The government’s announcements concerning Tech-Levels and Technical Baccalaureate for 16-19 year olds are most encouraging and are badly needed. In order to remain a relatively prosperous nation in the 21st century, the British education system needs to value technical education just as much as it values academic education. These new qualifications, if implemented effectively, will hopefully help to put right a wrong that should have been corrected decades ago.
But I fear that the government’s technical curriculum policy as a whole lacks consistency, and that this level of ambition for Key Stage 5 is not being matched for Key Stages 1 – 4.
1. The English Baccalaureate does not recognise rigorous technical subjects. This sends a pretty poor signal about the status of technical education and undermines the message the government is trying to send at Key Stage 5.
2. Former defence minister Peter Luff has criticized the draft Design and Technology curriculum for Key Stages 1 – 3 on the basis that it lacks ambition and is uninspiring. I believe that all technology and engineering specifications for Key Stages 1 – 4 needs to be updated, more rigour added to them, and must be made relevant to the science and technology demands of 21st century Britain.
I think the government is heading in the right direction with Tech Levels. But children and Britain’s economy won’t get the benefits of these if there is no incentive to study technical subjects before then.
UPDATE 8/7/13: By happy coincidence, the government has published its revised national curriculum today, and it appears that the D&T curriculum has been made more ambitious and rigorous. This is most welcome and the new curriculum overall looks far superior to what we have at the moment. Now, the remaining thing the government has to do is to ensure that technical subjects are valued at GCSE level.
