new technology of computer: Gove sets schools new GCSE target

Friday, June 17, 2011

Gove sets schools new GCSE target

Secondary schools in England are to be given new exam targets

Secondary schools in England are to be set a more ambitious target of securing five good GCSE passes for at least half of their pupils.

Education Secretary Michael Gove will make the announcement in a speech in Birmingham on Thursday.

Mr Gove will also reject accusations from Labour that his academies programme is solely focused on successful schools.

He wants to end what he claims is a low expectations culture in some schools.

At present a school is assessed as under-performing if fewer than 35% of pupils get five good GCSEs including maths and English.

But Mr Gove believes the bar should be raised to 50% by 2015.

Last year 870 out of the 3,000 secondary schools in England fell short of that benchmark.

This new target would require the worst-performing secondaries to bring their results up to the level currently achieved by the average school.

Those which fail could be taken over by a successful neighbouring academy, a policy introduced under the last Labour government.

Mr Gove will argue Britain and the rest of Europe need to accelerate the pace of educational improvement to compete with successful economies, especially in Asia.

He is expected to propose raising the benchmark to 40% in the 2012-13 academic year and to 50% by 2015.

The Guardian newspaper reports Mr Gove's interest in educational performance in Singapore, where 80% of pupils already achieve at least grade C in English and maths at 16, compared to 50% in the UK.

The paper also says he will announce plans to turn 88 struggling schools - including 73 secondaries and 13 primaries - into academies over the next two years.

This article is from the BBC News website. ? British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.