Exam Reform

Geraint Davies Excerpts

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.