Implications of the English Baccalaureate

When the introduction of the English Baccalaureate was first announced there was a wide range of responses to the way in which schools would be judged in the future. There was fury that the new method would be applied retrospectively, meaing that schools who had achieved highly using the previous measure could now see themselves being slated for not having achieved in the newly specified areas. There was a mixed response from subject associations with some happy to see their subject being recognised as important with others suddenly finding themselves no longer as significant.

Now that the dust has begun to settle on the E-Bacc introduction we’ve been pondering what the medium to long term implications of the move will be.

Staffing – if MFL and Humanities need to be included in the 5 a-c’s there will need to be a shift in the way that many secondary schools have structured their staffing. Some of these subjects have been all but extinct in some Secondary Schools, so there’s likely to be a change in the way that these subjects are viewed and delivered if managers in these schools want to accomplish the requirements for the E-Bacc.

Training – closely linked in with the above. In schools where the ‘E-bacc’ subjects haven’t been performing highly in the past there will be a need to implement training of both staff and pupils. Who is providing this training for these schools? Who has audited the training needs that the ‘E-bacc’ creates?

Perceptions – in many schools in the past the options available have, understandably, pushed pupils towards courses in vocational areas, to subjects worth two or four GCSE passes and to packages that would not hit the criteria that is now being introduced. As a result of this there have become ingrained perceptions about the importance and usefulness of subjects. These influence both pupils and often staff. Now though some of the very subjects that were viewed as less important / useful are suddenly back at the top of the pile: how does a school react to this? How do teachers of subjects that are no longer as significant in terms of league tables react?

Whole School Initiatives – how does the change impact on whole school resourcing issues? Clearly there will be increased expenditure in some areas at the expense of others – but in some cases these changes can have a whole school impact (ICT budgets for example).

We’d like to hear how the E-Bacc is affecting you in your role in schools. How has the change affected the curriculum, the resourcing needs of your staff and the perceptions of you, your colleagues and pupils?

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