THE SPEED of change to policy is endangering children’s education as pupils and parents struggle to keep up, head teachers warned as they called for a period of “stability and clarity”.
Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph before the union’s annual conference in London next week, Brian Lightman of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) said it is too confusing for students and parents and they have no idea what exams will look like.
“There is going to be a period of uncertainty over the next five years or more where [it] is going to be so difficult for pupils to know the system well because everything is changing,” he said. “Each year group is following a new curriculum and as it goes through new exams are being introduced, new grading systems for exams, and new standards are being set.”
Mr Lightman said that failure to introduce changes together is making it almost impossible for parents and their children to understand what is going on. “It’s incredibly complicated,” said Mr Lightman. “It’s a real issue and a challenge.
“Parents are saying to us ‘we don’t know what’s happening. I’ve got two children – one in Year 8 and one in Year 10 – they have exams, one is going to get these grades, one is going to get those grades, we don’t know what’s going on’.”
He said it is also confusing for employers.
During this parliament, students, parents and teachers have had to deal with some of the largest changes in recent decades, from exam reform to structural reforms.
Many of the reforms, introduced by Michael Gove, the previous education secretary, are still coming through, such as the changes to A-level and GCSE qualifications, which eliminate coursework. Mr Lightman said: “Teachers and students need a period of stability and clarity to understand the sweeping reforms that the education system has seen.”
Earlier this year, the ASCL set out its blueprint for a system “in which government would step back from micromanaging schools and colleges” and called for an end to “poorly planned or overly bureaucratic” changes.
At the time, Nicky Morgan, the Education Secretary, said: “At the heart of our plan for education is our commitment to supporting schools to be in the driving seat … We know that many of our best leaders believe strongly in a schoolled approach to improvement.”