Member News
Kevin Courtney, deputy general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, outlines its views on A-level results and the government's approach to education policy.
What would the National Union of Teachers response be to critics who argue that examinations are being 'dumbed down'?
This is a constant refrain every year, at examination results time we always get this response. What we find is that there is very little evidence produced to back up the claim that standards are being 'dumbed down'.
It is true that results are going up, but the NUT believes that reflects a lot of hard work being put in and the changes to the structure of the exams. The fact that results are going up, doesn't mean that standards are going down, and we don't believe that there is any evidence being produced to suggest that they are.
Where is the evidence that standards have fallen? Where is the concrete basis for that belief? We believe that it is just critics saying that they don't like the idea that results are going up; well the National Union of Teachers does like this, because we see education as a ladder that children and adults can climb to reach their maximum potential.
We believe that some of these objections come from those who want to see education as a set of obstacles that filter people out. They don't like the fact that lots of people are reaching the standards that previously only some people reached.
We are getting better results and that is because it is working better as a ladder, rather than as a set of obstacles.
This is the first year that the A* grade has been awarded at A-level. Do you believe that the awarding of this has been sufficiently rigorous? Will it be a success?
We have no reason to doubt the rigour; however we are not sure that it is going to be a successful initiative.
The A* grade is a result of the standards debate. People think standards are falling and they want the education system to be more differentiated. We are worried that the A* will be more prevalent in private schools than in state comprehensives, we are worried that one of the effects of this will be to make it more difficult for children from state comprehensives to get to the top universities.
All the evidence suggests that having highly educated parents, lots of books and access to computers in the home, means that you do better in exam results. The A* can be a reflection on that social circumstance, rather than a reflection on the degree of work that somebody has put in or their innate intelligence. We do not want to see that used as another way by which ordinary working-class kids are stopped from getting to universities.
What changes would the National Union of Teachers like to see implemented in the examinations system?
The NUT thinks that a huge opportunity was missed when the Tomlinson reforms were turned down. What we would like to see in the system of qualifications is a move towards an overarching diploma structure, where the current qualifications- GCSEs on the academic side, BTEC and NVQs on the vocational side- are brought into one system of qualifications.
One of the big problems in the English and Welsh systems has been a divide between academic and vocational qualifications, where children have been advised to go down one route or the other, and we don't feel that makes any sense. People who want a vocational education, still need academic skills, and they should be able to mix and match between these two strands much more than they have been able to previously.
We are worried that the current exams system, which has very clearly defined academic and vocational streams, leads to children being forced into making unwise decisions.
The Tomlinson reforms would have brought these strands together and we felt that was a missed opportunity and something that should still be looked at by the government.
Do you believe that the 14-19 diplomas have proved to be a success?
Just to clarify, these diplomas are not the same as the Tomlinson reform diplomas that I was referring to in my previous answer.
We don't believe that they have been an enormous success- although children have worked hard for them and teachers have worked hard for them. We do not want to undermine that.
This type of diploma still leads far too much to a broad division between academic and vocational learning. We think that teachers weren't involved enough in the construction of the diploma and, while it should not be abandoned, it should continue to be developed and pushed in the direction of the Tomlinson reforms.
What are your views on the coalition government's handling of education policy since it took office?
Certainly nobody can accuse the government of inaction or paralysis. In the 100 days of their administration they have produced initiative and announcement after initiative and announcement.
We do not like the vast majority of the changes that they have implemented. In particular the cancellation of school building programmes under the Building Schools for the Future scheme- this was really needed and the abandoning of the scheme is a retrograde step.
We also think that the Academies programme is a major problem and the plans that the government has to provide a differentiation of qualifications between different schools- such as university technical colleges and high achieving academies for high achieving students- is not the way to promote equal opportunities and the chance for every child to do the best that they possibly can.
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