School leaving age to be cut to 14, if former head of Ofsted, Sir Chris Woodhead, gets his way.
The idea behind the proposal is to get students who are less academic to learn a trade rather than stay in the education system.
He said in The Times newswpaper:
“If a child at 14 has mastered basic literacy and numeracy, I would be very happy for that child to leave school and to go into a combination of apprenticeship and further education training and a practical, hands-on, craft-based training that takes them through into a job.”
Sir Chris is opposed to making students study English and maths up to the age of 18, and stated that it would be wrong to make vocational education “quasi-academic”.
He said he is in support of the use of synthetic phonics to boost pupils reading in primary schools; he is against the governments plans for independent schools to sponsor academies.
“The more that the science facilities or the playing fields are used by non fee-paying children, the less they are available for the parents of children who do pay the fees,” he said.
