Another article on the paucity of good UK education

It would appear that educational standards are dropping not rising. This will come as no surprise to anyone who has read my earlier posts on this subject. This time we are told that "Fewer than half of teenagers in England are reaching the required standard at school as they struggle to master the three Rs, new league tables will show....Provisional figures show that 61.5 per cent of all teenagers gained five A* to C grades last summer - a rise of more than two points on 2006. However, the Government's favoured measure, which only counts pupils with at least a C in English and maths, shows much slower progress. Under that measure, added to league tables in 2006, the proportion of pupils gaining five good grades in 2007 fell to 46.5 per cent - a rise of just 0.7 points on the previous year. Many schools that had been lauded for their achievements in the past saw their league table positions plummet. In one school in 2006, 82 per cent gained five or more good GCSEs. But taking English and maths into account, that figure fell to just 16 per cent. Another school dropped from 77 per cent to 13 per cent."

So what is the response of our beloved Labour government? Obviously it is to move the goalposts, so "GCSEs and A-levels may eventually be scrapped altogether as 14- to 19-year-olds opt for new diplomas, which will combine vocational and academic studies. They will be taken for the first time next September in five subjects - engineering, construction, information technology, media and health. The Government believes the diplomas will eventually become the qualification of choice as more academic subjects, such as languages, humanities and science, are introduced." You can read my thoughts on this proposal here.


This Labour government, "inept or actively destructive"? I used to think advocates of the latter theory were just going too far, I am becoming less sure.