A Levels (Hansard, 4 July 1994)

§ The Minister of State, Department for Education (Baroness Blatch)
My Lords, the Government are committed to maintaining GCE A levels and A level standards, and to retaining the fundamental features of the GCE system. GCE A levels are tried, tested and popular. They serve well those for whom they were designed and provide an essential underpinning for higher education. They have a central role to play in the new post-16 qualifications framework, alongside AS qualifications, GNVQs and NVQs.

§ Lord Judd
My Lords, I thank the Minister for that very helpful reply. However, will she agree that in any relevant system of education, education in depth in understanding and the humanities is every bit as important for a strong economy as is functional education, and that we need a balance? Can she indicate how the learning credits would interact with the existing funding mechanisms for schools, sixth form colleges and further education; how and from which budgets they would be funded; which agency or agencies would administer them; and how the value of the credit would be fixed and maintained? Can the Minister also indicate the implications for small sixth forms, to which I know she attaches great importance?

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, the answer to the first part of the noble Lord's question is yes. The second part does not seem to have a great deal to do with the reform of A levels. As the noble Lord knows, local education authorities fund school-based sixth form education, and the Further Education Funding Council funds further education-based 16-plus learning. We have no plans to change that.

§ Lord Boyd-Carpenter
My Lords, is it not very difficult for my noble friend to deal with this enormously important and complex matter within the permitted time of a Starred Question? Is it not a matter for full debate?

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, it is certainly a subject for a longer debate. But the answer as to whether we intend to retain them is unequivocal. The answer is very definitely yes.

§ Baroness Young
My Lords, will my noble friend agree that the high standards that are achieved by those taking the current A level examinations enable the 984 university system to offer a three-year undergraduate course; and that any lowering of the standards might mean that we would require a four-year university course ultimately to reach the same standard?

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, I can give my noble friend a positive answer. She is absolutely right. This is one baby that we must not throw out with the bath water. It is essential that we sustain the standards of A levels. It is also essential that, alongside those, we develop high quality vocational qualifications in order that the abilities, aptitudes and skills of young people may be developed.

§ Lord Judd
My Lords, will the Minister accept that on these Benches we agree that these far-reaching proposals certainly deserve a full debate; and that we believe that they are of such significance that that debate should certainly be in government time? Will the Minister agree that one of the points that we must make clear to the whole world of education is that we are not going to drift into an either/or polarised situation and that we see an essential interrelationship in the whole education system between functional learning and the humanities?

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, whether there should be a debate and when it should take place is of course a matter for people other than the noble Lord and myself. I believe that this Government have done more than any other to make sure that young people are well served through the academic: route and the vocational route, and to help those young people who wish to straddle both and have a mix of both. We aim to make sure that the framework is in place for all young people to pursue wherever their talents take them.

§ Lord Beloff
My Lords, will my noble friend agree that, despite the reference of the noble Lord, Lord Judd, to the humanities, A levels are of equal importance in relation to the natural sciences; and that to maintain the standard of A levels in the separate scientific subjects is a key factor in enabling universities to provide courses in engineering and related subjects?

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, I absolutely agree with my noble friend. Indeed, his point is linked to the one that was made by my noble friend Lady Young.

§ Baroness David
My Lords, can the Minister say why we have had so many reports, like the Higginson Report and the National Commission report, which think that A levels do not give the person taking them a nearly wide enough knowledge?

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, I profoundly disagree with what the noble Baroness said. A single framework would be a melting-pot and would not sustain high standards. We have in place distinct but equally accessible routes from school into further and higher education and the world of work. We have no intention whatever of having a single system of qualifications, and we have every intention of retaining A levels and their standards.