Would less academically able pupils be better off with a Sixties-style vocational education?
Last year, the documentary series That’ll Teach ‘Em took 30 A-grade GCSE students back to a Fifties grammar school to see how they fared with a strict O-level syllabus. Unsurprisingly, many of those who got starry results in GCSE could not cope with the grammatical rigour and recall of facts involved in O-levels, and failed their exams. Later this month, the series returns and, this time, will take 30 predicted C-, D- and E-grade pupils – 15 boys and 15 girls from comprehensives all over the country – back to a reconstruction of a secondary modern in the Sixties to see how they cope with an old-fashioned vocational education. At the end of the series, the results of the pupils’ exams in woodwork, metalwork and domestic science will be compared with their GCSE results. But the most interesting aspect of the programme will be whether they thrive on learning practical skills in a disciplined environment. For the past 10 days, the pupils have been ensconced in the Sixties wing of the Royal
