Deakin Speaking

There is something amiss with both Left and Right-wing approaches to school education.

England’s Left, represented by Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children School and Families has claimed victory in its 10 year battle to close the gap between students attending state and private schools on the basis that the number of schools where students are underperforming in exams has decreased.

Michael Gove, the Shadow Secretary, argues that the results have been inflated by Labour’s inclusion of dumbed down subjects such as basic literacy and numeracy in the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). Gove's policy recommends weighting subjects by intellectual rigour, excluding vocational qualifications or 'diplomas' from school league tables and teaching an academic curriculum until the age of 16, after which students could select vocational training as desired.