11-16 education – requires improvement?
A recently published report by the Education for 11-16 Year Olds Committee in the House of Lords has warned that the education system for 11-16 year olds is failing pupils. Speaking about Requires Improvement: urgent change for 11-16 education, Committee Chair, Jo Johnson, said, “The evidence we have is compelling. Change to the education system for 11-16 year olds is urgently needed, to address an overloaded curriculum, a disproportionate exam burden and declining opportunities to study creative and technical subjects.”
The Committee was appointed in 2023 specifically to consider education for 11-16 year olds with reference to the skills necessary for the digital and green economy. It heard from witnesses including pupils, teachers, school leaders, academics, and ministers to build a picture of where we currently are and where we need to be when it comes to offering a relevant education for the challenges and opportunities of the present time.
One of the conclusions drawn will be of no surprise to teachers familiar with secondary education and beyond. According to the report, education for 11-16 year olds is currently “too focused on academic learning and written exams, limiting opportunities for pupils to study a broad and balanced curriculum and to develop core skills.” Requires Improvement calls for change to the 11-16 assessment model to “create space for technical, digital and creative areas of study, and reduce the burden of GCSE exams.”
We know that reform is much needed. Since the days of home learning through the pandemic, attitudes to education have changed considerably, and we are, perhaps, realizing that education can better serve young people with improvement.
Requires Improvement looks at the 11-16 curriculum, assessment, and school performance measures, and acknowledges that 11-16 is a crucial stage in a child’s education and life. The current 11 year olds will leave school in the 2030s which, the report says, means change must be made more urgently. “While it is difficult to predict what jobs will be available when they enter the workforce,” the report said, “digital, creative and technical skills are likely to be in even greater demand. Skills such as collaboration, creativity and problem-solving are also expected to become increasingly important.” Crucially, the report recognizes that “Opportunities to develop these skills have, however, been squeezed out of the 11-16 phase.”
It seems that when it comes to 11-16 education, we are currently moving in the wrong direction, and just about everyone directly involved in education can see it. But hearing this conclusion from the House of Lords in such strong terms, along with the Times Education Commission and the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, will surely add weight to the cause.
Key recommendations include:
- Reducing the content in the 11-16 curriculum, particularly in GCSE subjects. This should free up time for schools to offer more varied learning experiences which will promote “the development of a broader set of knowledge, skills and behaviours.”
- Ensuring an adequate set of literacy and numeracy qualifications for pupils aged 14-16 which focus on the application of skills in the real world.
- Creating additional pathways to support the development of digital skills through the introduction of both a new applied computing GCSE and a digital literacy qualification.
- Initiating reform aimed at reducing the volume and lowering the stakes of exams at age 16. This could involve increasing coursework or project-based qualifications.
- Abandoning the EBacc school performance measures and reviewing other measures in the 11-16 phases. “Schools must be given greater flexibility to offer the subjects and qualifications that would best serve their pupils, based on a balanced curriculum including the study of creative, technical and vocational subjects.”
It is heartening to see these issues being so widely debated. Johnson said, “Immediate and longer-term reform is essential to ensuring that our secondary system equips young people with the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need to progress to the full range of post-16 options, and to flourish in the future.” For all those who see the limitations of the current system, this has such potential for positive change, at a time when young people need education to deliver, perhaps more than ever before.
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About the author
Elizabeth Holmes
After graduating with a degree in Politics and International Relations from the University of Reading, Elizabeth Holmes completed her PGCE at the Institute of Education, University of London. She then taught humanities and social sciences in schools in London, Oxfordshire and West Sussex, where she ran the history department in a challenging comprehensive. Elizabeth specialises in education but also writes on many other issues and themes. As well as her regular blogs for Eteach and FEjobs, her books have been published by a variety of publishers and translated around the world. Elizabeth has also taught on education courses in HE and presented at national and international conferences.
