Change is something we all face each and every day, whether it’s in work or our personal lives. Ironically the only constant in change itself is its continual inevitability.
The secondary education sector is certainly no exception to this. Following on from the implementation of the new school headline performance measures for vocational qualifications, which came into full effect this year, the Department for Education last month published the ‘Reforming the Accountability System for Secondary Schools’ document.
This is the government’s response to the public consultation which closed in May 2013. While these changes are not live, there are some interesting points in here that could well impact the delivery of your school curriculum from as early as 2015.
The report mentions some interesting developments including the ‘Best 8 measures’. These measures are split out further as;
1) ‘Progress 8’, which “will show whether pupils have performed better than expected at the end of Key Stage 4 across 8 key subjects”
and
2) ‘Attainment 8’, which “will show the school’s average grade across the same suite of 8 subjects” But what are these 8 subjects?
The DfE outlines the 8 subjects on page 7 of their document (also summarised below). It’s great to see that schools will maintain freedom curriculum development by being able to offer up to 3 vocational qualifications. Here is how the qualifications will be compiled:
1 slot for double weighted English element
1 slot for double weighted Maths element
3 slots reserved for other EBacc subjects (sciences, computer science, geography, history and languages)
3 slots that can be taken up by further qualifications from a range of:
- EBacc subjects and/or
- other high value arts and/or
- academic and/or
- vocational qualifications
- English literature is included within this category.
There are still some areas to be confirmed such as the policy on measuring the success of low attaining pupils so I’d encourage all our readers to keep an eye on the DfE website for more information. The DfE document states the intention to move to its new system from 2016 but also says that schools may be able to opt into the new system as early as 2015.
Finally, don’t forget that next month we’ll be bringing you to up to date on which new V Certs have been approved by the DfE.
If you’d like to speak to anyone about our V Certs and other vocational qualifications then please contact us on 0191 239 8000 or emails [email protected].
