Poll shows support for Governments line on A levels and GCSEs

A web poll on Select Educationís website shows that 66% of respondents support the Governmentís stance to retain A levels and GCSEs. John Dunn, Marketing and Projects Director of Select Education, commented on the findings, ëThe poll results clearly show a high level of support to retain A levels and GCSEs, but the Governmentís decision to introduce a new diploma for vocational qualifications creates new challenges. There are a number of important issues on recruiting and training teachers to be resolved so that the changes on curriculum and vocational qualifications can be properly implemented.í

Select Education, which is the UKís largest education recruitment consultancy, says that training policy for teaching staff will need to change radically and quickly if the Governmentís planned changes in education for 14 ñ 19 year olds are to succeed.

The Government has pledged that it will keep A levels and GCSEs in spite of calls in the Tomlinson Report to scrap them and replace them with a new diploma. It has however pledged to introduce new specialised diplomas in 14 subject areas. The first of these new diplomas in engineering, health, media and ICT are due to be introduced in 2008. John Dunn commented, ëItís clear that the introduction of the new specialised diplomas will mean that the schools will be looking for a new style of teacher ñ and urgent action needs to be taken now to make sure they are available.

According to Select Education, there is already a mismatch between teachers and available jobs in some areas of the country, with acute shortages of specialist secondary teachers of maths and science in most areas. ëThe Government will need to start thinking now about training and developing enough teachers to deliver the curriculum for the new diploma courses. There simply may not be enough of them unless steps are taken now, so although there is support for the Governmentís approach, it canít succeed without the right staff.