ASCL comment on EBacc announcement

Commenting on today’s (Wednesday 19 July) government announcement about the English Baccalaureate (EBacc), Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said:

“The EBacc increasingly looks like the performance measure that time forgot. It’s hard to see what purpose it serves any more. 

“It helps neither students, parents, teachers, nor school leaders. In our view, and in line with the Chief Inspector of Schools, schools should provide a curriculum with an academically rigorous core for all, plus broader opportunities in the arts and sport. 

“What schools and colleges offer should be driven by the needs of their students and communities, not by centrally-set targets.

“Progress 8 has superseded the need for the EBacc. We would have preferred the government to let it quietly curl up and wither away.”