29 June 2007
Schools in England should be set a target of 80% of pupils achieving five good GCSEs by 2020 to improve social mobility rates, a minister claimed this week.
But teaching leaders warned schools standards minister Lord Adonis not to set 'impossible' benchmarks.
Speaking on June 25, Adonis said: 'The social and economic imperative of the next two decades to boost social mobility is to… create an education system where 80% and more succeed.'
He said that the only way to improve social mobility rates was to close the gap between the best and worst schools.
Currently, 59% of school leavers gain five A*–C grade GCSEs. Adonis said that the creation of a firm target to improve that level was 'right, realistic and realisable with the necessary reform and investment'. But attainment rates would need to improve faster than they have done under Labour so far to meet an 80% target by 2020.
The National Union of Teachers, which has lobbied against an extension of education targets, said any future benchmark must be realistic. A spokeswoman told Public Finance: 'Often targets are pulled out of thin air without discussing them with schools. There is nothing wrong with having an aim, but a target with a date has to be realistic and not an impossible dream.'
Adonis's comments followed the publication of research commissioned by the Sutton Trust education charity, which indicates that government policies have done little to give poorer children the chance to improve their quality of life.
The decline in social mobility seen during the 1970s and 1980s had flattened off, the report by the London School of Economics found. Researchers reported that the UK came bottom of a social mobility table of developed countries.
Sir Peter Lampl, the Sutton Trust's chair, called for the establishment of a cross-party commission to tackle the issue. The problem, he claimed, 'goes beyond party politics'.
Meanwhile, children's minister Beverley Hughes has released a Department for Education and Skills report which shows that the percentage of children staying behind after school and achieving five or more A*–C grades at GCSE level increased by 5% last year. This compares with an average national increase of 2.5%.
PFjun2007
