Call for more flexible schooling

Mike Tomlinson: "The moment is now"

Schools in England have a golden opportunity to tackle under-achievement - provided there is a halt to education initiatives and they are given the flexibility to engage all pupils, it has been claimed.

The argument for teachers' having more say over implementing policies was made by the former chief inspector of schools Mike Tomlinson, who conducted the inquiry into last year's A-level grades.

He told the centennial North of England education conference, in Warrington, that it was time for "real radical curriculum thinking" to tackle the "disenchantment" many teenagers felt towards school.

Things had improved since the 1980s, when England was well down international tables in maths and science, but there was still too much under-achievement.

Window

At primary level, improvements in the English, maths and science results in the tests taken by 11 year olds had levelled off.

And in secondary schools the gap between the best and worst schools had widened.

Nevertheless, Mr Tomlinson said educators had the "best window ever to tackle under-achievement" and he proposed four "key actions" to enable this.

He said the government should not bring in any new initiatives and should "consolidate" existing ones, making them less bureaucratic.

Not joined up

Mr Tomlinson stepped down as head of the Ofsted inspectorate last year and is now chairman of the educational trust running education services in Hackney, east London.

One-size-fits-all approaches have significant limitations in such a diverse set of circumstances as we have in England

Mike Tomlinson

Speaking from experience as he made a plea for "sensible timescales" for implementing policy, he said he had been "particularly annoyed" by a new system for giving money to schools to improve their leadership.

Details had arrived on December 20, with extensive information - involving discussions with head teachers - required by 8 January.

"I do not need to remind many of you that schools had closed by 20 December," he said.

The government also had to accept that schools and local education authorities should be left to find ways of implementing national policies such as the literacy and numeracy strategies.

"One-size-fits-all approaches have significant limitations in such a diverse set of circumstances as we have in England," Mr Tomlinson said.

Disenchantment

Welcoming the government's intention to reform 14 to 19 education, he also argued that the curriculum needed to be more flexible.

"I hope we will see real radical curriculum thinking invited to deal with the clear disenchantment felt by many 14 to 16 year olds towards their present curriculum diet," he said.

"What we need are high quality vocational courses, valued for what they represent by students, parents and users".

Mr Tomlinson repeated his call for fewer public exams.

"Any young person moving through our system at present and concluding with A-levels is likely to take 105 tests and examinations," he said.

Exam questions

Were there too many? Did they test what was important in the 21st Century?

Was the balance right between external tests and teacher assessment?

And what was the impact on teaching, learning, pupil motivation and achievement?

There was a real danger of valuing only what could be measured. A way had to be found to report on achievement in other aspects of the curriculum, so as not to understate the achievement of many schools, particularly in inner cities.

'Huge strides'

Mr Tomlinson said we did not have "the luxury of time to waste" in prolonged debate.

"The moment is now. We owe it to the children of today to ensure each and every one of them has equal access to a consistently high quality of education."

In response, the Department for Education and Skills said the government had made "huge strides" in raising standards - a word Mr Tomlinson pointedly avoided using - but was in no way complacent.

"We have cut down on the number of new initiatives going into schools and are involving more and more head teachers in putting together new policies and helping them with their implementation," a spokesperson said.

The new Education Act gave schools the power to innovate and cut through legislation to explore opportunities to improve the education of their pupils and test new ideas.

"Our proposals for 14-19 will be published shortly and will be centred on providing more flexibility and choice in the curriculum.

"The need for more emphasis on vocational study is already accepted and our plans will reflect this."