Former education secretary says move would make pupils suited to practical courses less likely to drop out of school or college
Thousands more pupils would stay in school past the age of 16 if they took GCSEs two years earlier, the former education secretary Estelle Morris said today.
Morris, who served as education secretary between 2001 and 2002, said it no longer made sense to have a school leaving certificate at the age of 16.
The Labour peer told an education conference that pupils should instead sit tests in a range of subjects at 14. She added that pupils who were more suited to practical courses could then start studying them at 14 and were less likely to drop out of school or college as a result.
Morris, who was a teacher, joins a growing number of educationalists calling for GCSEs at 16 to be abolished.
Prof Alan Smithers, the director of Buckingham University's centre for education and employment research, has described England as "deficient" in not having a clear cut-off point between lower and upper secondary education. He argued that, if pupils sat GCSEs at 14, they would be better able to decide whether to move on to academic or vocational courses.
The coalition has pledged to open technical and vocational colleges in "at least 12 cities" which could have more pupils than the flagship free schools founded by parents and teachers by the next election, according to a report in the Times.
Former education secretary Lord Baker of Dorking, co-founder of the Baker Dearing Educational Trust, said he hoped to open up to 70 technical schools with a focus on engineering and vocational skills. They would cater for between 600 and 800 pupils aged 14-19.
He said there are plans for five to open by autumn, with between 12 and 20 by September next year, to join the one, sponsored by the plant machinery company JCB, which has opened in Staffordshire.
Morris told the North of England education conference in Blackpool: "We have been trying for over a decade not to get children to leave school at 16 … so why are we still running a leaving exam at 16? The Tories aren't going to repeal legislation on staying on until 18, so it makes a nonsense of GCSEs." By 2013, all pupils in England will have to stay in education or training until the end of the school year in which they reach 17. By 2015, they will have to stay on until they are 18.
Morris said vocational courses were mainly constructed for 14- to 19-year-olds. She added that England compared poorly with competitors in the number of pupils taking vocational courses.
Today Labour's shadow education secretary will warn that the government is erecting a "Berlin wall" between vocational and academic qualifications. Andy Burnham will tell the Blackpool conference that the new English Bac would "disengage a generation of young people".
Pupils are to receive a certificate if they achieve a grade C or more in five core subjects.– English, maths, at least one science, a foreign language and a humanities subject. "This will seriously set back the goal of parity between vocational and academic subjects." Burnham will say. "Michael Gove is creating a school system in the mirror image of his own experience, which has little relation to what young people want or what employers are asking for."
He said the government was neglecting the 50% of pupils who did not want to go to university.
The government is conducting a review of vocational education, led by Professor Alison Wolf. It will report this spring.
A spokeswoman from the Department for Education said the government had no plans to scrap GCSEs at age 16. She said the exams remained "an important exam and a key part of a pupil's secondary education". She added: "But we are taking steps to make sure that our qualifications compete on an international level, and that they really do provide young people with the solid basis they need for future study or employment."