…what, exactly, is the problem?  Monday, October 17th, 2011 Education policy-making is in a very strange place at present, with politicisation very much to the fore and reform proposals, though often successful in winning headlines for ministers, sometimes having a superficial quality. This means they often do not bear up well against detailed analysis. The latest examples came in a speech last week by Michael Gove to Ofqual, the exams regulator. While I have no problem with Mr Gove looking closely at the exam system and proposing changes, this new foray was, to this observer, remarkably unfocused. I was left unclear not only as to the detail ofRead More →

Friday, October 7th Exam boards are facing fines from the Government’s qualifications regulator after a string of errors in this summer’s GCSE and A-levels. Ministers are to propose an immediate change to the law to allow Ofqual to impose a financial penalty – capped at a certain proportion of an exam board’s turnover – if they make mistakes. But the move was questioned by a head teachers’ leader, who said any fines would simply be passed on by the boards to schools, adding to already large exams bills. The boards themselves believe the move, to be introduced in an amendment to the education bill currentlyRead More →