Examination Reform

Part of Opposition Day — [14th Allotted Day] – in the House of Commons at 3:30 pm on 16 January 2013.

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Photo of Neil Carmichael Neil Carmichael Conservative, Stroud 3:30, 16 January 2013

First, I want to pick up on a point made by Nic Dakin on beliefs and experience. We all have beliefs and some of us have had experience as well. One of my sharpest experiences was that of marking examinations taken by undergraduates who displayed an innate intelligence but not necessarily a huge ability to communicate. We should all think about that during the course of this debate, because it is important that communication skills and mathematics should be embedded as early as possible.

My second point is that there is much more continuity between those on the two Front Benches than might first be supposed. That came to my attention when I was reading Lord Adonis’s recent book on education. He has paved the way for some of the changes that we are continuing—