Secondary Education (GCSEs)

Baroness Bray of Coln Excerpts

Tuesday 26th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

Un embarras de richesses, as they say in west Derby! I give way to my hon. Friend the Member for Ealing Central and Acton (Angie Bray).

[Angie Bray (Ealing Central and Acton) (Con)]

As my right hon. Friend may know, Acton high school is about to open a sixth form. The most important thing for the students who study there is that we give them the best possible start as they pursue their A-levels. Does he agree that more rigorous preparation, whether through an enhanced GCSE or an O-level, would help them to get through their A-levels and go on to university?

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend makes a characteristically acute point. One problem with the current system is that GCSEs are not, in many cases, adequate preparation for A-levels, and A-levels are not adequate preparation for university, particularly when our students are compared with those from other jurisdictions. That is because, notwithstanding the incremental improvement in state education over the past 15 years, other countries have reformed their education systems faster than we have reformed ours. We have to match them and that means reform.