Secondary Education (GCSEs)
Debate between Michael Gove and Gloria De Piero(12 years, 6 months ago)
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Michael Gove
I have enormous respect for the hon. Lady, who makes a very important point about Birmingham. It is the youngest city in Britain, and its multicultural traditions are part of its strength, but it is important to recognise in Birmingham that, although there are some excellent schools, such as Perry Beeches and Arthur Terry, there are some underperforming schools.
The excellence of a school is not, however, related to the number of children who have English as an additional language; all research shows that such children are just as capable of succeeding as children from any background. What matters is the quality of the school, not the nature of the home background, and what matters for all children in the 21st century is developing the language skills that will enable them to take their place in university or in the modern workplace. That is why it was a disaster when language learning was dropped under the previous Government, and why it is so welcome that the coalition Government have seen it restored.
Some people will ask why, if performance in those core GCSEs that matter so much declined, the headline figures for GCSE performance improved under Labour? What was going on? What was filling that gap? The truth is that we had a growth in so-called equivalent exams, which were called vocational although most employers did not rate them, and which were called equivalent to one or more GCSEs when most employers and colleges did not believe that they were. They have been eloquently criticised by the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Tristram Hunt), by the right hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough (Mr Blunkett) and by Professor Alison Wolf in her universally praised report on vocational qualifications. There was fantastic growth in low-level qualifications under Labour, most of which, she says, had
“little to no labour market value.”
In 2004, students were taking just 15,000 of those qualifications, and then the Minister for Schools changed the rules. The then Minister for Schools is now the hon. Member for Liverpool, West Derby, and as a result of those changes a certificate in nail technology counted as two GCSEs, a diploma in horse care counted as four GCSEs and, by 2010, where previously 15,000 such qualifications had been pursued, 575,000 were being taken, crowding out real study, driving rigour to the margins and holding back social mobility.
Incentives were created by government which, as Alison Wolf points out,
“deliberately steered institutions and, therefore, their students away from qualifications that might stretch (and reward) young people and towards qualifications that can be passed easily.”
She says also that, of the current cohort of children between the ages of 16 and 19,
“at least 350,000 get little to no benefit”
from such qualifications.
Gloria De Piero
I asked the head teacher of a really successful academy in my constituency what he thought about the issue, and he told me:
“We will have to limit success by choosing tiering well before students have hit their potential.”
Does the Secretary of State believe that that fantastic head teacher, who is taking his school from strength to strength, is an enemy of reform?
Michael Gove
I absolutely do not. I am sure that that school, like many of the schools in the hon. Lady’s constituency, is doing a fantastic job, and I am grateful that she has been so enthusiastic in embracing the academies reform programme.
As the hon. Member for Liverpool, West Derby acknowledged, the two-tier system that he talks about is not something that the coalition Government are planning to introduce, but something that the Labour Government presided over and we want to tackle. The problem is that we already have a two-tier GCSE system. As he acknowledged but then skated over, we have two types of GCSE—foundation and higher tier—in English, maths and science. We have a two-tier system of first-class and second-class qualifications. The higher tier allows anyone who takes a paper to get an A, B or C, and so on; the foundation paper is explicitly designed to limit student success. In ordinary circumstances, it is impossible for a student who enters for a foundation-tier paper to achieve a grade higher than C. It is impossible, in other words, for thousands of students to achieve the most basic grade that is respected by employers and will in many colleges allow them to progress to A-levels. The very act of entering a child for a foundation-tier paper at GCSE is a way of saying, “Don’t get above yourself—A-levels are not for you.” Even colleges that set a C grade as an entry requirement often demand a grade C from a higher-tier paper because they treat higher-tier and lower-tier GCSEs as separate qualifications.
A cap on aspiration was Labour’s policy for the 13 years it was in power, and this coalition Government are determined to remove that cap.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Michael Gove and Gloria De Piero(13 years, 2 months ago)
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Gloria De Piero (Ashfield) (Lab)
I have been contacted by parents and teachers about the difficulties of online registration for school milk. There have been reductions in the past year of between a quarter and a third in some schools in Ashfield. Are Ministers aware of that situation, is it a national trend, and what can they do about it?
Michael Gove
I am now aware of that situation. I do not know whether it is a national trend. Of course, every child deserves the opportunity to have school milk.
Education Funding
Debate between Michael Gove and Gloria De Piero(14 years, 5 months ago)
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Gloria De Piero (Ashfield) (Lab)
Sutton Centre community college in my constituency is in the process of gaining academy status. In order to get that status, it was guaranteed a new building because the college is in urgent need of repair. The Secretary of State says that he wants more academies and wants to help pupils in deprived areas. Will those two principles mean that the new building for Sutton Centre can go ahead?
Michael Gove
If Sutton Centre has either signed a funding agreement or has academy status in the pipeline, it will be one of the projects that is reviewed. I hope to talk to the hon. Lady to ensure that its progress towards academy status is encouraged if it is proceeding properly, but I do not know the specifics of that particular school’s case.