A Great Education for All

The Headteachers’ Roundtable

POLICY PAPER:

NATIONAL BACCALAUREATE

UP-DATE

Education Election Manifesto 2015

Media contact: Tom Sherrington tsherrington@highburygrove.islington.sch.uk

@headguruteacher

We are a non-party political group of Headteachers operating as a think-tank,

exploring policy issues from a range of perspectives. Our goal is to provide a vehicle

for people working in the profession to influence national education policymakers so

that education policy is centred upon what is best for the learning of all children.

Twitter: @HeadsRoundtable

Find us at: http://headteachersroundtable.wordpress.com

Contact us at: headteachersrt@hotmail.co.uk

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A Great Education for All

Less is always more. If we try to change too much we often end up changing very little and

damaging what we didn’t want to change in the first place.

Our ten policy proposals are a modest collection of coherent ideas which, if implemented

fully, would result in a huge improvement to the education system of this country.

Implementing our proposals will take the will of politicians and a commitment to investing

in education; without investment, growth is very difficult to establish.

If we are going to grow great teachers and provide a great education for all, we have to

invest in improving the quality of education in this country.

It’s that simple.

Ten Policies towards a Great Education for All

1a: To introduce the entitlement to a professional development programme leading to

QTS for all teachers after a maximum of two years’ induction and a masters-level

professional qualification after five years.

1b: To implement the blueprint for the Royal College of Teaching.

2a: To introduce a National Baccalaureate framework following the Headteachers’

Roundtable model.1

2b: To introduce progressive qualifications in English and mathematics up to Level 3 to

facilitate continued study to 18 for all learners.

3a: To implement an Intelligent Inspection Framework.

3b: To stabilise Performance Measures.

4a: To harmonise freedoms across maintained schools and academies.

4b: To Introduce Transition Standards Grants to incentivise innovation towards

systematic primary- secondary progression.

5a: To develop a National 0-5 Parent Support Strategy.

5b: To establish a National Recruitment Fund.

1 http://headteachersroundtable.wordpress.com/2014/01/19/htrt-english-baccalaureate-trial-update-jan-2014/

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Headteachers’ Roundtable Manifesto Update

A rigorous, inclusive and flexible curriculum & qualifications framework

POLICY PROPOSAL: To introduce a National Baccalaureate framework

The interest in this policy proposal has been overwhelming. As Professor Ken Spours

from the Institute of Education noted - "the arguments for a Bacc approach have been

won. However the fragments of a Bacc are spread across the English educational field."

In the journey so far we have discovered that HTRT are one of many voices that welcome

this development so our task is to pull all the fragments together to create a movement.

As result of hosting a Summit event in November, we managed to harness the energy of

people like Professor Ken Spours from IoE, a veteran Bacc campaigner, w i t h support

from the DfE, exam boards, numerous schools and colleges and others who have created

a Baccalaureate environment for their students.

There appears to be a very broad consensus that we should pull the various existing

fragments together to create a truly inclusive qualification structure that can unite the

English education system across the key stages. In doing so we would be creating a

powerful framework allowing academic and technical qualifications to sit alongside

other elements that make up a broad and balanced education. The umbrella structure

could provide a coherent path for students from the foundation stage to the end of

secondary.

The key elements of the National Baccalaureate Framework look something like this:

All of the existing models of Baccalaureates fit this broad outline so this is our starting

point.

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The transcript might look something like this illustration:

This manifesto proposal has reached a new phase that goes beyond it needing to be

part of the political process. The idea of practitioners getting started, with the support

of key thinkers and organisations takes us beyond the outcome of the general election.

It is also beyond the stage of an idea led by a group of Headteachers and now needs to

fly on its own.

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The Next Stages

1. Second Summit Meeting 13th March "Road to the National Baccalaureate Trust"

Agenda:

• Finalising the process for establishing the Trust as a Legal entity.

• Drafting a statement of core principles.

• Drafting a Road map for developing the Baccalaureate structure over the next 3-5

years.

The aim is to create a National Baccalaureate Trust organisation by the General Election

2. National Baccalaureate Convention 25th June

On 25th June the convention will be an opportunity for all stakeholders; schools,

colleges, universities, employers and all organisations involved in the wider

development of young people to help change this into a national movement.

It will be an opportunity to discuss every element of the Baccalaureate: how we

implement it in practice, the Personal Development Programme, the start of a primary

model and work on the Entry and Foundation level Baccs.

School and colleges will be able to offer validated Baccalaureate Certificates and

transcripts from June 2016. That is the goal.

POLICY PROPOSAL: To introduce progressive qualifications in English and

mathematics up to Level 3 to facilitate continued study to 18 for all learners.

It remains a goal to enable all learners to continue the study of Maths and English up to 18. We welcome the initiative to develop a Core Maths Qualification for students for whom AS or A2 Maths would not be appropriate. However, there need to be further work done. There are learners in many different contexts who need to go further with their learning in both areas but for whom the existing qualifications are inadequate. We need slim-volume qualifications with innovative modes of assessment in maths and English that can be taken when ready at a range of levels, post 16.

It is realistic to set a five-year timeframe for these qualifications to be developed and

evaluated.

Liam Collins and Tom Sherrington

January 2015

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The First 100 Days

We believe the following actions should be taken in the first 100 days

of any new government:

1. Give public support to the concept of a National Baccalaureate

that encompasses all learners and qualifications, without seeking

to promote one particular brand of Baccalaureate at the expense

of the wider framework; explicitly taking the development out of

the political arena.

2. Give public support to the role of the National Baccalaureate Trust

as an independent body with a remit to develop the framework at

grass-roots level.

3. Provide or source seed funding to the National Baccalaureate

Trust to ensure that it has the capacity to do the work needed in

the early stages before it becomes self-financing.

4. Support the Core Maths pilot and develop a parallel process for a

qualification in English.

5. Set up a tendering process for an awarding body to develop a

tiered set of qualifications in Maths and English, different to GCSE

re-sits, allowing all Post 16 students to gain access to further

learning in both areas from Level 1 to Level 3 alongside their core

qualifications of all kinds.

Twitter: @HeadsRoundtable

Find us at: http://headteachersroundtable.wordpress.com

Contact us at: headteachersrt@hotmail.co.uk