New broom sweeps clean in Coalition Department for Education

The Coalition Government’s new Department for Education has announced a series of radical changes which are likely to have a major impact on education in England and Wales. Not only does the Department have a new name but it has spent little time in announcing a raft of new proposals which are likely to provide schools with greater freedom – the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency is to be closed, a growing number of schools are to be offered the opportunity to become academies, the General Teaching Council is to be scrapped and today the Department announced that state schools were to be permitted to offer their students IGCSEs. Steve Richards, NSUK’s Educational Director stated, “We are delighted that state school pupils are to be offer the same opportunities as our students have enjoyed for many years in being able to study a rigorous qualification that has widespread international appeal. in an increasingly globalised society, this must surely be a good thing.”

In a further positive move today the government announced that the controversial Vetting and Barring Scheme – due to be introduced in July -  has been put on hold. Instead Teresa May, the Home Secretary has said that there will be a review of the entire vetting and barring scheme, with a scaling back to “common-sense levels”.  Many within the home education community will applaud this decision, along with the new government’s plans to  scrap  the ContactPoint children’s database.