Birmingham Schools

Debate between Nia Griffith and Michael Gove

Monday 9th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

I would make two points. First, the original Trojan horse letter, which as we know contained a number of facts and allegations that proved to be unfounded, was allegedly a letter sent to individuals in Bradford. I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his support in alerting me to some potential concerns. I know that Bradford council has taken them seriously, and I look forward to remaining in touch with Bradford—and, indeed, any other local authority that has concerns. The Department for Education is there to support and help if, for example, governors need to be removed and an interim executive board put in place. Secondly, as for what he tells me about Feversham college, I have no prior warning of any Ofsted inspections, which are quite properly an operational matter for the chief inspector unless I specifically request an inspection because of information that has been passed to me.

[Nia Griffith (Llanelli) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State’s failure to pinpoint these problems sooner makes it absolutely clear that he cannot micro-manage schools from Westminster. Will he now consider adopting a policy akin to Labour’s proposal for local directors of school standards, which would enable schools to be more accountable locally and would help to flag up these types of problems a lot sooner?

[Michael Gove]

No.

Free Schools (Funding)

Debate between Nia Griffith and Michael Gove

Monday 12th May 2014 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. Again, it is important that the House recall that under the last Government the provision of primary school places was cut, and under this Government it has expanded. At the same time as increasing the quantity of school places, we have raised the quality.

[Nia Griffith (Llanelli) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State has allocated public funds to subsidise surplus places in under-subscribed free schools, while there is a shortage of school places in other areas. Will he now consider putting on hold plans for prospective free schools to open in September that still do not have applications for half their first cohort of places, and putting the money saved towards providing places where they are genuinely needed?

[Michael Gove]

It is important to acknowledge that money is going to providing places where they are genuinely needed. One thing I did not have an opportunity to point out earlier—[Interruption.] Let me give the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central (Tristram Hunt) these figures, which have been audited nationally. In Stoke-on-Trent under the last Government, £2.4 million went to new primary school places; under this Government, the figure is £12.4 million—three times as much. The hon. Gentleman is benefiting, not for the first time, from a Conservative Government being in place. I am confident that in due course we will find that all the free schools opening this year will be popular, and if for any reason they fail or falter, we will be quick to close them down or put them under new management.

Exam Reform

Debate between Nia Griffith and Michael Gove

Monday 17th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend makes a good point about the importance of language learning. Under the previous Government, the proportion of students who were studying modern languages at GCSE fell, but under this Government, it is at last beginning to rise. On Friday, I had the opportunity to congratulate the Lycée Charles de Gaulle on its bilingual extension, and 60 years of successful Anglo-French teaching. Later this year, I shall visit the first new bilingual primary free school, which is in Hove. The growth of language teaching as an integral part of an all-round academic education is central to what the coalition Government wish to achieve; it is an area where we diverge from the previous Government. Vive la différence.

[Nia Griffith (Llanelli) (Lab)]

The GCSE fiasco this summer showed the danger of rushing in change, so will the Secretary of State not only hold serious consultation with business but serious piloting of the type of question that can be tackled by the least able and also stretch the most able? That is a real challenge.

[Michael Gove]

I agree that it is important that we have the sort of questions in examinations that can simultaneously test the most able and ensure that all students feel that their hard work is recognised, but when the hon. Lady talks about examinations being introduced without sufficient consultation or thought, and refers to this year’s GCSE problems, I am afraid that was an examination designed by the Labour party, introduced by the Labour party and there are people—[Interruption.]

Secondary Education (GCSEs)

Debate between Nia Griffith and Michael Gove

Tuesday 26th June 2012 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

The hon. Gentleman, not for the first time, has misunderstood. We want to ensure that more and more of our children do better and better.

There are two poles in this debate, neither of which I am happy with. One pole holds that only a minority of about 20% or 25% will ever be able to pass academic qualifications—the A stream, the elite. The other view, which was incarnated in Labour education policy in the past, is that to ensure that a majority of children pass the qualifications, we need to make them less demanding. I reject both those views. I think that more children can succeed if we make our exams more demanding, because we have a higher degree of aspiration and ambition for all our children.

I understand why the right hon. Member for Liverpool, West Derby and other Opposition Members find it so difficult to grasp this point. Sorry, he is an hon. Gentleman—there is no cap on his aspiration or ambition. They find it difficult because the only way in which they felt that they could succeed was to lower the bar. We believe that it is by raising the bar that we can deal with this issue.

[Nia Griffith (Llanelli) (Lab)]

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

[Michael Gove]

No, thank you.

We not only have a two-tier system in the split between foundation and higher tier GCSEs, over which Labour presided—

--- Later in debate ---

[Michael Gove]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for asking about one of the more than 1,700 vocational qualifications. So he supports the engineering diploma being an equivalent. Does he support nail technology or horse husbandry or any of the others? Again, answer comes there none.

The hon. Gentleman says that there is nuance in his position. I say, rather than nuance, there is an absence of clarity, without which we cannot secure consensus. Does he believe that we should continue with foundation and higher-tier GCSEs? Yes or no? A simple nod would suffice. Again, answer comes there none, but we probably know what he thinks. When he was a Minister in the Department for Education and Skills in 2003, the “Excellence and Opportunity” White Paper said that:

“the GCSE has become a qualification at two levels: Level 2 (or grades A*–C) is viewed by the public as success, while Level 1 (or grades D–G) is seen as failure. For many young people achieving Level 1 is demotivating. Some young people prefer not to reveal that they have taken GCSEs than admit to a lower grade. This undermines motivation and discourages staying on”.

That was the view of the hon. Gentleman and his Department in 2003, but they took no action to deal with the problem. At last, 10 years later, the coalition Government are taking action to end the problem of failure, to ensure that we no longer have an examination system that is demotivating and to end a system that discourages staying on.

[Nia Griffith]

Does the Secretary of State accept that with the foundation and higher-tier system there was always the opportunity for pupils to transfer, and there was always a motivation to try to drive pupils to get better than a D by getting a C? How will the new system of separating a CSE and an O-level examination allow a pupil to be pushed so that they can attain the higher level—the O-level qualification—if they have already started on a CSE syllabus, which is significantly different?

[Michael Gove]

I have to ask the hon. Lady where she has been for most of this debate. At no stage have we talked about separating children at the age of 14, and at no stage—