The prime minister has announced the creation of a new British Standard aimed at bringing together A levels and T levels into a new single qualification for school leavers.
Making the announcement as part of his speech to the Conservative Party conference in Manchester today, Rishi Sunak said that under the new “Advanced British Standard”, all students will study some form of maths and English to 18.
Acknowledging the need to expand the workforce, the prime minister also promised new £30,000 payments over the first five years for new teachers in key subjects. However, it has not yet been revealed what the “key subjects” are.
No 10 said in a press statement issued today that the Advanced British Standard is a long-term reform that will take time to get right, meaning pupils starting primary school this term are expected to be the first cohort to take the new qualification.
In a policy document also published today, the government said it will launch a formal consultation on the approach and design of the new Advanced British Standard over the next few months, to be followed by a White Paper to be published next year.
The document, published by the Department for Education, sets out the reforms and says a “traditional parallel structure” of A levels and technical qualifications “has constraints” and “limits the breadth of young people’s education and prevents full parity across technical and academic routes”.
It says it will invest £600 million over the next two years to “improve the recruitment and retention of teachers of key shortage subjects”, support those who do not pass English and maths GCSE at 16, and improve the quality of maths teaching and the wider evidence base for closing 16-19 attainment gaps.
Maths-to-18 plan
The government has also revealed more about its maths-to-18 plan, first announced by the prime minister earlier this year.
It has said that it will “turbo-charge the best, evidence-based techniques for maths teaching ahead of the introduction of the Advanced British Standard: teaching for mastery in maths”.
The DfE said today that it would train more teachers in these techniques by expanding the reach of Maths Hubs with more specialists overall and a “targeted offer” for key stage 3.
Proposed GCSE reforms
The government also announced today that it wants to see a “broad, coherent and aspirational pathway” for students from age 11 to their final Advanced British Standard examinations, and some elements of GCSEs may need to be “adjusted” to ensure this is successful.
It said it would “strengthen the support” for those students who resit English and maths GCSEs, investing an additional £150 million each year.
It adds that it will also consider reducing the number and length of GCSE papers to save time spent on exams and marking.
It said it will adopt digital solutions, such as on-screen assessment, to “open up new possibilities and allow us to assess performance in more innovative and less onerous ways”.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said he was glad to hear that the announcement of academic and technical pathways would bring together more breadth in the curriculum.
However, he added that the proposals were likely a “pipe dream”. He said: “There aren’t enough teachers to teach existing subjects never mind extend teaching on this scale.
“We’re not convinced that the prime minister’s plan for an early career bonus payment for teachers in key shortage subjects in schools and colleges will be anywhere near enough.”
Recruitment and retention strategy update
The DfE also said today it would publish a refreshed five-year recruitment and retention strategy later this year.
Last month, Tes revealed that the government was planning to update the strategy for a post-Covid world.
The move follows urgent calls from experts for a review of its former plan, published in 2019, to take into account the worsening levels of teacher recruitment and retention since the pandemic.
