In collaboration with NEU, Education and Employers, and the Education Foundation
Keir Starmer has unveiled his plan to break down the barriers to opportunity, which includes a radical plan for education reform. It is heartening to see the Labour leader prioritise this as one of his five missions for a better Britain, as we believe that preparing young people for life and work is key to unlocking our nation’s potential. His vision for education is very much in line with our work at Edge and we look forward to working with Labour on developing their plans.
As Keir pointed out in his speech, our knowledge-rich school curriculum has not kept pace with technological and social changes, with learners leaving school ready for a world that is already in the past. This has left us on the back foot against the looming skills shortages that we’ve been tracking. That is why at Edge, we have called for an engaging curriculum that incorporates a truly broad spectrum of knowledge, skills and behaviour and links this to relevant real-world examples. One model for delivering this that we have been exploring with our partners at Rethinking Assessment is a baccalaureate that combines major subject disciplines alongside personal, community, and global learning. A short-term step towards achieving this could be the wide-scale adoption of a learner profile, such as the one developed by Rethinking Assessment. This would allow learners to showcase a wider portfolio of achievements beyond academic qualifications, such as extracurricular activities, work experience, and personal projects. We therefore welcome Labour’s commitment to reviewing the curriculum so that it delivers both knowledge and skills, recognising that both are vital for learners’ development.
At Edge, we have been championing creative and technical skills in particular. Unfortunately, our school accountability measures have devalued arts and technology subjects in our secondary schools - the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) excludes all arts and technical subjects and Progress 8 heavily weights league tables towards EBacc subjects. To tackle this, Edge launched the #SaveOurSubjects campaign in partnership with the Independent Society of Musicians, which calls on the Government to review the impact of accountability on arts and technology subjects and reform Progress 8 to give pupils more freedom of choice at GCSE. It is therefore hugely encouraging to see Labour commit to reforming school accountability measures to value creative and technical subjects. As a step towards this, Labour will update Progress 8 so that all students take at least one creative or vocational subject at GCSE.
To capture these skills, we will also need the right assessment methods. Our current system prioritises a rigid set of high-stakes, cliff-edge exams, and doesn’t credit a broader skill set or reward individuals who are thoughtful team players, creative problem-solvers or excellent communicators. Edge has been working closely with Rethinking Assessment and many other colleagues to develop a vision for school assessment. This would include muti-modal assessment, alongside written exams, which celebrates a broader range of knowledge as well as technical and transferrable skills such as problem solving, communication, and self-management. So, it is good to see Labour commit to a Curriculum and Assessment Review that will consider how to deliver the right balance of assessment while retaining written exams. We look forward to seeing more detail on this.
At Edge, we are incredibly passionate about vocational education and the role it can play in promoting productivity and social justice. However, too often we have seen academic routes presented as the default for learners, with many teachers feeling unprepared to steer them towards vocational routes like apprenticeships. We believe that vocational education opportunities must be available pre-16, and lessons on how to deliver this can be learned from past policies. For example, 14-19 Diplomas combined general and vocational qualifications to create qualifications which contained the knowledge and skills needed for employment or higher level study in a particular sector. Another past policy we can learn from is the Young Apprenticeships Programme, which offered Key Stage 4 students access to vocational education and training alongside their core curriculum in school, including a significant offer of 50 days of work placement over the two years of study. It therefore heartening to see the Labour leader commit to tackling the academic/vocational divide and ensure parity of esteem between the two. As he points out, this will be vital to breaking down the “class ceiling”.
Quote from Alice Barnard, CEO at the Edge Foundation:
“At Edge we have called for an education system that delivers a truly broad and balanced curriculum, supported by an assessment system that values skills as well as knowledge. We therefore welcome Labour’s plan for education, in particular its commitment to reforming curriculum, assessment and accountability, as well as the need to celebrate the value of vocational education. Keir Starmer has rightly recognised that education will need to adapt, not only to keep pace with the seismic shifts we have seen in technology, but to deliver well-rounded, emotionally resilient, curious citizens that will thrive in all aspects of life.”