Sunak plans to scrap A Levels for British Baccalaureate

The Prime Minister intends to reform the current sixth form education system in preference for a ‘British Baccalaureate’.

The British Baccalaureate is a newly proposed form of study in place of A-Levels, which would last three years instead of two. Students would have the opportunity to study a larger breadth of subjects post-GCSE.

This reformation of A-Levels would make the education of mathematics and English compulsory for all, up until the age of eighteen. PM Rishi Sunak has been adamant to see this change since his failed campaign against Liz Truss back in 2022.

He claims that education is the “single most important reason why I came into politics”, for it is the “silver bullet’ that can cut through public policy to truly reform lives .

The think-tank EDSK published a report stating that despite the fact that “A-levels are often described by politicians and commentators as the ‘gold standard’, their longevity cannot hide the fact that this famous qualification brand has never fulfilled its original mission and might have inadvertently made the situation considerably worse.”

Countries such as Germany, Italy and France, lead educational systems that in some ways reflect the proposed British Baccalaureate. Each of these countries’ education systems sees the first language, mathematics and sciences being maintained until the end of sixth form equivalent education.

Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, however, are devolved from English educational laws, and so this decision would not be imposed upon them.

Reception to the proposed changes has been mixed, with retention and recruitment of teaching staff already posing a problem. David Robinson, Director for post-16 and skills at the Education Policy Institute, has stated that this would increase teachers’ workloads, but described the broadening of the curriculum as an “encouraging” step. 

Labour Party leader Keir Starmer critiqued the Prime Minister’s intention, saying “I think many parents hearing this will be saying: look, at the moment we don’t have enough maths teachers in our secondary schools. At the moment many schools are closed or not functioning properly because the roofs might fall in.”

The future of the British Baccalaureate will likely be discussed at the Conservative Party’s Conference in October 2023.

Image from Flickr