So, there you have it.
The opposition to the replacement of O-levels with GCSEs came from the teaching unions.
Whereas the insistence on it came from Keith Joseph.
Of whom, expect to hear a very great deal more in 2015.
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I very much doubt it
ReplyDeleteIt is now a matter of record. All the papers have just been released. And even The Guardian is now saying that GCSEs have been a disaster.
DeleteThat's not what I'm referring to. I don't think we'll hear much about Keith Joseph this year.
DeleteOh, but we will.
DeleteWhere? On David Icke's website?!
DeleteOh, no.
DeleteWatch this space.
You must know this is all crap. SRA all over again. Just like Savile.
DeleteSRA may be worth revisiting.
DeleteYeah, and while you're at it maybe look into the existence of Santa Claus?
DeleteIt's all going to come out. The basic thesis of a paedophile ring at the heart of the Thatcher Government is no longer in dispute. The only question is what to do about it.
DeleteI dispute it and I despise the Thatcher government.
DeletePaedobsession is a far-right conspiracy theory, nothing more. Maybe the establishment will accept it, but if so it'll be because they've been bullied into submitting to the neo-feminist "believe the poor ickle victims" narrative.
Anti-working class rubbish.
Thatcher was amazingly prescient, the files reveal. She predicted exactly what GCSE's would do. The full account from the files is eye-opening, particularly her accurate prediction that more project based course work would be "open to great abuse by committed Leftwing teachers".
ReplyDeleteDowning Street correspondence released by the National Archives shows, however, that Thatcher was severely critical of the proposals to introduce GCSE's. One memo written for her by her private secretary, Mark Addison, states: “You are concerned that the new approach which GCSE embodies will lead to lower standards, a shift away from the traditional approach to learning in favour of a ‘can’t-fail’ mentality, [and] assessment by the pupils’ own teacher with the consequent risk of introducing more bias.”
Other documents sent to the prime minister by Joseph and his officials feature Mrs Thatcher scrawling “No”, criticising the “jargon” of the education department and questioning the rationale of the GCSE system.
Mr Addison writes in one memo to the prime minister: “You do not like the sound of the new exam; but you are even less keen that it should be rushed through without proper preparation.” Her adviser Brian Griffiths wrote to her saying that the “increased emphasis on project work course assessment is a bias towards certain kinds of parents: it is also open to great abuse from committed left-wing teachers”.
Indeed. It has all come to pass.
She introduced them. She could have said no to Keith Joseph, and sided instead with the teaching unions. But she didn't.
Delete