Education: Politics A-level

Lord Watson of Invergowrie Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd December 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park]

I am very happy to join the noble Lord in wishing the best to our Armed Forces and to thank them for all they do for us. He is absolutely right. We are seeing an increase in the number of cadet forces in schools, particularly through extra-curricular activities. These help young people to learn about resilience and discipline, which are the character skills that this Government consider to be so important because they complement the academic side of education.

[Lord Watson of Invergowrie (Lab)]

My Lords, I hope that we are not seeing a pattern developing here because, in addition to the A-level politics syllabus, the A-level music syllabus recently had to be changed because it featured 63 male composers and no female composers; now it includes five. With a nod to the season, do the Government have any plans to drop the female reproductive system from the biology syllabus?

[Baroness Evans of Bowes Park]

I think that the answer is probably no, and I shall leave it at that.