Results from a survey published this week suggest that the number of pupils studying traditional GCSEs such as history, geography and languages is rising after years of decline. The Government poll of nearly 700 secondary schools in England found an increase of 26% in numbers studying history this term, a similar increase for geography, and a 22% rise for languages. The survey finds that a third of pupils taking GCSEs next summer will be studying a combination of subjects that could lead to an Ebacc. Nearly half of those due to sit their GCSEs in 2013 will be doing an Ebacc combination; in 2010, just 22% of pupils took exams in the Ebacc mix.
Commenting on the survey results Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, said: "Subjects such as physics, chemistry, history, geography, French and German give students the opportunity to succeed in every field. The numbers studying a proper range of rigorous subjects has been in decline. Now, thanks to our English Bacc, that has changed.”
However, the Telegraph has this week reported warnings from the incoming president of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers teaching union, Alison Robinson, that the English Bacce – which rewards pupils who gain good grades in five traditional academic disciplines – will lead to an increasingly narrow curriculum and the alienation of the most “troublesome children”.
By limiting the number of subjects that schools could teach, the Government “seems hell-bent on returning to Victorian times when those in education were taught a narrow and rigid curriculum and troublesome children disappeared out of sight” Mrs Robinson claimed. She also attacked the Government’s free schools programme, saying that it was “disarming” state education “bit by bit”.
Mrs Robinson, a secondary school teacher from Lancashire, focused more criticism on the Government for the effect that the Baccalaureate will have on less-able children saying: “What will happen to children who are practical learners or less academic… but who will flounder if they are forced to follow the English Baccalaureate to the letter? Do we really want to send a message to these children that they don’t matter?” She added that that funding cuts could lead to the loss of support services such as speech therapists and educational psychologists, and the shift to academies could hit vulnerable children as local authorities played a reduced role in co-ordinating school admissions.