I’ve been meaning to write this up for ages. But it’s starting to get some traction, so I’ll jump in now…
I’m basically in favour of the idea of a Baccalaureate. The Wiki link explains what it is in France, but it’s basically a certificate of high-school graduation, of competence to enter higher education, and of a rounded secondary education.
This isn’t what Michael Gove has cooked up, however. He’s come up with a random bunch of GCSEs, and introduced it as a measure for schools to try and achieve.
I’m particularly annoyed because by misusing the term, he’s tainting it for at least a generation (someone else has said that the two problems with it are that it isn’t English, and it isn’t a Baccalaureate…).
It’s also bound to introduce confusion; public schools are already entering students for the International Baccalaureate (yes another ambiguity). Continental students will apply for English Universities and feel their achievement devalued. English students may feel they qualify for French universities, and be sadly disappointed.
Just after I started writing this, the BBC reported that Universities Minister David Willetts is apparently recommending English students study abroad – calling for a ” greater mutual recognition of qualifications”. A good starting point might be to not muddy the waters about what a baccalaureate is …
This EBacc truly is The Dinner Party Test (Gove even gets a mention in this article!). Dreamed up over the brandies in Chipping Norton. With no consultation with professionals, and no real thought about what skills will be valued when looking for a job.
So … it’s awarded for English, Maths, two sciences, a foreign language and either History or Geography. Irrespective of the character and strengths of the student. And :
- It ignores valid subjects such as Economics (possibly more relevant than Geography).
- It’s awarded based on performance at age 16 – so is incomplete in terms of university entrance.
- It completely ignores the creative arts – a high proportion of high-achieving visual artists are dyslexic. Talented musicians (for example) may also be challenged in more academic disciplines. Even Literature (assuming that “English” relates to the use of the language) is ignored.
- As an example – one of the schools in my area has a Performance Arts specialism status – and pupils have appeared in a number of films – including Harry Potter. That just wouldn’t be measured in this superficial evaluation of school performance.
The French bac has three separate streams. Gove’s “one size fits all” approach is, by contrast, a dehumanising exercise, trying to fit all students into a framework he seems to have pulled from 1965.
At the heart of the problem is the recurring mistake of governments and their officials, when they try to aggregate individual student performances into an overall performance for the school – a league table.
The EBacc fails on both of these counts – reducing the unique achievements of both students and the school to a statistical tick-box.
So – one of the most significant changes introduced by a government that claims to be decentralising, empowering local decision-making has been to introduce an arbitrary measure of success.
Instead of letting the school management, parents and governors decide their own values, objectives and measures, and evaluating performance against those measures.
What should be certified ?
Well, if we do need a league table at age 16, then it shouldn’t necessarily be academic (that’s measured in the next two years), and it must be based on absolute, rather than competitive achievement.
It should be asking whether the student has the right set of life skills – especially those needed for the work environment.
So competence in English and basic Arithmetic are relevant. Calculus and algebra probably aren’t as valuable as an understanding of household management – living on a budget, understanding financial services products and (for example) interest rate calculation.
A foreign language is of value (although not essential).
Sciences probably have less value at this level than a competence with Computers and Mobile phones – and particularly the use of Search tools. Communication skills and Teamworking are two qualities valued by employers – not sure how those are measured …
Until now, these have been included “vocational” qualifications and shoehorned into the GCSE tables. That’s the wrong place for them. But they do still have a value.
Interestingly, the table at the bottom of the article linked above show that specialist schools / academies – such as Performing Arts, Science & Maths, Sports and Media are among the ones that “suffer” in league table terms when non-academic qualifications are excluded.
But What Harm Can It Do?
The danger is that the diversity of subjects taught in our schools is reduced to a subset. That diversity is essential – different schools should have different strengths, and children should be encouraged to choose the school which best matches their nature.
An old boss of mine had borrowed a maxim (from, apparently, Peter Drucker) that “What Gets Measured Gets Managed”. However, it’s really important to understand the implications. If you measure the wrong things, you manage the wrong things, Then you manage things wrong, and then you get the wrong results. This is at the heart of dysfunctional management.
There’s evidence growing that schools are already starting to devote resources to these randomly selected topics, to the detriment of subjects not on the list.
The Commons Education Sub-Committee has recognised this, and has asked Gove to “think again”. Of course, he probably won’t. So far he’s not shown any inclination to consider an opinion that conflicts with his own. He’s disingenuous in claiming that if you don’t like the measure, then you can invent your own (this on a radio program when the scheme was first announced). Your measures won’t be measured – so they won’t be included in the league tables …
Interestingly … the certificate has been described as “Napoleonic“.
We’ll see where this leads…
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