English Bacc

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Henry Stewart: Gove’s new exams, only for the more academic students?

What to make of the new government proposals for exams at age 16? It is hard to work out, from the widespread media coverage, what will be included. The actual consultation paper does not, for instance, include any mention of 3 hour exams, repeatedly referred to in the media. The widely reported proposal that the new exams could be taken ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Allan Beavis: "WHere are these politicians that are prepared to listen and offer a real alternative that will truly improve results across the board for all abilities? Labour is completely feeble on this. Twigg is a joke...."

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Henry Stewart: The Arrogance of Michael Gove: How dare he judge 85% of students to be failures?

When Michael Gove announced that he would like all students to take Maths, English, Science, a humanities subject and a language, many people nodded in agreement. Those seemed a sensible combination. However it soon became clear that this was not just a suggestion or piece of advice. On the one hand, Gove complained about how much was prescribed by the previous government. ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Jane Sweeney: "How desperately sad that creative and sporting talent is going to be ignored and actually deemed pointless by this government. We have to accept that not every child is academically gifted- and nor do they need to be. As for ......"

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Jenny Carpenter: The White Paper and modern languages

For information, I have contacted John Hopper who is the Language Lead at the DfE. Here is what he said about modern languages in the English Baccalaureate: "The English Baccalaureate is based solely on A*-Cs in GCSEs or iGCSEs in the five categories of subject in question. Any language GCSE (except English) can qualify as the ancient or modern ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by liam collins: "Any news on GCSEs in Economics, Law, Sociology, RE, Business Studies, Art, Drama, Music, ICT etc etc. Worse thought out announcement yet...and that is truly saying something..."

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Melissa Benn: The White Paper: What’s in it for parents?

Parents, for so long treated as the main drivers of education reform,  get scant direct mention in this week’s White Paper. Teachers are the flavour of this particular political month. Nevertheless, this fiercely political White Paper contains reforms that will affect parents directly. It just depends on what kind of parent you are. If your child is at a grammar school or ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Francis Gilbert: "Behind some notably specious sound-bites, there's actually very little mention of parents in the Education White Paper. Particularly their influence upon children's attainment, which research and common sense suggests is overwhelmingly what determines a child's achievement at school. We know ......"

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