GORDON Brown said yesterday that 40 per cent of young people will require degree-level qualifications by 2020 if Britain is to prosper in a global economy.
It is difficult to see how this necessary objective can be met when the substance behind the latest GCSE results is carefully analysed.
Even though 16-year-olds passed these exams in record numbers, and those who matched or exceeded their expectat
ions deserve to be congratulated, this should not mask the fact that more than half of the pupils concerned failed to obtain five passes at grade C or above which included the core skills of English and maths.
If youngsters cannot get the basics right in their formative years, it will be almost impossible for the Prime Minister to achieve his degree target unless there is a sea change in the Government's approach.
Rather than constantly meddling, in part to mask their own policy failings, Ministers need to prioritise the teaching of the key subjects and instruct the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority to introduce proper academic rigour to the exams process if GCSE, A-level or degree passes are to be valued in the future.
This challenge may not be welcomed by those schools and LEAs in this region that continue to struggle at the foot of the national league tables for pass-rates and truancy.
Change cannot happen overnight, a point highlighted by the fact that Yorkshire's four city academies, specifically created by the Government to raise standards, are named among the worst 200 schools in the country.
Improvements have to be sustained and the skills drive has to start from the moment youngsters attend primary school for the first time.
This will not happen, however, if Ministers fail to address issues such as red-tape or the soaring number of immigrant children who are unable to speak English when they enter secondary school. This has seen teachers request the removal of 2,000 non-English speaking students from the latest data.
If the pupils are in this country legitimately, and many indeed hail from Eastern European families who have taken advantage of EU freedom of movement laws, schools are going to require considerable resources to help these youngsters master the language.
For, as the Government freely admits, language remains the biggest obstacle to integration and this new trend cannot be ignored if young people from all backgrounds are to succeed rather than become an economic and social burden on the country.
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