Education Standards

How should we judge our education system?

Do we trust the Government when we are told:

• A-level results show new record
• Exam results continue to improve
• More top grades for NI students

Or do we trust the CBI who tell us:

The education system is failing to ensure enough school leavers master the "three Rs", a survey has suggested.

The CBI said 42% of the employers it surveyed were unhappy with reading, writing and numeracy skills.

As well as our Universities who last year, told us:

Record numbers of first-year students will be offered crash-courses in basic English and grammar when they start their university courses.

Nearly half of Scotland's universities have been forced to provide remedial fast-track classes because of plunging literacy levels in schools.

They claim undergraduates are not ready for the linguistic and literary demands of degrees after leaving school.

Some students could not write, spell or punctuate simple sentences.

We can never judge education standards on exam results alone, simply because we do not know the pass criteria or the guidance given to the exam boards. I'm sure it changes every year, making it impossible to produce meaningful comparative results.

So who is to blame? Bad teachers? Bad parenting? Big Bad Government? All of the above? Truth is, I don't know. What I do know is that we will get nowhere while New Labour continue cosseting us with the false impression that our kids are doing well and getting better all the time.

Filed under: Politics, New Labour Spin