The word education means leading out. It is a process which provides a student with opportunities to develop in ways which may be unique to that student.
The Conservative government appears to be dazzled by the restrictive vision of PISA. The countries which do well in PISA are largely the ones which practise cramming and repeated rehearsal of PISA-type assessments. PISA does not encourage creativity. The restrictions of EBacc appear to concerned with increasing the UK's position in the PISA rankings.
This is not education, it is schooling. And as is so often in British government activities, criteria adopted are those which are easy to measure not those which actually inform.
About 40 years years ago I knew of a school in a poor catchment area. Its pupils were not all going to excel - the headteacher knew that his outputs (in academic terms) would find it difficult to match those of the other three secondary schools in the area. He tried another approach. He employed a couple of teachers who were specialists in music and drama. The school developed a choir, a jazz band and then an orchestra. They put on concerts and musicals and plays. The headteacher believed that the added value he gave his students was as valuable as academic results.
