The Secretary of State for English Education, Scotsman, Michael Gove, has, it seems from this report, formally recognised that uniform educational standards and exam boards, etc., cannot be maintained across the various nations of the “United Kingdom”.
(This is the same Scot who, despite representing an English Parliamentary seat, said in February last year:- "When some of my colleagues say we need to re-visit the West Lothian Question or we need to have a new settlement that is fairer to people in England, I say 'no, remember the bigger picture'.")
The article below is interesting as an instance of the institutional collapse of the concept of Britishness and recognition of the fact by the principal mouthpiece of Britishness and also
one of its most self interested cheerleaders.
England's exam changes have not been accepted in Wales and Northern Ireland.
The education minister in Wales, Leighton Andrews, says Wales will not give up the GCSE brand for exams.
"The time is right for us to acknowledge the three-country regulation of GCSEs and A-levels is no longer an objective towards which we should be working," wrote Mr Gove.
He also raised the question of what such separated qualifications should be called - saying that the "titling issue" of different types of A-level and GCSE needed to be resolved.
Mr Gove also indicated last week that the grading of exams could be changed in England, moving away from the grading by letters - such as A*, A, B, C - and adopting a numerical ranking of 1,2,3 and so on.
Mr Gove, who met Leighton Andrews and Northern Ireland's education minister John O'Dowd last week, said the changes would mean "very different qualifications".
The mutual agreement over qualifications had already been strained - with divided views over last summer's disputed GCSE English results.
And there had been complaints that Wales and Northern Ireland had not been included in decisions about changing exams in England.
But instead of resolving such tensions, it now seems that Mr Gove believes the paths are dividing in a way that cannot be bridged.
"That is a natural and legitimate consequence of devolution," says Mr Gove's letter.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-22609674
As people become more aware of what is happening, the value that they place on the Union of the United Kingdom will, I suspect, decline still further.
As long ago as 2011 the pollsters, Com Res were reporting that 36% of people in England supported English independence regardless of what happens in Scotland. That figure will certainly be considerably greater now.
Below is the article.
What do you think?
UK shared exam system faces break up
The shared A-level and GCSE
system for England, Wales and Northern Ireland has taken a significant step
towards being broken up.
Education Secretary Michael Gove has written to education ministers in
Wales and Northern Ireland saying the joint exam system no longer has a
future.England's exam changes have not been accepted in Wales and Northern Ireland.
The education minister in Wales, Leighton Andrews, says Wales will not give up the GCSE brand for exams.
"The time is right for us to acknowledge the three-country regulation of GCSEs and A-levels is no longer an objective towards which we should be working," wrote Mr Gove.
He also raised the question of what such separated qualifications should be called - saying that the "titling issue" of different types of A-level and GCSE needed to be resolved.
Mr Gove said he had received advice from England's
exam regulator Ofqual saying that it will be "very difficult, if not impossible,
to maintain comparable standards when the structure, content and even grading of
these qualifications are diverging to such an extent".
Changes to A-levels and GCSEs in England, such as scrapping the modular
structure and proposed changes to subject content, are not being followed by the
devolved education systems in Wales and Northern Ireland.Mr Gove also indicated last week that the grading of exams could be changed in England, moving away from the grading by letters - such as A*, A, B, C - and adopting a numerical ranking of 1,2,3 and so on.
Mr Gove, who met Leighton Andrews and Northern Ireland's education minister John O'Dowd last week, said the changes would mean "very different qualifications".
The mutual agreement over qualifications had already been strained - with divided views over last summer's disputed GCSE English results.
And there had been complaints that Wales and Northern Ireland had not been included in decisions about changing exams in England.
But instead of resolving such tensions, it now seems that Mr Gove believes the paths are dividing in a way that cannot be bridged.
"That is a natural and legitimate consequence of devolution," says Mr Gove's letter.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-22609674
