Radical plans to shake-up the education system for 14-19 year olds have been quashed by government in the run-up to the General Election.

Education secretary Ruth Kelly has decided not to adopt proposals, contained in last year’s Tomlinson Report, to drop A-levels and GCSEs, instead citing the lack of basic literacy and numeracy skills among school leavers as the most pressing problem.

Kelly has promised increased vocational options for pupils who want to leave school at 16. Government policy advisers say that these new options will be flexible enough for the academically able to take as well and will attempt to ‘tackle the institutional snobbery that plagues vocational learning’.

SummitSkills chief executive Keith Marshall said the White Paper was “an opportunity missed.” The Sector Skills Council had hoped to see Mike Tomlinson’s working party’s proposals adopted in full.

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Electrical and Mechanical Contractor