Lord Baker was in the news yesterday linked with schools – again – you may recollect him from the early days of the National Curriculum and from when “Baker Days” were introduced.
SMS heard him on the Today Programme on Radio 4 enthusing over technical schools, something that has been reworked from Butler’s 1944 Education Act (there are no new ideas in education remember).
This time the schools will be University or FE college-sponsored; of high status; similar to Germany’s very popular technical schools.
This time, however, technical education will be aimed at over 14s…or…err…upper school age children. Lord Baker was particularly at pains to point out that 11 was too young to make decisions about the future but that 14 was just right.
Apparently the idea has all-party support, with particularly enthusiastic sounds coming from the Conservative Michael Gove, the most likely candidate to be Education Minister after the next General Election.
Vernon Coaker (another schools Minister – how many are there?) said “These are really early days,on this and we’re right at the beginning of our thinking. The concept is a good one: 14-19 schools specialising in a couple of areas of diplomas and core GCSEs with links to local employers”.
Remind us again why we we want to change our flexible 14-19 schools into 11-19 leviathans?
Save Middle Schools - The Blog 
You waste your time with evidence. Once the masters have set the agenda and the apparatchiks have had their minds made up evidence and reality are meaningless. Look how it was engineered in the Isle of White. Did it matter what the people wanted for their children, did all of the evidence against 2-tier matter, did anything count other than narrow selfish advantage?
The masters select the bureaucrats with one aim – to follow their dictates. Not for the people to interfere, not for the money to run out, not for the education to improve. Selfish political advantage is always a good lever to keep those elected in their place. Until the next election!