VOCATIONAL ELEMENT TO NEW BACCALAUREATE NEEDED!
- Nevil Chiles
- Sep 18, 2012
- 1 min read
I think that this announcement is broadly very positive. Getting rid of GCSEs is monstrously overdue. We do need more rigorous testing and we do need single board examinations.
However, extending education for all up to 18 is a mistake. There will always be students who perform badly in academic examinations for a wide variety of reasons. Why is there not a vocational element built in to these changes?
Give academically weaker students the opportunity to study mainstream subjects… they will probably be thankful for it in later life (if not so at the time!). but also let such students study towards skills that will make them employable when they leave school.
Why can’t we have students studying towards being electricians or carpenters alongside the traditional subjects? Let’s not have weaker students ‘catch up’ until they are 18. Armed with a grounding in a trade they could leave school at 16 and find meaningful employment.
Also, why do we have to jump on the Baccalaureate band wagon? Can we not at least be original and not confuse it with all the others?
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