Are A-Levels to become mandatory soon?

[LiverpoolStephen]

I heared this a while ago, just wondering if there was any validity in it?

[2getherWeRise]

Originally Posted by LiverpoolStephen

I heared this a while ago, just wondering if there was any validity in it?

Click me

[LiverpoolStephen]

Originally Posted by 2getherWeRise

Click me

I did that beforehand. Look at the results, the only result you will find remotely relevant is the google index for this very thread.

[LiverpoolStephen]

Originally Posted by 2getherWeRise

Click me

I did that beforehand. Look at the results, the only result you will find remotely relevant is the google index for this very thread.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/lif...cle1292132.ece

Dont know if that means a levels or not

[purplestarfish]

A levels becoming mandatory = no. Education up to 18 (so A-levels and other post-16 options ) = maybe by the looks of things.

[Whowhere]

As of this year, Year 7 kids (11-12) have to remain in formal education of *SOME* sort until aged 17. As of September next year 11-12 year olds will have to stay in education until they're 18.

The education will take the form of A-levels, GNVQs, BTECS, Apprenticeships e.t.c.

[katralla]

Or, parents could always choose to educate their children otherwise.

[LiverpoolStephen]

Hmmm,

Seems like a very bad idea to me, we are already - as a nation - grossly overqualified. There simply aren't enough "high skilled" jobs to go around for the number of people qualified to do them, to the point you have people with degrees going for jobs in McDonald's.

Very bad for the economy, this whole idea the government seems to have that everyone should have a degree or form of higher education is completely unrealistic and destroying both the education system's value and the entire economy.

[Meryn]

LiverpoolStephen, I don't think it's as simple as that, I think the training can just as easily be on the job training/CPD as official apprenticeships or whatever, and thus will (or should...) be tailored to both the employee's and employer's needs. Yes, it may be a bit pricy to start with, but in the end the country will end up with a more productive workforce. It does not mean that everybody is supposed to achieve further or higher education, or that everyone is expected to do high skilled jobs, but it doesn't help that the media persist in calling it the raising of the school leaving age when it's not..

Originally Posted by LiverpoolStephen

Hmmm,

Seems like a very bad idea to me, we are already - as a nation - grossly overqualified. There simply aren't enough "high skilled" jobs to go around for the number of people qualified to do them, to the point you have people with degrees going for jobs in McDonald's.

Very bad for the economy, this whole idea the government seems to have that everyone should have a degree or form of higher education is completely unrealistic and destroying both the education system's value and the entire economy.

Tell that to the people on the dole who left school with no qualifications and struggle to get jobs!

[LiverpoolStephen]

Originally Posted by MrG

Tell that to the people on the dole who left school with no qualifications and struggle to get jobs!

You completely miss the point of what I was saying.

A) The education system fails a lot of people in this country, it's function is streamlined toward one particular style of learning, and ultimately one goal. All other facets are pretty much "taped in" to it as inferior alternatives against the "ideal" grain.

B) For those who do reach the top end of education (University), they afterwards find themselves in a job market over saturated with exactly the degree they worked for. Or, they "Require minimum 2 years full time experience in x". They are overqualified for so many jobs, to the point they will not be considered - and when they find one relevant, they are competing against hundreds of other post graduates for just one job. That's after the paper sift. So they go for "lower skilled" jobs out of necessity.

C) And where does that leave those who maybe chose to get out of education earlier. Say, after A-Levels or even GCSE's? There's a cascading effect, these people invariably end up competing with those with degrees for the same job - because there aren't enough "Highly skilled" jobs to facilitate the quantity of people with degrees relevant. Many end up going for jobs that are completely unrelated to what they studied, and these are quite often don't necessitate a degree. Those which stopped before university or A-Level's simply can't effectively compete with those holding a degree, even though those with degrees shouldn't really be going for such jobs in the first place.

D) Not only is this a personal loss for "less qualified" individuals - who quite easily have as much ambition, motivation and as much to offer as their degree seeking counterparts, but want to do it a more practical way. It cost's the country a lot of money in welfare and lost tax income which individuals otherwise would have been productive. All of these issues are interconnected far more deeply than I can effectively convey in a forum post.

The education system is not fit for purpose, the curriculum is really quite pathetic - and is neither effective or cost-effective because it solely geared toward churning out top results in a certain way within the constraint of a flawed measure of success. Some people are not academic, but are highly intelligent and talented in other ways. It leaves so much potential by the wayside and leaves a huge void in potential effective workforce. We are overqualified as a nation, but that's far from the bottom line.