Commenting on the appointment of and as ministers of state in the
Department for Education, Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the
Association of School and College Leaders, said:
“We welcome and back to the Department for
Education and look forward to working with them. Mr Gibb is
steeped in education and knows the department well. Mr Halfon has
been a very effective chair of the Education Select Committee and
a powerful advocate for children and young people.
“Mr Gibb is well-known for his allegiance to a traditional diet
of academic subjects in schools. If the direction of travel in
government is to place a greater focus on technical and
vocational education, this aspiration cannot be pigeonholed
solely into post-16 education. The government will need to be
more flexible in allowing and supporting a choice of subjects
that students can study pre-16 which embraces technical and
vocational education. At the moment, it is marginalised by the
requirements of school performance tables to focus largely on
academic subjects.
“And it is of critical importance that schools and colleges are
funded sufficiently to teach technical, vocational, and academic
subjects. The current situation is that steeply rising costs and
inadequate government funding mean many will be left with no
alternative but to reduce curriculum options to save money. The
government must invest more in education in its autumn statement
on 17 November.”
