Rishi Sunak has announced his plan to scrap A-levels and replace it with a new qualification called the Advanced British Standard (ABS).
The prime minister told the Conservative party conference in Manchester he wanted to raise standards and create the “best education system in the western world”.
The Tory leader said the government would merge A levels and technical T-levels into the brand new ABS to create “parity of esteem” between academic and technical subjects.
Mr Sunak attempted to head off criticism about how teachers are supposed to deliver the changes, after insisted that he wanted pupils to do more subjects and more hours.
Teachers in “key subjects” will receive special bonuses of up to £30,000, tax free, over the first five years of their careers to “attract and retain” more people. “Our teachers do one of the most valuable jobs in our society and we should reward them for that,” Mr Sunak said.
Sixth formers will now be required to study five subjects rather than three under the new ABS qualification, said the PM – explaining that he wanted students to spend at least 195 hours more with a teacher.
“A-level students generally only do three subjects compared to the seven studied by our economic competitors,” he said. “Our 16 to 19-year-olds spend around a third less time in the classroom than some of our competitors.”
“The Advanced British Standard will change that too, with students typically studying five subjects and thanks to the extra teaching time we are introducing, the great breadth won’t come at the expense of depth which is such a strength of our system.”
Rishi Sunak and his wife at Tory conference Akshata Murthy
(Reuters)
Criticism for Mr Sunak’s changes was swift. Schools expert Sam Freedman – a former top adviser to Michael Gove at the Department for Education – said Mr Sunak was unwise to meddle.
“The Advanced British Standard is David Miliband’s Diploma reborn. The one that Michael Gove killed off because it didn’t work.”
The announcement came as Mr Sunak also vowed to stop universities from enrolling students on courses that “do nothing for their life chances” – the latest Tory attack on so-called Mickey Mouse degrees – as he talked up Tory efforts to increase apprenticeships.
The PM told party members that Labour had “pursued the false dream” of 50 per cent of children going to university. “This assumption that the only route to success was the university route was one of the great mistakes of the last 30 years.”
He added: “It led to thousands of young people being ripped off by degrees that did nothing to increase their employability or earnings potential. So we are stopping universities from enrolling students on courses that do nothing for their life chances – under us no more rip-off degrees.”