About
We’re building a better baccalaureate for England…
We want the very best for all our students. We believe that all young people in England should have access to a baccalaureate that compares favourably with the best on offer elsewhere. Whilst the English Baccalaureate is a metric that adds nothing of value to a narrow set of existing qualifications, a more-rounded baccalaureate would aim to develop the whole student, improving their chances of being happy, confident and successful citizens.
This means designing an award that has the interests of young people at its heart. A better baccalaureate that guarantees rich and worthwhile learning experiences that will properly prepare students for future learning, life and work. A better baccalaureate fit for the youth of England should be so much more than an additional measure for school accountability.
The guiding principles of what a better baccalaureate would look like include;
- A breadth of rich, well-rounded and coherent pathways of learning for young people,
- Elements recognising skills for employability, civic participation and independent learning,
- Greater student engagement and ownership,
- Flexibility to offer a challenge for all students,
- Balanced assessment including performance, portfolios and products in addition to exams,
- Multiple accreditation routes,
- Currency with employers and higher education institutions beyond school accountability.
Who’s involved?
A coalition of leading organisations is working to develop a better baccalaureate and is welcoming everyone who wants to be part of this process.
The project is already supported by The Curriculum Foundation, Whole Education and Archbishop Sentamu Academy (Hull). There is a growing list of schools and other organisations expressing an interest in working with us, including the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) and the Independent Academies Association (IAA).
If you or your organisation would like to be contribute to a better baccalaureate, please express your interest andcontact us or show your support online.
Please show your support or contact us direct for more information.
I am really interested in how this will develop and have recently (probably due to now being a mum as well as a teacher) started to question the current school models and curriculums. I am drawn to skills based curriculums but don’t know enough about them, I have also tried to find if anyone has looked at Pisa tests and used these for building a skills based curriculum? I have been so pleased to find so many amazing people involved and passionate about school reform. Thank you
I am fully behind the notion of creating a meaningful qualification for our young people which builds on the curriculum developments over the last five years. My Academy uses a wide range of qualifications and I am more interested in developing a path of accreditation that is forward thinking than a measure of school performance.
I would like to be part of this curriculum ‘movement’.
Since my school has adapted the options routes for the english Bac I have seen a huge reduction in my numbers signing up for music GCSE. 60 down to 41. I have since learnt that they targeted all pupils who they felt should be taking the EBAC and told them not to take music because it is a ‘soft’ subject and they would not get into university. I feel my subject has been completely undervalued.
Since school performance indicators began, secondary Heads have had to grapple with a ridiculous choice. Should they prioritise the school’s league table position or what’s best for every single individual?
Alignment of performance indicators with a curriculum which provides rich and worthwhile learning experiences for every young person is long overdue.
A better baccalaureate, with the interests of young people at its heart, would provide schools with an incentive to ensure every young person makes maximum progress instead of focusing interventions on a small target group to get them over a random threshold.
So is there a proposed solution? If we assume league table points are here to stay, how do we make them more equitable? I have a couple of suggestions.
Insist all learners have a vocational dimension to their curriculum. They must achieve at least a full qualification in a vocational area through the QCF as well as the Ebac through GCSE. Let’s say the Ebac is worth 1000 points maximum, make the vocational dimension worth 400 and ban virement. So if a school doesn’t offer learners a vocational dimension they forfeit the 400 points. They can’t use vocational points as a substitute for Ebac points. This prevents the Vocational ICT distortion but allows vocational ICT courses as a legitimate part of a balanced curriculum. With a little imagination its easy to see how such ICT skills could complement the learning process for the Ebac. Personally I have no problem with an E-bac that includes En, Ma, Sc since that has always been the core in any case. Humanities? Not too much of a problem. MFL – yes a problem because past experience shows a significant minority will simply waste 10% of their curriculum time because they won’t see it as relevant to them. I do a lot of international business and the motivation for non-English native speakers to learn English is far higher since every multilateral business meeting I have ever attended was conducted in English. I learnt French and can get by in it but never get the opportunity to use it. MFL is important as an option, but in KS4 that is what it should be.