The government proposes to introduce greater flexibility into the curriculum for 14-19 year olds under reforms announced by School Standards Minister David Miliband.
This will mean an opportunity for all pupils to have choices beyond the range of subjects in the National Curriculum.
In a conference speech Mr Miliband said upper secondary education in England historically had suffered from a weak vocational offer and a narrow academic track which resulted in a system "marked by barriers to learning". The new greater flexibility would mean a range of vocational options.
Mr Miliband said:
"I have never understood vocational to mean second class. Medicine is not second class, law isn’t second class, music isn’t second class, engineering isn’t second class; but in England we have allowed vocational studies to have second class status. This has to change. We need to develop confidence in our society that vocational learning can and does lead to good, skilled, and well paid jobs.
"Part of that is the label. ‘Academic’ and ‘vocational’ do not do justice to the courses being studied. That is why I prefer to talk of general education and specialist study."
The proposals include developing new hybrid GCSEs to include general and specialist options and there will be work-related learning and enterprise learning for all young people.
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