Call for Evidence
Written submissions
Aim of the Inquiry
The Committee on Education for 11 to 16 Year Olds was appointed in January 2023. It is chaired by Lord Johnson of Marylebone and will report by 30 November 2023.
The Committee has been asked to focus on an important stage in a young person’s education, from year 7, when they start secondary school, to year 11. During this period, most young people will work towards national qualifications, usually GCSEs, as well as making important decisions about their future education and training. Educational provision for this age range has seen significant reforms in recent years, particularly changes to GCSE subject content and assessment.
This inquiry will consider the challenges and opportunities faced by the secondary education system in England, building on the findings of several recent reports, including:
- HMC, The state of education: time to talk
- Institute for Fiscal Studies, Education inequalities
- Institute for Fiscal Studies, School spending and costs: the coming crunch
- Institute for Government, The exam question: changing the model of assessment reform
- Times Education Commission, Bringing out the best
- Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, Ending the big squeeze on skills: how to futureproof education in England
The inquiry will look critically at the effectiveness of the current curriculum and assessment model, exploring whether these are preparing young people for the job opportunities they will encounter in a future digital and green economy, and will consider proposals for significant reform.
This is a public call for written evidence to be submitted to the Committee. The deadline is 6pm on 30 April 2023.
The Committee encourages people from all backgrounds to contribute. The Committee’s work is most effective when it is informed by as diverse a range of perspectives and experiences as possible. Please pass this on to others who may be interested in contributing.
Instructions on how to submit evidence are set out below. If you have any queries please email the staff of the Committee at hleducation11to16@parliament.uk. When preparing your response, please keep in mind that short, concise submissions are preferred, and that you do not need to address every topic.
Topics
The Committee is seeking written submissions addressing any or all of the following topics:
- The range and breadth of subjects covered in the 11-16 curriculum
- The effectiveness of the 11-16 curriculum in equipping young people with the skills they need to progress into post-16 education and employment in a future digital and green economy
- The availability and attractiveness of technical and vocational options in the 11-16 phase
- The impact of the 11-16 system on the motivation and confidence of pupils of all abilities
- The effectiveness of GCSEs as a means of assessing the achievements of all pupils at the end of the 11-16 phase
- Alternative methods of assessment for measuring progress that could be considered either alongside or instead of GCSEs
- How the school accountability system affects the 11-16 curriculum
- The role technology can play in education in this phase, including in assessment, the personalisation of learning and reducing teachers’ workload
- How the 11-16 system could be adapted to improve the attractiveness of the teaching profession, and the recruitment, training and retention of teachers
- How spending for this phase of education should be prioritised, in the context of the current fiscal climate
- Lessons for improving education for the 11-16 phase from educational policy and practice from overseas, or from the devolved administrations
Guidance for submissions
Guidelines for written evidence
Written submissions may be submitted online in Word document format. This page also provides guidance on submitting evidence. All submissions made through the written submission form should receive an on-screen confirmation once the evidence has been submitted.
You can also write to the Committee with your views and experiences by sending us a tweet or direct message @Lords11to16Ed.
Getting in touch
If you have difficulty making a written submission on the online portal for any reason, you may contact us in a number of ways:
- Via email: hleducation11to16@parliament.uk
- Via post: Clerk to the Select Committee on Education for 11-16 Year Olds, Committee Office, House of Lords, London SW1A 0PW.
Substantive communications to the Committee about the inquiry should be addressed through the Clerk, whether or not they are intended to constitute formal evidence to the Committee.
You can follow the progress of the inquiry at the following link: https://committees.parliament.uk/work/7268/education-for-1116-year-olds/
Guidelines for written evidence
Short, concise submissions are preferred, and submissions longer than six pages should include a one-page summary. Please ensure the submission is free of logos and signatures. Paragraphs should be numbered, and submissions should be dated.
Submissions should make a note of the author’s name, and of whether the author is acting in an individual or corporate capacity. Submissions with a university or college address should make clear whether they are submitted in an individual capacity or on behalf of the university or college.
The Committee cannot accept anything that has not been prepared specifically in response to this call for evidence, or that has been published elsewhere. If you or your organisation prepared a response to the reports mentioned above, and would like to submit this to the Committee, please contact the Clerk via hleducation11to16@parliament.uk.
Accepting evidence
Submissions become the property of the Committee, which will decide whether to accept them as evidence. Once you have received acknowledgement via email that your submission has been accepted as evidence, you may publicise or publish it yourself, but in doing so you must indicate that it was prepared for the Committee. If you publish your evidence separately, you should be aware that you will be legally responsible for its content.
Publication
Evidence that is accepted by the Committee may be published online at any stage; when it is published it becomes subject to parliamentary copyright and is protected by parliamentary privilege. It will normally appear on the Committee’s website and will be deposited in the Parliamentary Archives.
Personal contact details will be removed from evidence before publication but will be retained by the Committee Office and used for specific purposes relating to the Committee’s work, for instance to seek additional information.
In certain circumstances the Committee may be prepared to accept submissions but not to publish them, in whole or in part. If you would like to submit evidence on this basis you should first discuss this with the Clerk to the Committee.
This call for written evidence has now closed.
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