Abstract
The Conservative–Liberal Democrat Coalition Government's reforms to secondary school Performance Tables have changed how schools make decisions about the subjects and qualifications entered by their pupils. The National Pupil Database is used to explore these changes between 2005 and 2014. We find that schools are responding to accountability reforms by changing access to subjects and qualifications for pupils: entry rates for English Baccalaureate qualifications have increased, while those for qualifications no longer counted as a result of the Coalition's response to the Wolf Review have decreased. However, reforms have not yet led to equal access to subjects and qualifications for all pupils.
Highlights
The Conservative–Liberal Democrat Coalition Government will be remembered, both positively and negatively, for its persistent drive for educational reform
The Wolf Review informed the list of qualifications eligible for the 2014 Performance Tables published by the Department for Education in early 2012 (DfE, 2012)
By incentivizing schools to focus on certain types of subjects and certain types of qualifications, the Coalition Government gave a signal to schools about the type of education it valued and the qualifications it prioritized
Summary
The Conservative–Liberal Democrat Coalition Government will be remembered, both positively and negatively, for its persistent drive for educational reform. The recommendations of the Wolf Review of 14–19 vocational education (Wolf, 2011), the introduction of the English Baccalaureate (EBacc), the new Attainment 8 and Progress 8 measures, and reformed GCSEs have altered, and will continue to alter, how the performance of secondary schools is judged and how schools are held accountable They will alter the access pupils have to certain subjects and qualifications, with certain types of pupils (financially disadvantaged; less able; vocationally oriented; interested in creative subjects) more likely to have their access to subjects and qualifications restricted. Recent accountability reforms reflect this preference for a traditionalist curriculum
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