Vocational education is growing

A Times Educational Supplement study of 164 schools found a falling number of pupils doing GCSE science, languages, history or geography.

Some GNVQ courses are the equivalent of four good GCSE passes in league tables.

Schools say they are not chasing league table positions but are trying to motivate pupils.

'Skewed curriculum'

The research involved detailed GCSE/GNVQ data for 2005 from 104 schools described by the government as the most improved between 2001 and 2004 plus a sample of other schools.

The study suggests that, at five of the seven most improved schools in England last year, no pupils passed double science GCSE at C or better.

At nine of the 104 schools no pupils got even a C in history, while the same was true in some schools for geography and languages, the TES reports.

Of the top seven listed schools, the average figure for pupils achieving a C or better in double science GCSE was 8%; in at least one European language, 9%; in history, 6%; and in geography, 5%.

The TES data also confirm the BBC's revelation last October that many of the "most improved" schools are doing badly in the core subjects of English and maths - the new benchmark ministers are introducing for league tables.

Opportunities

John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: "This shows very clearly how league tables have skewed the curriculum."

Popular GNVQ courses are counted as the equivalent of four good GCSEs in the league tables.

Every year, the government publishes figures for how many children at particular schools achieve five good GCSEs (i.e. from grade A* to C) or equivalent vocational qualifications.

This information is used by the media and organisations to rank schools into league tables.

At the North school, a secondary modern in Kent named as one of England's two most improved schools, no pupil achieved a C or better in double GCSE science.

No one took GCSE science at the other first-placed school, Sir John Cass, in Tower Hamlets, east London.

Professor Alan Smithers, of Buckingham University, said GNVQs were not valued by employers and were therefore of little use to their pupils.

"How is a pupil who wants to be a doctor or a physicist to pursue that career if they are not offered the chance to study academic science at school?" he said.

Motivational tool

Some of the schools involved said by offering pupils the chance to do GNVQs, they had boosted their confidence and motivated them in their work generally.

Simon Murphy, head of the North School in Ashford, Kent, said: "In the past, our students were used to being thought of as perhaps towards the bottom of the pile. What I wanted to do was to prove to them they could be successful.

"By giving our students one or two GNVQ courses in which they have been successful, we have had a net positive effect on their learning elsewhere, including English and maths."

The research was based on material given to the Times Educational Supplement under the Freedom of Information Act, of detailed GCSE/GNVQ results for 2005 from the government's list of the 104 most improved schools in 2001-4, plus a control group of 60 schools.

Responses were received from 135 secondaries overall. The TES compiled the data with Roger Titcombe, a retired head, and statistician Roger Davies.