The Education Secretary, Michael Gove, came under fire yesterday as Members of Parliament criticised his proposed reforms to AS and A Levels in a Parliamentary debate. The changes will see Exams taken at the end of two-year courses and the AS-level will become a standalone exam taken either in either one or two years.
Alex Cunningham, the Member of Parliament for Stockton North, described the changes as ‘ill thought through and dogmatic’, and pointed out that they risked creating a two-tier system in 16-18 education.
He also said that the new system risked losing the benefit of the current set of arrangements, which allows students to take four or even five subjects, decide which they wish to take to the higher level and drop the others, whilst benefiting from the learning they have already done
The Government’s education policies were criticised by a number of Labour MPs, while only one Conservative MP spoke in the debate, and even he only gave interventions and didn’t give a full speech.
Alex said:
“The Government needs to look at the facts, admit that they got it wrong, and go back to the drawing board. This ill thought through and dogmatic set of reforms risk creating a two-tier system in 16-19 education.
“Only one Conservative MP thought enough of this Government’s education policies to turn up to the debate. If I were the Education Secretary, I’d take that as a sign that my plans weren’t up to scratch, and perform yet another U-turn.”
