Rishi Sunak axes A-levels and reveals ‘Advanced British Standard’ replacement

[HarrowToCroydon]

Title says it all. Teachers here please opine. Not writing for any article. Parents of 3 children, 2 still in school.

I would be in favour of a functional maths GCSE, ditto functional English. But I don't think they should replace what we already have, they should be a matter of choice. Everyone should do either maths or functional maths. Everyone should do functional English, Lit or Lang. Academic students could pick both Lit and Lang. Students with vocational talent would have a spare GCSE slot to develop a vocational subject.

I oppose the creation of a whole new post GCSE qualification. Just bring in the IB. I don't trust this government not to use the British Standard as a cash cow for their rich bezzie mates, for a start.

The next general election is before end Jan 25.

This won't make it through before the election.

On contact with water (election) it will evaporate whether the Torys win (they won't) or lose.

So the question is, why would Labour support this change?

When would it start? DS is in yr4. It's felt it's the worst affected year group from COVID. So in five years time when any changes would see the light of day he'd be yr8. So the current yr 6 would be the guinea pigs in a best case scenario but it's more likely to fall on the current yr5 or yr4.

Not happening. Just no way.

I agree. I'd suggest that pupils do "functional" of life skills Maths and English first, then once they pass, they move onto GCSE and maybe A level. The "functional" level could be set at similar standard to the 11+. Pupils can take it anytime in years 7 to 9, if they pass, they go into the GCSE stream, if they can't pass, they continue to study "functional" maths and/or english in years 10 and 11, with the aim of eventually passing the functional maths/english exam, either in year 11, or during college/sixth form, but with the emphasis on the real life/functional skills, not any higher levels which Pasing the functional/real life Maths/English exams will help with other subjects, as you can't do well at science without the basics of Maths, you can't do foreign languages or humanities without the basics of English. When we have a problem with life skills, the emphasis needs to be on life skills, not wasting time and effort trying to teach GCSE level to kids who can barely read and write.

@RedToothBrush

This won't make it through before the election.

It's not planned to. It's planned to come in by mid 2030's. It will take many years to plan and implement it. But, as much as I hate Rishi, he's right to say that we need to start planning long term. It's something that's been severely lacking over the last 25 years. Let's hope Starmer takes longer term planning on board and we may actually start growing the economy and improving things again!

It will take at least five years for a government to pass it through parliament and instigate.

Even if it's a Tory plan for the mid 2030s, it's not going to happen.

Why?

Because Labour get in 2024/5. That takes us to 2028 if Labour think they will win an election or late 2029 if they want to push it out.

The Tories are going to have to pull one hell of a blinder in the next 4/5 years will very few MPs providing effective opposition to return in 5 years time in order to be in power to do this at the start of the next but one parliament to meet mid 2030.

By then Labour will have put in some time of other educational reform of current exams through. On their own terms and not influenced by the opposition. The key point being that Tory plans are bollocks and there's no public desire for them so the announcement of Tory policy won't even influence Labour plans for educational overhaul.

Labours educational policy is focused on early years, reducing inequality, childcare options and access to certain subjects as well as improving core English and maths skills. Not a dickie bird about new exams.

Even significant Labour reform is unlikely to go down that well with teachers as it is, as they will have to apply the reform. They just want less bullshit and adequate funding for what they have now.

The state of current politics means the Tories might get back into power in the mid 2030s. If they are lucky.

But no this won't see the light of day.

What does Labour think about A levels/school exam system? They'll be the one's putting the next ideas into place. Tories SURELY will be out soon? Please?

@RedToothBrush - you've just answered my question as I was writing my post!

"But, as much as I hate Rishi, he's right to say that we need to start planning long term. It's something that's been severely lacking over the last 25 years."

Agree with this. I too am not a fan of Richie Rich, but on "Long Term Planning", he is right.

It is only Long Term Planning which helps while running a country. It feels that in the last 25 years we live election to election. A political way of saying "Hand to Mouth".

Anything concrete at all from Labour on their Long Term Plan?

During the last reign of Labour, what did they do to education policy which was Good / Bad / All Bad?

@HarrowToCroydon , you can Google labour's statement on the defunding of Btecs issued on 6th July.

Thank you, I looked it up.

So Labour too with f it up.

@HarrowToCroydon , yes either way Btecs will be defunded and T levels will be kept because of the £1 billion already spent on T levels. To make T levels work I suspect ( but don't know) that they will dilute the work experience and by allowing maths and English be studied at the same time open up T levels to those with grades below a 5.

I truly wish that Politicians, either side, see the reality of "Let's compete with China/India" and have an "Education system like that of China/India". And move away from it. One of these countries, I have intimate knowledge of the horrors of their education system.

Let Britain, be Britain, and stop competing with other countries to say "Look, My Education System is so much better than yours".

I don't agree with this proposition, but if it's a done deal, why not simply implement the IB that already exists, rather than devising a new qualification?

ETA: not a teacher, just shoving in my two penn'orth.

@CesareBorgia , the DfE are looking to cater for the cohort that currently takes Btecs and other further education qualifications and prepare them better for the workplace by improving their maths and English. The DfE is trying to stop someone taking Btecs in media / criminology etc and then a degree in media and then finding they are unemployable with £50k of debt. The IB wont cater for this large group of students, ie the 100k plus who got grade 3 or below in English language this summer.

I can understand how maths might slip through the net, but how can someone get a degree in media - a communications-focused subject - without basic English skills?

I'm sure it's already been said but it sounds like a bs alternative!

You can take a Btec with 4 x GCSEs with grade 3's, you can then retake Eng Lang gcse during your 16-18 years to get the Eng Lang to a grade 4 and then go to an uni with an offer from say Uni of Lincoln, you need 3 GCSEs at grade 4 and above including English and a merit in extended Btec.

The DfE would like the person to take maths and English for 2 more years and a vocational skill like T level in healthcare so when they are 18 they could either go on to a healthcare course or join the job market with practical skills already gained at FE college.

the four things that occur to me are:

1. it absolutely should be done, because A levels are outdated and promote premature specialization to no good end.
2. but it absolutely can't be done by cash-starved schools with a recruitment crisis in critical subjects.
3. so what is their real reason to announce it? ... to deflect attention from the cancellation of HS2 and the fact that schools are literally in danger of falling down due to RAAC and the cancellation of the schools rebuilding programme (by none other than chancellor Sunak, as he was known then).
4. they know there is no downside to announcing this, because they don't expect to be in power in a year's time, so they won't have to deliver it. It's all about salting the earth for the opposition, just like selling off the land that was needed for the Manchester leg of HS2 in order to prevent a resurrection that might proved to be a triumph for Labour and an embarrassment for Sunak & co.

Anyone remember GNVQs?

VCEs?

A Levels and BTECS have been around for decades, they are understood and liked by students, parents and employers.

What amazes me is the MPs come up with these schemes but they never ask teachers. They never ask Employers. They never ask universities.

IMHO the best way to improve education would be to dump progress 8 and allow more qualifications to be studied, even if the student has to go to a college or another school to take the qualification.

That way you could have teenagers studying things like dog grooming or gardening or 100 other things that might interest them and might lead to a job

"What amazes me is the MPs come up with these schemes but they never ask teachers. They never ask Employers. They never ask universities."

Agree, what is sad about our political system is that the horizon of thinking is a 4 year cycle, the next election.

What makes an MP qualified to tinker with the education system? Did they take stock from their constituency?

A levels are total dossing compared to say IB or Irish leaving

@Finlesswonder

Depends how many you take, mine took 4 a levels plus epq each. It was a very full curriculum especially for dd1 who was taking music, including diploma in 2 instruments in addition.