Guess which policy in Rishi Sunak’s busy conference speech will never see the light of day. The answer is the “Advanced British Standard”, the exhilaratingly titled successor to the A-level. He promises it will offer more exams, more classroom time, more maths, £600m in extra cost and not arrive for 10 years. It is the HS2 of educational reform.
The reason it will disappear is because it faces Britain’s most reactionary profession, school-teaching. To all proposals of reform, the teachers cry, “Just give us more money.” The National Education Union said Sunak was “out of touch with reality”. The University and College Union accused him of “tinkering round the edges”. The National Association of Head Teachers said he “should be focusing on fixing crises”.
