ATL comment on Government plans to make GCSEs harder and tackle behaviour problems

“Teachers have high ambitions for their pupils, but the Government’s plans to make exams 'harder' and more complicated is not the way to improve children’s education and will leave more children feeling failures.

“Making young people do the same five GCSEs  - English, maths, science, a language and history or geography - will narrow their choices and prevent many children from studying subjects in which they could do well.  And it ignores the importance of arts and work-related courses which could lead to good careers.  We are worried about the impact on the self-esteem of the children who are not entered for the Ebacc and those who are forced to take exams which are not in their best interests.

“There is a fatal flaw in the Government’s plans, because unless it focuses on getting the enough trained teachers in the classroom, it will not have enough teachers to teach Ebacc or any other subjects – English and geography teachers are already in short supply.  

“These proposals, coupled with reducing money to support children with special educational needs (SEN), increasing teachers’ workload, probable reductions in the roles of teaching assistants and austerity measures kicking in for many more families, will lead to more children feeling disenfranchised and demoralised.  It is no wonder the Government wants a behaviour expert.”

Commenting on behaviour, Nansi Ellis said:  “Low level disruption by pupils is a frustrating and common problem in many schools, so we would welcome anything that helps teachers to tackle it and so make it easier for pupils to learn and engage in lessons.  But teachers have seen task forces and behaviour czars come and go over the years, with little impact on the problem.  It will be interesting to see if the Government makes the link between an over-emphasis on passing exams and tests in a limited number of subjects and children becoming disengaged and disruptive in class.

“The Government’s behaviour expert, Tom Bennett, has already built up a strong reputation among teachers with his useful strategies.  However, teachers and support staff will need far more than strategies – they need initial training and training throughout their careers to enable them to understand child and adolescent development, behaviour and SEN.  Following the SEN reforms, classroom teachers are responsible for identifying and supporting pupils with SEN, and to do this they need knowledge, experience and skills, supported by external experts.”