Attempt to create equality flawed, say critics Jon Boone and Simon Briscoe look at the education department's complex measurement system LONDON 1ST EDITION

As the Department for Education and Skills put it: the inclusion of vocational subjects is necessary in order to "recognise the achievements of all pupils, including the importance of flexible and vocational routes of learning". The FT's research also shows how unevenly England's...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Financial times (London ed.)
Main Author JON BOONE and SIMON BRISCOE
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London (UK) The Financial Times Limited 10.03.2007
Subjects
Education
Job requirements
Private schools
Qualifications
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Summary:As the Department for Education and Skills put it: the inclusion of vocational subjects is necessary in order to "recognise the achievements of all pupils, including the importance of flexible and vocational routes of learning". The FT's research also shows how unevenly England's best schools are spread around the country, with some areas having four times as many 16-year-olds for every good school as other areas. Oxfordshire, Surrey and parts of London have many more successful schools than South Yorkshire, Merseyside, Bedfordshire and Cornwall. It is no surprise that it is mainly more depressed areas that have fewer top schools. Roughly three-quarters of all schools in some areas such as west London, Somerset and Bristol, Shropshire and Kent are in the FT's best 1,000 list. Yet in east London, Staffordshire and Bedfordshire, fewer than a third make the grade. In Cornwall, the country's education black spot on this basis, only one in five schools, three out of 15, makes the top 1,000.
ISSN:0307-1766