Comprehensive inspiration

As ever there has been a lot going on in terms of policy, not least with Mandelson’s Skills Strategy and last week’s HE green paper. But actually, what I think is more is Michael Gove’s speech from last Friday, outlining Conservative priorities for education.

Ten years ago, and more recently, you would not have bet on Conservative education policy starting with the ‘determination to make opportunity more equal in our society’. It is a very well thought out, strategic speech that takes as inspiration ‘those superb state comprehensives which have shown what independence for professionals and accountability to parents can achieve’; it argues for a radical shift in power, giving more freedom and control to heads, teachers and parents. Five priorities are listed, in order:

Raising the prestige, esteem and professionalism of teaching
A safe, secure and ordered environment
Radical reform of the curriculum and qualifications
A new generation of superb state schools
Reform to funding

The emphasis within curriculum reform is very much on academic standards and classic knowledge-based subjects as you would expect. However it also acknowledges the need to reform vocational education to ensure there are more credible and respected qualifications available to those who want a more practical education:

“We believe that our highest priority in vocational educations should be expanding the scope for young people to acquire practical skills by working alongside craft and technical experts. That is why we would treble the number of Young Apprenticeships and lift the cap on schools offering this valued course. We will also build a new generation of Technical Schools to teach high quality vocational courses.”

It is a very good speech. For me there is always the worry however that practical and vocational learning is seen as something entirely separate from academic courses. In this respect, it is interesting to look at the five named state comprehensives it uses as inspiration. Edge knows Thomas Telford College very well, and so we know all pupils there learn a vocational subject as well as academic ones. A quick perusal of other web-sites also tells you, for example:

Harris City Academy, Crystal Palace, offers “a wide range of very high quality academic and vocational courses and all students have the opportunity to undertake realistic business and technological problem-solving projects” as well as “a full range of GCSEs and applied GCSE courses, as well as BTEC courses to suit every taste and aptitude”.

Brooke Weston City College, Corby intends to “refine our technology specialism to concentrate on 'digital media' whilst our vocational specialism will allow us to promote 'engineering' as well as 'construction and the built environment'”.

In Gateshead, Emmanuel College’s 2009 Ofsted report noted: “Specialist subjects have a profound upwards effect upon the college’s overall GCSE performance. Results in design and technology, information and communication technology (ICT) and business are very high and combine with those of other subjects to help the college to be placed amongst the very best performing schools in the country … Students are provided with many opportunities within the curriculum to apply the skills which they have learnt within the classroom to real life situations”.

But of course ... how could it be otherwise!