52
Learners as a platonic hierarchy
In a nation where the dominant class was educated in the classical tradition of two
ancient universities, it is unsurprising that Plato’s division of the human race into an
intellectual hierarchy should have strongly influenced the views of Victorian policy
makers. It is more difficult to understand why it is still such a powerful element in
English attitudes. This prejudice against the practical may survive within other
countries, but in less explicit form. For example in Germany, applied education has
been regarded as an invaluable accessory to academic GjUalifications within the Dual
System which many countries have attempted, without conspicuous success, to
imitate. Green typifies this and some Scandinavian systems as a “North European”
model in contrast to the “Anglo-Saxon” profile of a labour force with low incentives
to achieve Level 2 and 3 qualifications. (Green 2000) In France, despite entrenched
resistance from teaching unions, the Bac Pro has earned its place as an alternative
route for a significant tranche of French students. (Prost 2000: 22) Yet in England, of
the four strands I have identified, this belief has had - and continues to have - the
greatest influence on the structure of English examinations, with their treatment of
academic and vocational skills as quite distinct.
An early expression of this view can be found in the Taunton Report of 1868.
Established to address concerns about the nation’s skills levels after the Great
Exhibition of 1851 revealed that competitor nations were overtaking the begetter of
the Industrial Revolution, the Schools Inquiry Commission, its official title,
commended a pattern for secondary education:
First-grade schools were to be those which prepared their pupils for university
entry at nineteen years of ages, teaching Greek and Latin. Second-grade
schools were intended for those likely to enter the professions, leaving school at