GCSEs

Debate between Michael Gove and Geraint Davies

Tuesday 11th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. He is absolutely right: sometimes we need to be divisive and pugnacious, but today I am glad that consensus on a number of issues appears to exist across both Front Benches.

[Geraint Davies (Swansea West) (Lab/Co-op)]

Will the Secretary of State accept that his proposals will blight the value of the qualifications of those taking examinations in the next four years and break the union of qualification currency between England and Wales? Should he not have tried harder to get a compromise, instead of simply leaking the contents of his meetings with the Welsh Government to the press?

[Michael Gove]

Into every life a little rain must fall. May I say to the hon. Gentleman that the fault lies, I fear, with those who have not been as anxious to preserve the rigour in the examination system as our regulator, Ofqual. I will say no more.

Exam Reform

Debate between Michael Gove and Geraint Davies

Monday 17th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

I do not believe that there is a necessary link between making sure that exams are more rigorous and more schools failing. My experience of all highly successful schools is that they use outside encouragement to do even better, and higher standards set from the centre as an opportunity to raise their performance, but I agree that greater clarity and honesty about how students and schools are performing is an absolute precondition for improving outcomes for everyone.

[Geraint Davies (Swansea West) (Lab/Co-op)]

Does the Secretary of State understand that increasingly educated parents and investment in schools are the driving forces for increasing results at GCSE, and does he not realise that abolishing GCSEs will discredit the qualifications of everyone under the age of 50, and the likely qualifications of those taking GCSEs over the next five years, thus devaluing the currency of education in Britain and shooting a hole in the economy?

[Michael Gove]

The currency was devalued by decisions taken by the Government the hon. Gentleman supported from the Back Benches. The currency was devalued by the introduction of modules and by the extension of controlled assessment. It is not just me taking that view; it is the view taken by business organisations and school teachers themselves. The things that contribute to improvement are Governments committed to raising the bar, head teachers liberated to do a superb job and two parties coming together to make sure that we modernise our examination system in a genuinely internationalist way. If the hon. Gentleman wants to be part of that process, we will welcome him; if he wants to carp from the sidelines, sadly, history will leave him behind.

Education Bill

Debate between Michael Gove and Geraint Davies

Tuesday 8th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for, as ever, leaping straight on to sex—I know that it is a subject of great interest to him and to many in this House. I always feel that one should discuss money before discussing sex, because the one and the other are so intimately connected in the minds of so many Members. That is why I was so anxious to ascertain whether Opposition Members were proud of the economic record they bequeathed. I am happy to reassure my hon. Friend that I will not accept amendments in Committee that seek to make the curriculum any more prescriptive or intrusive. The Bill will enhance professional freedom and autonomy, because we recognise that it is only by doing that we can ensure that our economy and education system are fit for the 21st century. It is not only the economy that was undermined by what happened on Labour’s watch; social mobility also worsened.

[Geraint Davies (Swansea West) (Lab/Co-op)]

Will the Secretary of State give way?

[Michael Gove]

In due course.

Inequality worsened under Labour and the education system exacerbated it. If we look at the gap between children eligible for free school meals and their more fortunate and privileged counterparts, we can see that as those children moved through the education system and progressed under Labour the gap between rich and poor widened.

Education Policy

Debate between Michael Gove and Geraint Davies

Monday 18th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend’s commitment to helping children in care. Before he entered the House he worked enormously hard as a family lawyer on behalf of those children and they have been consistently championed by him in this place. I confirm that it is within the scope of the consultation to extend the pupil premium to all looked-after children. He is absolutely right that their fate is a reproach to our conscience and that we must ensure that they get the resources and support that they need to fulfil their potential.

[Geraint Davies (Swansea West) (Lab/Co-op)]

Does the Secretary of State agree that his education policy—along with what will happen on Wednesday—consists of cutting overall resources for state education by between a quarter and a third and redirecting what is left away from disadvantaged areas and failing schools towards leafy suburbs and extra schools in middle-class areas? How can that possibly be construed as fair?

[Michael Gove]

The short answer to the hon. Gentleman’s question is no. The slightly longer answer is that he could not be more wrong. The figures that he quotes and the dynamic that he invokes are utterly wrong. We will not be cutting in the way that he mentions; we will be increasing spending on schools. More than that, we will be targeting spending more effectively on the very poorest. I know that it is difficult for him to cope with, but the Government whom he supported from the Back Benches, before he lost his seat and came back representing somewhere else, presided over a growth in inequality and a freezing of social mobility. If he is committed to advancing the education of the very poorest, he should make another journey, like the one he made from Croydon to Swansea, from the Opposition Benches to the Government Benches on the side of social justice.