Education - and Learning

Written by Vincent Cable MP and published in Informer on Wed 28th Aug 2002

No apologies for returning to the subject of education so soon – like most MPs I've been getting letters from anguished parents whose sons and daughters have got lower than expected A Level grades and suspect someone's been massaging the figures.

I welcome the independent inquiry headed by Mike Tomlinson but whatever its outcome, this has been a disgraceful fiasco. The current generation of eighteen year olds have been subjected to far too much experimentation with their education and its time for some stability.

Which brings me to the local scene: I am increasingly worried, after a chat with Vic Seddon of the Learning and Skills Council, about Tory plans for re-introducing school sixth forms.

I do accept that some parents are keen on the idea, but it's clear there's no money in the budget to re-introduce them in all our schools – and that we simply don't have the teaching staff in the schools to deliver A-Level teaching across the subject range.

I'm afraid the next generation of sixth-formers will also suffer from ill-advised meddling with their education. Meantime, I've just had my invitation to the launch of Richmond upon Thames College's new sixth form centre in October. Watch this space...