Archive for category Education
EBacc should be based on entry, not performance, to achieve its goal
Posted by Anastasia de Waal in Education on 25/08/2011
This year’s GCSE results face additional scrutiny against the new EBacc benchmark: A*-C achievement in the five ‘core’ academic subjects. How schools measure up aside, the government is failing on this indicator.
A-levelling up?
Posted by Nick Cowen in Education on 19/08/2011
In our report, Swedish Lessons (2008), we described a troubling rate of grade inflation:
Results from the ALIS project use the International Test of Developed Abilities to compare the attainment of pupils from year to year. Taking an average of 40 A-level subjects, Robert Coe found that those scoring 50 per cent on the ITDA test in 1997 would tend to achieve low C-grades, but by 2005 were achieving low B-grades. Essentially, a B-grade of today is worth, in general ability terms, the C-grade of around ten years ago.
A modern or classical education – must we choose?
Posted by Anastasia de Waal in Education on 22/07/2011
The two aspirations of increasing classical courses and modernising assessment methods may seem incompatible at first sight. On closer examination, however, they may not only work in harmony but actually foster positive outcomes, writes Therese Wallin.
Debugging the curriculum
Posted by Nick Cowen in Education on 14/06/2011
Via Bishop Hill, we learn that schools will no longer be required to teach climate change as part of the science curriculum. This is a good step, not so much because of the political controversies surrounding climate change policy, but because its inclusion helped to set a bad precedent. It has become a common tactic of influential interest groups (whether on the right or the left) to try and get their pet issues inserted into educational policy so that they can be advocated nationally to the detriment of other important content. This is one of the drivers of unnecessary centralisation in the education system. This process diminishes teachers’ professional autonomy, reduces their local accountability to parents, and forces them to waste time complying with Government directives rather than delivering engaging lessons. Moreover, in concentrating on topical issues rather than the knowledge necessary to grasp subject areas, children’s educational horizons have been narrowed.
The Pupil Premium Premier League
Posted by Stephen Clarke in Education, Politics on 13/06/2011
Late last month the Sutton Trust and Durham University released a report ranking 21 different strategies for improving pupil achievement. The report summarised the evidence relating to the strategies and commented on their value for money. The intention of the report is to provide schools with some evidence on what the ‘pupil premium’ (set to be £430, per qualifying pupil, in 2011/12) is best spent on. The results are interesting, but perhaps of limited use for schools.
The value of a university education? It’s a question of degree
Posted by Stephen Clarke in Economics, Education on 12/05/2011
Today the BBC reported on research, carried out by the Centre for Economics and Business Research, which indicated that more graduates were taking low-skilled jobs. If the research is correct, this could beg the question: will a £9,000-a-year degree be worth it?
