Is it time for England to kill off A-levels?
Its school-leavers are worryingly innumerate
Mick jagger is the best-known alumnus of Dartford Grammar, a secondary school in Kent. Yet the front-man of the Rolling Stones is not its only claim to fame. Dartford is among a tiny bunch of English state schools that decline to enter sixth-form students for A-levels. Instead pupils follow courses set by International Baccalaureate, an exam board headquartered in Switzerland. They study six subjects, when most of their peers usually take only three; these must include maths, English and a foreign language. “We’re not just preparing students for university,” says Julian Metcalf, the head teacher, “but for another 60 years of life beyond that.”
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “BACC to the future”
Britain November 19th 2022
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- An interview with Britain’s shadow chancellor
- A tentative reset of Britain’s relationship with France
- A pilot scheme to trail the four-day workweek in Britain
- Is it time for England to kill off A-levels?
- Britain changes tack in its treatment of trans-identifying children
- Who speaks for the Great British Lad?
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