Tackling the big issues

The programmes can also be heard via News Online

BBC Radio 4's Education 2000 forum tested plans to improve the country's education system by the early years of the next century.

Three discussion programmes broadcast from the Institute of Education explored the variety of views and policies being advanced by experts, the teaching profession and the government about key areas in education.

Programme One: Beleaguered teachers

To set the scene, presenter Ed Stourton reported on a profession under fire, talking to practising teachers and those training to follow in their footsteps.

On the panel, debating whether teachers are the villains rather than the victims of the education system, were:

Professor David Marsland, Brunel University
Professor Peter Mortimore of the Institute of Education
Liz du Parcq, senior school governor from Lambeth, south London
Maureen Cruikshank, headteacher, Beauchamp College, Leicestershire

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Programme Two: Skills shortage

Ed Stourton heard from teenagers on their hopes for a better life through education - and industry's complaints that it cannot get the people it needs.

On the panel, discussing whether education should be valued for its own sake, rather than because it supplies the future workforce, were:

Melanie Phillips, journalist and author of All Must Have Prizes
Chris Humphries, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce
Professor Alan Smithers of Liverpool University
David Thomas, Head of Leadership Change at BT

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Programme Three: Testing times

Ed Stourton visited a primary school in Birmingham and Manchester's local education authority to find out how the government's policies on assessment and inspection were being interpreted.

On the panel, debating whether the government's emphasis on testing and targets is the way to raise standards in schools:

David Reynolds, Chairman of the Numeracy Task Force
John MacBeath of the Standards Task Force
Bruce Douglas, Principal of Branston Community College, Lincolnshire
Christine Whatford, Chief Education Officer, Hammersmith and Fulham in London.

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