The westminster government will pay to train teachers in a hundred schools to offer the International Baccalaureate, the Prime Minister said yesterday.
It will double the number of British schools offering the exam, in which sixth-formers must study both arts and science subjects, and will make it available to teenagers in every English local authority by 2010.
In a speech billed as a farewell to teachers, Mr Blair also said schools should foster in students the softer skills of research and independent thinking which are a feature of both the International and Welsh bac, but are absent from A-levels.
But his final move in nine years of “education, education, education”
reforms came under fire for undermining A-levels.
Mr Blair’s announcement appears to be the final admission that the Curriculum 2000 A-level reforms have not worked.
Prime Minister’s QA pages 14-15
