Business back Gove’s exam plans September 18, 2012 BUSINESS leaders last night welcomed the decision to replace GCSEs with a new English Baccalaureate Certificate as the national test for 16- year-olds, a move that the government says will end “the race to the bottom” in exam standards. Education secretary Michael Gove announced yesterday that children will begin studying for the “EBacc’”qualifications in September [...]
Gove’s reforms will help better equip young people for life September 18, 2012 BRITAIN’S poor educational standards are a national scandal and a key reason why the UK’s productivity continues to lag. The problem is not with graduates of our top universities, though even they could do better. The real crisis is that thousands of school leavers and even, in some cases, graduates from other universities, end up [...]
Scrapping dysfunctional GCSEs will return rigour to British classrooms September 17, 2012 CONSIDERING the howls of outrage that greeted this year’s GCSE results, the reaction to Michael Gove’s new English Baccalaureate Certificate has been surprisingly muted. This is not altogether surprising: GCSEs are corrupt and corrupting, and it’s hard to find a teacher with anything good to say about them. Under New Labour, ministers showed little evidence [...]
An underwhelming reshuffle which did not go far enough September 4, 2012 COALITION 2.0: that is our front page headline today, and it sums up what this reshuffle is all about. This was an incremental, almost minor reshuffle, not the revolutionary shift that this government really needed, with most of the most important, cabinet-level jobs still controlled by the same people and economic policy changing not one [...]
Small businesses lament lack of basic skills in young staff August 22, 2012 SMALL BUSINESSES are sceptical about how ready school leavers are for work, according to a survey released by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) yesterday. A full eight out of ten did not think school leavers were fit for employment, and that more must be done to get them into shape. Fifteen and 16 year [...]
RAPID responses June 24, 2012 Return to O-levels [Re: Cameron must back Gove for the sake of Britain’s children, Friday] Michael Gove’s proposal isn’t perfect, but it’s an improvement on the failing system we have today – a de facto two-tier system of double-digit top grades and a long list of failures. Let’s hope Gove can defeat his third-rate political [...]
Make Britain the home of the brave June 24, 2012 ON FRIDAY, Neil Carmichael MP from the education select committee, hosted a debate in the House of Commons on how innovative further education could better equip the workforce of the future. A pertinent subject, following the revelation of Michael Gove’s plans for education reform. Entrepreneurs can provide an interesting perspective. Friday’s event came on the [...]
Surging labour costs are keeping UK unemployment high May 29, 2012 THERE is a straightforward reason why unemployment remains so high in Britain. Unit labour costs are rising – hiring someone to produce a set amount of output is becoming more expensive. And higher prices mean reduced demand – in the jobs market as in everything else. This may come as a bit of a surprise: [...]
RAPID RESPONSES May 10, 2012 Fair regulation [Re: Is the Queen’s speech likely to reassure business?, yesterday] The Speech is a clear sign to business that the government supports fair and strong regulation. Many employers want to reduce the burden of unnecessary employment tribunal litigation and the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill is a step in that direction. However not [...]
CBI supports Gove’s drive for numeracy June 29, 2011 EMPLOYERS’ organisation the CBI yesterday threw its weight behind Michael Gove’s pledge to put maths back at the heart of the curriculum. In a speech at the Royal Society, the education secretary said he would like to see the “vast majority”of students studying maths until the age of 18 within a decade. And he told City [...]