A school leaders’ union has warned that “deliberately harder” tests and exams are demotivating lower-attaining pupils who believe they are doomed to fail.

The Association of School and College Leaders general secretary Geoff Barton has said that the education system only works well for around two-thirds of pupils.

Now the union is launching a new blueprint for a fairer education system and is calling for evidence.

Barton: Why teachers need to speak up for the forgotten third

Reform: ASCL chief calls for GCSEs to be ditched

Background: Commission launched for the forgotten third

In a report published today at the start of the union’s annual conference, ASCL outlines six key areas of concern about the fairness of the school system. These are:

• Incentives that promote an “over focus” on a narrowly defined set of academic subjects through the English Baccalaureate and primary school tests. ASCL warns that this can lead to too many pupils missing out on a broader curriculum and says this is a particular problem for disadvantaged pupils.
• The report also warns that “deliberately harder” tests and exams are demotivating lower-attaining children and young people many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds.
• The school leaders’ union voice concern that there is “an entrenched undervaluing of vocational and technical education” which can provide strong alternative routes to success for young people from all backgrounds.
• Heads claim the national curriculum is perceived as being “overly politically or ideologically driven, rather than based on strong evidence of what children and young people need to succeed”. It says this is particularly the case for those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
• It warns that the system of comparable outcomes, which was designed to ensure children are not disadvantaged when qualifications change, is leading a third of young people to believe they are doomed to fail.
• The report warns that there is a lack of time and resources for teachers to “develop the strong subject and pedagogical content knowledge needed to teach effectively.”

Mr Barton said: “We have a good education system which works well for about two-thirds of our children and young people, but not so well for a third who struggle with the set of high-stakes academic exams at the end of secondary school, and whose life chances are diminished by this cliff edge.

“Our blueprint for a fairer education system will look at how we can improve the prospects of these young people, how we can better support schools which face the greatest degree of challenge, and how we might rethink the curriculum and qualifications so that they work better for all young people.

The report follows on from ASCL’s commission into the “forgotten third” last year which looked at improving the prospects of the third of young people who do not achieve at least a grade 4 standard pass in GCSE English and maths.

ASCL is now launching a new blueprint which will ask five broad questions about fairness in education. These are:

• In a society committed to social equity, what and how should children and young people be taught?
• How should teachers and leaders be identified, developed and supported?
• How should the education system be structured?
• How should the education system be funded?
• How should we judge if the system is doing what we want it to?