ASCL comment on Prime Minister’s plan for ‘British Baccalaureate’

Responding to reports that the Prime Minister is planning to establish a ‘British Baccalaureate’ in which pupils would study more subjects after the age of 16, Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said:

“There is merit in looking at increasing subject breadth in post-16 education, but the idea of a ‘British Baccalaureate’ is no more than a sketchy slogan, with the Prime Minister’s rehashed plan for compulsory maths until the age of 18 bolted on.

“Would the British Baccalaureate replace A-levels, T-levels, BTECs, and existing functional skills qualifications, incorporate them, or be layered on top of them?

“The government has spent a fortune on introducing T-levels – a highly-specialised qualification which fills the timetable on its own. It is difficult to see how this could then be incorporated into a British Baccalaureate.

“There has been no discussion with the education sector about this idea and without any detail of what is being proposed it is a policy which is largely meaningless.”