, you might think, but his plan was met with apprehension from some teachers.
“If this means, say, developing quality read-alouds and question and answer strategies, that’s great. If it means bringing back hoop-jumping speaking and listening coursework, not so great,” said education expert Daisy Christodoulou at the time.
If Labour come to power they will quickly discover that, in the education world, making change is always more complicated than you think.