Stuart McLaughlin –Written evidence (EDU0011)
I was a teacher for 36 years (retired in April 2020) and Headteacher for the last 17 years of my career. I worked in a wide range of schools (LA, sponsored academies, stand alone academies and a MAT academy). All of my schools served deprived communities.
I am concerned that the curriculum content and how we assess it is very similar to what I experienced in the 1970s. The subjects and content are much the same and the terminal examinations are very similar to O level means of assessment. That makes me question whether this is appropriate for preparing pupils for life in the twenty first century. My thought are:
- When I met with business people in Brighton, they were concerned that having good qualifications i.e. GCSEs did not mean young people were life or work ready. They gave a very clear message that there is a broader range of skills and qualities that pupils need beyond their academic qualifications – team work, communication skills, problem solving/logic, the ability to think and reason, etc. working with employers to identify the specific skills that are required and ensuring these are built into the curriculum in a meaningful way would be a good starting point. The international baccalaureate is a model that has merit in this respect.
- As a Headteacher from 2003, my budget was under constant pressure. One area that was impacted was my ability to invest in ICT. Pupils should have access to industrial standard ICT hardware and software to fully prepare them for both post 16 and working life. The use of ICT and digital technology also needs to be an integral part of the curriculum for use in a wide range of subjects. To that end, schools need the funding to enable that to happen.
- As previously mentioned, the choice of curriculum subjects is not very different from my education in the 1970s. I do feel that pupils up to the age of 16 should study a broad and balanced curriculum and certainly should not be ‘specialising’ too early – that can happen post 16. The challenge we face is how academic and vocational subjects are viewed. There is a definite belief (endorsed by Ofsted) that vocational subjects show a lack of ambition. We need to dispel this mindset if we are going to make the curriculum more relevant for the twenty first century. The curriculum should be a balance of academic, arts and technical subjects. All of these, through the use of technology, should be challenging and ambitious in terms of what we expect pupils to learn and achieve. This requires a complete revision of the national curriculum for technical and vocational subjects i.e. we need to include how industry uses technology, including AI and have a greater engineering focus.
- The current GCSE system focuses very much of one form of assessment – terminal exams. I question whether this is the best way to assess pupils’ knowledge, skills and understanding. Terminal exams are good at assessing a pupil’s ability to remember the knowledge they have been taught and apply this in an exam situation. How relevant is this in relation to be ready for work or further study? Drafting and redrafting work is something that has value in the workplace but coursework assessment has been removed because the government were concerned about possible gaming in schools. I feel that the high stakes accountability that is attached to GCSE results has impacted on how we assess pupils and needs to be urgently reviewed.
- The high stakes associated with GCSEs not only affects how we assess pupils but it also has an impact on pupils with SEND. I do not feel that the current exam system is relevant to their needs. We still have a sense of pass and fail (grade 4) yet for some pupils, achieving a grade 1 is a massive success.
- We are one of the few countries that has such high stakes exams at age 16. Our KS3 and 4 curriculums are geared towards preparing pupils for GCSEs. In other parts of the world, qualifications at 18 are the gold standard. Looking at models elsewhere in the world could be a helpful starting point.
These are just my initial thoughts but would welcome an opportunity to be part of a broader discussion where I can expand on these ideas.
19 April 2023
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