An article examined the involvement of a loose alliance of third sector organizations in a series of alternative 'curriculum experiments' for secondary education in England.
Source: Ben Williamson, 'Centrifugal schooling: third sector policy networks and the reassembling of curriculum policy in England', Journal of Education Policy, Volume 27 Number 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Nov
Researchers examined how various dimensions of children s well-being were associated with their educational outcomes. Children with higher levels of emotional, behavioural, social, and school well-being had higher levels of academic achievement and were more engaged in school, both concurrently and in later years.
Source: Leslie Morrison Gutman and John Vorhaus, The Impact of Pupil Behaviour and Wellbeing on Educational Outcomes, Research Report 253, Department for Education
Date: 2012-Nov
An article examined the coalition government's view, as revealed in its June 2012 national curriculum proposals, of the purposes and character of the primary curriculum as a whole. The proposals were found to be deficient in a number of respects: in their 'naive, selective, and inflated' use of international evidence; in their treatment of aims as no more than cosmetic; in their 'impoverished' treatment of culture, knowledge, and values; in their reduction of educational standards to test performance in the 3Rs; in their perpetuation of the damaging Victorian legacy of a two-tier curriculum; and in their characterization of spoken language as little more than 'idle chatter'.
Source: Robin Alexander, 'Neither national nor a curriculum?', FORUM: for promoting 3-19 comprehensive education, Volume 54 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Nov
A paper examined the relationship between attendance at nursery school and children's outcomes in adolescence. Pre-school childcare largely improved results in cognitive tests at age 11, 14, and 16, and had a positive effect on intentions towards further education and economic activity at ages 19-20. Positive effects were especially noticeable for children coming from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds. Results on non-cognitive outcomes were more mixed: no evidence was found of improvement in psychological well-being, but there were some positive effects on health behaviours.
Source: Patricia Apps, Silvia Mendolia, and Ian Walker, The Impact of Pre-School on Adolescents Outcomes: Evidence from a recent English cohort, Discussion Paper 6971, Institute for the Study of Labor (Bonn)
Links: Paper
Date: 2012-Nov
An article examined students' views on the reform of qualifications, examinations, and assessment at ages 14-19. The impact on students of the reforms could be confusing, unsettling, and ultimately detrimental to future success.
Source: Jannette Elwood, 'Qualifications, examinations and assessment: views and perspectives of students in the 14-19 phase on policy and practice', Cambridge Journal of Education, Volume 42 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Nov
An article used data from the Millennium Cohort Study to consider whether, in an era of near-universal provision, early education was still associated with detectable improvements in outcomes for children. The overall impact of early education on key stage 1 attainment (at age 7) was found to be modest: but the impact was generally greater for those children who experienced poverty when they entered early education.
Source: Anitha George, Lucy Stokes, and David Wilkinson, 'Does early education influence key stage 1 attainment? Evidence for England from the Millennium Cohort Study', National Institute Economic Review, Volume 222 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Nov
The coalition government began consultation on plans to 'restore rigour and confidence' to the examination system with the introduction of English Baccalaureate certificates at key stage 4 (age 16) in English, maths, the sciences, history, geography, and languages. GCSEs would be progressively abolished, starting in 2017. The new qualifications would be wholly or mainly based on a final written examination rather than coursework and continuous assessment. There would be a single exam board in each main subject.
Source: Reforming Key Stage 4 Qualifications, Department for Education
Links: Consultation document | Hansard | Conservative Party press release | Ofqual press release | ADCS press release | AOC press release | ATL press release | Cambridge Assessment press release | CBI press release | Labour Party press release | LGA press release | NAHT press release | NASUWT press release | NUT press release | Pearson Think Tank press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2012-Sep
A report by private school headteachers said that the examination system in England was suffering from 'deterioration and decay', with deep-rooted problems of unreliable, unfair, and inaccurate marking.
Source: England's 'Examinations Industry': Deterioration and Decay, Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference
Links: Report | HMC press release | BBC report
Date: 2012-Sep
The proportion of A-level students (in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland) gaining the top A or A* grades declined for the first time in two decades. The proportion of GCSE students awarded an A*-C grade also fell, for the first time since the exams had been introduced 24 years previously.
Source: Results 2012 [A-levels], Joint Council for Qualifications | Results 2012 [GCSE], Joint Council for Qualifications
Links: Report (A-levels) | Report (GCSE) | JCQ press release | Ofqual press release | DBIS press release | DE press release (1) | DE press release (2) | ATL press release | CBI press release | Labour Party press release | NASUWT press release (1) | NASUWT press release (2) | 1994 Group press release | NUT press release (1) | NUT press release (2) | Russell Group press release | Voice press release | BBC report (1) | BBC report (2) | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Telegraph report
Notes: A = Advanced (normally at age 18); GCSE = General Certificate of Secondary Education (normally at age 16).
Date: 2012-Aug
A report by a committee of MPs said that competition between examination boards in England created significant pressure to drive down standards. Examination boards should be stripped of the right to own their own syllabus and content. There should be a single national syllabus for each subject which would be accredited by the regulator, Ofqual, with every board able to set question papers against that syllabus.
Source: The Administration of Examinations for 15-19 Year Olds in England, First Report (Session 2012–13), HC 141, House of Commons Education Select Committee, TSO
Links: Report | Oral and written evidence | Additional written evidence | ATL press release | Cambridge Assessment press release | NAHT press release | NASUWT press release | NUT press release | Ofqual press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2012-Jul
The coalition government announced that pupils in England who failed to achieve at least a C grade at GCSE in English and maths would have to carry on taking the subjects to the age of 18.
Source: Written Ministerial Statement 2 July 2012, columns 34-35WS, House of Commons Hansard, TSO
Links: Hansard | BBC report
Date: 2012-Jul
An all-party commission said that 76 per cent of schools were concerned about boys' underachievement in reading. The government needed to develop a strategy to address the issue.
Source: Boys Reading Commission, All-Party Parliamentary Literacy Group Commission
Links: Report | NLT press release | NUT press release | BBC report | Public Finance report
Date: 2012-Jul
An article examined the divergent approaches in England, Scotland, and Wales towards raising schoolchildren's basic standards of competence. It considered whether the divergence reflected differences in social policy objectives, and/or different understandings of the best way to achieve them. Empirical findings pointed to a widening gap in educational attainments across the countries, and highlighted the critical situation in Scotland where test results had stagnated in the previous 10 years.
Source: Paola Mattei, 'Raising educational standards: national testing of pupils in the United Kingdom, 1988-2009', Policy Studies, Volume 33 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Jun
The coalition government announced plans to 'restore rigour' to the key subjects in the primary school curriculum in England. It said that draft programmes of study for English, maths, and science were more demanding than the existing national curriculum, and would align England with those countries that had the highest-performing school systems.
Source: Press release 11 June 2012, Department for Education
Links: DE press release | ACT press release | ATL press release | BHA press release | Labour Party press release | NAHT press release | Nasen press release | NASUWT press release | NUT press release | PFEG press release | RSS press release | Telegraph report
Date: 2012-Jun
The exams regulator began consultation on A-level reform in England. Issues included ensuring the involvement of higher education institutions in the design and sign-off of A-levels; abolition of January exams, and limiting resits; and whether or not AS-levels should continue, with a range of options put forward.
Source: A Level Reform Consultation, Office of the Qualifications and Examinations Regulator
Links: Consultation document | Ofqual press release | ASCL press release | ATL press release | CBI press release | Million+ press release | NAHT press release | Russell Group press release | Guardian report
Notes: A = Advanced; AS = Advanced Subsidiary.
Date: 2012-Jun
An article examined whether the development of qualifications frameworks in Europe yielded the anticipated benefits of the 'shift to learning outcomes'. It reviewed previous experience with learning outcomes and the links with qualifications frameworks, and analyzed trends and challenges within European countries.
Source: Sandra Bohlinger, 'Qualifications frameworks and learning outcomes: challenges for Europe s lifelong learning area', Journal of Education and Work, Volume 25 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Jun
An article examined recent accounts of what had allegedly gone wrong with the school curriculum in England, including proposals by the coalition government to 'shrink' the national curriculum while promoting a new English baccalaureate. The government's basic objective was to shape a 'neoconservative prospective educational identity'. The article offered a critical assessment of this project and briefly considered an alternative approach, focusing on some issues relating to citizenship education.
Source: John Beck, 'Reinstating knowledge: diagnoses and prescriptions for England s curriculum ills', International Studies in Sociology of Education, Volume 22 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-May
The coalition government wrote to the exams regulator for England, asking for universities to be allowed to take control of the system for setting A-level exams. It expressed concern that the existing exams failed to prepare students well enough for university courses – despite the opposite conclusions of a survey report published by the regulator at the same time.
Source: Letter from Michael Gove MP (Secretary of State for Education), 30 March 2012 | John Higton, James Noble, Sarah Pope, Naomi Boal, Steven Ginnis, Rory Donaldson, and Helen Greevy, Fit for Purpose? The view of the higher education sector, teachers and employers on the suitability of A levels, Office of the Qualifications and Examinations Regulator
Links: Letter | Ofqual report | Ofqual press release | ASCL press release | Cambridge Assessment press release | CBI press release | IOD press release | Labour Party press release | Million+ press release | NAHT press release | 1994 Group press release | NUS press release | NUT press release | Universities UK press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Times Higher Education report
Date: 2012-Apr
Researchers found that the new 'curriculum for excellence' in Scotland was continuing to cause 'anxiety' among teachers, particularly in relation to assessment. Teachers broadly supported the principles of the new curriculum: but many were struggling to translate the new ideas into practice.
Source: Mark Priestley and Sarah Minty, Developing Curriculum for Excellence: Summary of findings from research undertaken in a Scottish local authority, School of Education, University of Stirling
Links: Report | NASUWT press release | BBC report | Public Finance report
Date: 2012-Apr
A report compared measures of the social attainment gap in education in England. Comparisons were made difficult by the use of different methodologies: but it could be shown that the size of attainment gaps measured using PISA points and GCSE grades were in fact the same.
Source: Emily Knowles and Helen Evans, PISA 2009: How Does the Social Attainment Gap in England Compare with Countries Internationally?, Research Report RR206, Department for Education
Notes: GCSE = General Certificate of Secondary Education; PISA = Programme for International Student Assessment
Date: 2012-Apr
A paper examined whether the recent increase in the number of children going to school in England who did not speak English as a first language had had an impact on the educational outcomes of native English speakers at the end of primary school. The negative correlation observed in the raw data was found to be mainly an artefact of selection: non-native speakers were more likely to attend schools with disadvantaged native speakers. The overall results suggested a zero effect and ruled out negative effects.
Source: Charlotte Geay, Sandra McNally, and Shqiponja Telhaj, Non-Native Speakers of English in the Classroom: What Are the Effects on Pupil Performance?, DP137, Centre for the Economics of Education (London School of Economics)
Links: Paper | Nuffield Foundation press release
Date: 2012-Mar
A report presented findings from an independent evaluation of the impact of changes to A levels and GCSEs in England in 2008. There had been 'varied and sometimes contradictory' views from schools and other stakeholders on the outcomes and impact of the changes.
Source: AlphaPlus Consultancy Ltd, The Evaluation of the Impact of Changes to A levels and GCSEs, Research Report RR203, Department for Education
Notes: At A level, the changes were introduced to all subjects except mathematics. The changes included a move from 6 units to 4 for the majority of subjects, the introduction of greater 'stretch' and challenge at A2, and the introduction of the A* grade. (A = Advanced; GCSE = General Certificate of Secondary Education).
Date: 2012-Mar
A report provided interim findings from an independent evaluation of the impact of changes to A levels and GCSEs introduced in England in 2008-2009.
Source: AlphaPlus Consultancy Ltd, The Evaluation of the Impact of Changes to A levels and GCSEs: Second interim report, Research Report RR170, Department for Education
Links: Report | Appendices
Notes: GCSE = General Certificate of Secondary Education; A = Advanced.
Date: 2012-Jan
