A bit of a backlash?

I was interested to read a couple of articles relating to a new report by Reform, the alleged independent non-party think tank, which advocates a return to greater and more stretching academic study for all students (see, for example, the Guardian) The report is called ‘Core Business’. So I asked a research colleague to review the report; his conclusions:

“It pretends to be based on evidence, and there are hundreds of references to source material to lend a tone of academic rigour. Sadly, many people will be fooled by it. But the ‘evidence’ has been selected very largely on the basis that it supports the argument, not whether it stands up to scrutiny. Evidence that does not support the argument is ignored.”

I thought I better read the report myself to check it out. My colleague was right. I was shocked actually, it was so clearly a statement of beliefs bolstered by spurious argument and arbitrary evidence. Maybe the growing support for ‘many paths to success’ and the appreciation of the importance of more practical and ‘real world’ learning is causing a backlash. It’d be nice to think so – a sign of success!

If you want to read a proper piece of research that includes trenchant analysis and challenging conclusions, albeit based on a clear ideological stance, then you should get hold of the latest work of Alison Wolf, ‘An Adult Approach to Further Education’, published by the Institute of Economic Affairs. I won’t say more because I’m still reading it … and thinking about it!

Talking of Alison Wolf, she also appeared recently in an interesting article in the US that debated whether people should go to college or not - it's well worth reading.