Archives for Singapore

UK Qualifications Reform: Looking East and Back Isn’t The Answer

Today’s Independent newspaper carries a comment piece, written by me, which has been heavily edited. I was asked to write it in response to the approved leak this week on the UK government’s plan to re-introduce a qualification for ‘less intelligent’ students. The Independent wanted something personal and provocative – sadly, they only went for the personal. The removal of the final two paragraphs – where I criticise Mr Gove for the out-dated copying of the Singaporean system – together with their over-emotive header (“David Price: I was scarred by being classified as ‘thick’, as future generations will be”) makes …

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Regressive Education and the Lessons from Singapore

I see that the UK Secretary of State for Education has been having another pop at what he terms ‘progressive’ education this week. Responding to claims that children born in the late 50s achieved better social mobility as a result of grammar schools, Michael Gove (correctly, in my view) said that selective education wasn’t a magic bullet to achieving social equality. So far, so good. But then he cited the influence of ‘progressive education’ and the move away from traditional subjects, rigorously taught, as a more relevant factor. So, in one breathtaking false causation, he manages to put himself on the side …

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