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Reforms in the British education system have already been started. However, there are still many changes that need to be initiated. This is what Brighton College Headmaster Richard Cairns says. A most notable one is providing students the chance to get the technical and vocational training they want and the country’s economy needs.
There are many students out there who want to have “meaningful technical and vocational training” and not academic qualifications, says Mr Cairns. He relates that the toughened A-levels have become less relevant because of the situation. This all-time record decline of the academic study’s relevance is overlooked, he asserts.
Mr Cairns points out that academic learning have lost its ability to challenge young people to think well beyond the syllabus. Citing his experience, he says that the happiest and most productive classrooms are those where gifted teachers challenge and inspire the intellect of students.
Reforms Already Done
As the Education Secretary for four years, Michael Gove has initiated big changes to help reform the British education system. Mr Cairns notes that Mr Gove’s fingerprints are first found in this year’s A-level results. The college headmaster points out that the education secretary was firm in his goal of cracking down the exam resits culture so he abolished the January exam season. He took the first important step towards restoring a traditional linear A-level course.
The effect of the change mentioned can be seen in the results of this year’s exam. The pupils and the education community have anticipated problem-causing implications. It meant that the practice of entering pupils several times over for the same exams to get good results will no longer be applicable. Thus, many failed to get the results they want or need because of the time constraint. This is especially so for schools which rely heavily on the practice.
For the first time in history, exam watchdog Ofqual warned schools last month to expect ‘volatile’ results that will result in a fallout that will be felt across the country. Further, it is only the beginning. Starting 2015, only final exams will be used in assessing A-levels and these will be taken after two years in the sixth form.
Stand-alone courses will be the strict norm of AS-levels and its results will no longer count in the final A-level grade. And partly as a response to universities’ complaints that first year undergraduates now know less than those before, A-Levels have been reformulated with syllabuses which are much more rigorous.
Starting the next batch, sixth formers will have a tougher time than those before them. This means a larger picture that is better. Mr Cairns believes that, overall, the sensibility of the education secretary’s reforms cannot be questioned.
More Reforms Needed
Mr Cairns asserts that the many young people who desire to pursue the relevant technical and vocational training also deserve an education that is rigorous and inspiring. It means that he would like the same good changes that happened to the academic curriculum to be made on technical and vocational education.
UTC Example
The Brighton headmaster relates that Kenneth Baker’s University Technical Colleges has something that can be a possible step towards making technical and vocational training rigorous and inspiring. According to him, the UTCs, with the support of leading employers in the country as Jaguar Land Rover and Unilever, offer thousands of age 14s to 18s much more than what academic schools like Brighton can.
In the UTCs, pupils devote almost half of their total schooling time on the specific technical field they are specialising in. There, they work with employers and local universities where their skills will be developed. These skills will enable them to become inventors, engineers, scientists and technicians in the future. New UTCs are being added one after another. The plan is to have 47 by 2016.
Overall Overhaul
Mr Cairns stresses that while the government has already started making big positive reforms in the academic education system and he calls for the same amount of attention for technical and vocational education, he also pushes for the “restructuring of its entire educational model.”
He asserts that the country needs a primary school education that continues to the age of 14 which is modelled on those of the best prep schools of the country. In it, the English, maths, science and modern languages are taught as discrete subjects from an early age and then leads to a formally assessed school certificate.
Double Edged
Further, as earlier mentioned, the changes should include making academic excellence and technical competence two coequal routes to getting ahead in life. In his words, these two are plated respectively with gold and titanium. Mr Cairns says that Mr Gove have made the huge first step and that the next education secretary must have a systematic plan and put it in motion to make the second.
What can you say of the reforms that outgoing education secretary Michael Gove have instituted? How do you think would the near and distant futures of education look like with these reforms?
