Once upon a time Michael Gove thought it would be a great idea to
entirely restructure Great Britian's education system without consulting
anyone... well, not the Lib Dems, the unions, teachers or most of Parliament.
Is this yet another example of coalition reactionary politics,
another attempt to keep national satisfaction out of the red regardless of the
future ahead? It cannot be coincidence that this news comes a month after a disastrous
summer for examination awarding bodies. But what is the real problem? Are too
many people getting 10 A*s, are they too easy, are they too modular or are not
enough people getting basic qualifications? Either way it seems unlikely that
turning back time to the 1950s is really the best way forward. If even Margaret
Thatcher recognised the flaws of the old system why regress back?
As a student who has gone
through GSCEs and AS, of course I know the system could use some reform but the
issue is very simple: to get an A you do not have to achieve 90%, instead the
gifting of grades is entirely manipulated for statistical gain by the relative
success of the whole country. How can any qualification be equal or fair when
the success of a candidate is not based on their sole performance but the
proportion of A,B,C and D grades that the awarding body wants to give out?
This isn’t a solution. It is merely reactionary and
cowardly to literally sweep a problem under the carpet by giving up a clearly
successful system and whipping up a storm so great that the calm afterwards
will not be a magical land of fairies, unicorns and A grades, but more children
getting lost in the system.
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