Barny Sandow, Head of School, ACS Cobham
No child at the age of 15 knows exactly what they’re going to be doing when they’re 30. By restricting young people to just three subject options post-16, with often no requirement for extra-curricular activity, the UK national curriculum is forcing them to decide; closing doors and driving them down unnecessarily narrow pathways.
As a result, we have fostered this high-stakes environment where, during Year 11, students are making future critical decisions which is, quite frankly, unconducive to helping them to develop all of the qualities they need to succeed in the world of work and in their wider lives. Whatever field of work young people end up going into, they’re going to need a wide range of skills. They could be the best scientist in the world, but if they cannot communicate and sell their research, they won’t get the funding to move forward with it.
Equally, a student could be an incredible poet but if they haven’t got fundamental mathematical ability to manage their expenses, then they’re going to flounder in adult life.
When students will, undoubtedly, need a wide range of skills and knowledge to navigate work and life, why are we limiting them to just three subjects at A Level?
To study medicine at university, it is typical that young people will have studied three sciences at A Level, but what about all of the other fundamental capabilities doctors need to care for their patients? Doctors are required to have the most challenging conversations imaginable with people in their care and, I believe, that the empathy and communications skills they would gain from a study of literature or drama would help them to understand the emotional baggage that people carry and would enable them to empathise with their patient’s journey.
By forcing young people to study just three subjects at A Level, the system is denying them the opportunities to develop wider skills, and wasting the opportunity to build a better, more resilient future workforce.
Adopting a broad approach that gives students the option to explore a wide range of topics in further education is essential for helping young people to prepare for whatever field of work they decide to dive into. The ACS High School Diploma ensures that all students have to gain credits from across the academic spectrum that means they are ready for the world that awaits them. In the IB’s Diploma Programme (DP), students take six subjects over the two year course – three at higher level and three at standard level. Each subject must be chosen from across the six subject groups which enable students to: learn another language; delve deeper into literature; discover more about society and human impact; ask how things happen through science and mathematics; and, most important of all, nurture their creativity.
In addition, in order to graduate from the programme, students are required to complete an extended dissertation-style essay, a course on the ‘theory of knowledge’, which challenges students to ask how they know what they know, a critical skill in today's world of fake news and alternative truths, as well as a community-focussed project, providing students with multiple opportunities to develop a holistic range of skills and experiences.
While some might question how students can quite possibly achieve the same level of depth in a subject while studying such a breadth, UCAS provides roughly the same number of points for a DP higher level subject as it does for an A Level. So, DP students are achieving equivalent to three A Levels, plus three additional subjects at standard level, plus developing even more skills with the additional requirements. The DP is challenging, you cannot deny that, but throughout my career I’ve seen so many students from a wide range of backgrounds and abilities work through it and come out the other side as well-rounded individuals who are able to hold a conversation and see things from different perspectives.
Similarly, the UCAS points achieved by a strong set of APs rapidly overtake the scores that A Level students are able to achieve. The AP courses are nailed down in one year giving each student a clear picture of where they are and what needs to be done next in order to get to their Higher Education destination of choice. The three subjects that students study at A Level are academically sound, but by not having the opportunity to explore any of the ‘plus’ options provided by the IB or AP, students are being held back from reaching their full potential and this is directly demonstrated in how they perform at university.
Research conducted by ACS over 12 years, which compares the IB to A Levels, shows that the DP is consistently rated by university admissions officers as the qualification that best prepared students to thrive at university. An example of this in practice, for IB students’ extended essays, they are required to conduct research into an ethical area which they are passionate about and write an in-depth, fully-referenced 3,000-word essay on the topic. As a result, when IB students arrive at university interviews, they are armed with a project that clearly says ‘I’m ready’. To develop good citizens, ready for university and the world of work, we need to go beyond the constraints of three A Level subjects. Good schools and colleges across the country are realising this fact and are either bolstering their A Level offering with additional ‘plus’ options or changing curriculum entirely.
The UK system doesn’t work, so at ACS Cobham we don’t offer it. How long will it take the UK government to realise this and rethink its provision?
