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A key architect of Britain's comprehensive schools admitted today that they may fail some of
the brightest children and drive parents into the private sector.
Baroness Williams, 79, who extended the system as education secretary under Labour in the Seventies, said there was “tension” between the egalitarian principles of comprehensives and the service they give to brighter pupils.
Speaking on Radio 4 documentary A Good School, she said: “That is why an awful lot of people send their children to private schools.”
But the Liberal Democrat peer defended the system as benefiting the majority of children who did not go to grammar schools.
She also said “grade inflation” was taking place in the exam system and claimed over-reliance on the internet had exacerbated the problem, as pupils increasingly rely on it for coursework.
“An assiduous youngster can learn a lot about the kind of answers an examiner likes. What you're getting is a certain amount of high-class learning by rote. It's unfortunate and it's not what education should be about,” she said.
The Government insists there has been no decrease in the quality of exam results.
Meanwhile, Education Secretary Ed Balls and Conservative schools spokesman Michael Gove clashed over the dwindling teaching of Latin.
Mr Balls said: “Headteachers often point me to dance tech and sport as a way of motivating pupils. No one has ever taken me to a Latin lesson to make the same point. Very few parents are pushing for it, very few pupils want to study it.”
But Mr Gove responded: “Studying an academic subject in depth is a training for the mind, knowledge as a good in its own right is what we want to disseminate more widely.”
A Good School, presented by Anne McElvoy, is on the Radio 4 website.
Reader views (4)
Comprehensive schools offer the same curriculum to students up and down the country, regardless of the child's need. Our children our being failed by this system which does not recognise that our brightest children may need more of a challenge at school. Because of this, children are sent to fee paying schools where those children receive a more suitable education for their needs. However there is a problem with this - clearly most parents cannot afford to send their child to a school like this, so what are these parents expected to do? The Jury Team seem to have an answer to this situation.
The Jury Team suggest that children would receive a better, fairer education if their school was given the choice to opt out of local authority control. The school would still receive funding from government, but the parents would be granted more say in their child's education out.php . By opting out, parents could set up a curriculum that is more tailored to the individual needs of children at their school, instead of applying the same curriculum to the entire student body.
But not only this, it also means that Head Teachers would be able to run the school as they see fit, without any interference and this another positive from this is that teachers would receive the professional respect which many of them clearly deserve.
- Sarahjt, London, 09/03/2010 16:05
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Calculus was an O-level subject when I went to school, 40 years ago. I think the problem is that the schools are too big, too many children. Go back to smaller schools and a lot of these problems will be solved.
- Sue R, London, 08/03/2010 16:16
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Doh! So 30yrs too late the Baroness realises what the public have known all along. It's not just the brightest, it's everybody that's being failed by the current system. Nobody gets enough attention as the teachers try to cater for all. Streaming is not the answer as their is not enough time to monitor and follow-through. What we need is less political influence and more common sense teaching.
- Mark, London, 08/03/2010 14:49
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How about teaching sixth-formers calculus? This is an essential mathematical tool for university-level science, and was a standard part of a maths A-level 30 years ago.
Now it's deemed "too hard", and is no longer on the syllabus. Is it today's kids that have become so much less intelligent, or today's politicians and educators?
- Nigel, London, 08/03/2010 14:04
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