A New Vision for Secondary Education

摘要

The way in which secondary education should be divided, if at all, has been the subject of debate for decades. Ever since the late 1930s, the idea that England's secondary schooling should be divided up into different 'streams' has been re-imagined by successive education policymakers. Beginning with the initial tripartite system first touted by the Spens Report of 1938 (grammar, secondary modern, technical), the idea of streaming has had both its supporters and detractors -especially with the introduction of the controversial 11+ examination as a starting point for such streaming. This short volume, edited by Kenneth Baker (former Education Secretary under Margaret Thatcher), provides what its authors see as a potential next step in re-streaming the system, but without - as they see it - the mistakes of past incarnations. The sharpest difference around which the authors unite is that the technical/vocational avenue should not be the least-loved of the streams, but rather a robust, competitive and rigorous option among equals.