Michael Gove's GCSE plans are a cap on aspiration | Stephen Twigg

We need to encourage entrepreneurship and creativity, and not the students are divided into 14 and we refer to a nostalgic vision of the past

I am at heart a reformer. I want to see rigorous testing on our systems, so they can be among the best in the world. But it must not be at the expense of leaving a train.

We need an education system that prepares youth for the demands of the modern economy, and gives them the ability to cope with the pressures of modern society.

Instead, Michael Gove intends to go back and replace the old system with GCSE CSE and O-levels, abolished by Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s to be updated . I share the concerns of Graham Stuart, the Conservative chairman of the Special Committee on the Reform of education Gove said: "We are preparing a policy that seems to be more focused on brighter children ... and not focus the central problem that we do a better job of children in the background. "

A realization that I'm most proud of is the way the work has reduced the achievement gap between rich and poor in the office, according to the Financial Times analysis (

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). Ah, it's just "Mickey Mouse" courses and "dumbing down", say the cynics. However, the analysis focused on the basic skills that GCSE science, modern languages, mathematics, English, history and geography - and number crunchers stripped of the effects of grade inflation. The result has been a sustained improvement in outcomes for children in the poorest neighborhoods.

What was the cause? Was certainly not change the examination system, a measure of production, but the contributions of more investment, more teachers and better and greater freedom for schools to innovate.

Michael Gove said that young people are testing this week are "sunk", something that will undoubtedly enrage and demoralize many students, parents and teachers. Are also baffled by the chaotic way the announcement was made, with the Deputy Prime Minister condemns changes moments after the education secretary has defended the House of Commons.

Gove

solution is to return in the future. But the O-level and CSE was designed more than half a century earlier, when we live in a society completely different, with more unskilled jobs where children are separated into primary schools and secondary modern schools. Separation of a totally arbitrary 75% of students in other risk 25% of children are divided into winners and losers, at the age of 14 years. This is simply a limit to the suction and an obstacle to social mobility.

Alan Milburn, in his work advising the government stated that "the main reason why social mobility has stagnated over the last 30 years is that there has been another important change in the market work: the advent of a more knowledge-based, where there is an emphasis on skills and training, and if you are someone who get into the inner circle, if not constant insecurity, low wages and poverty endemic. "

The number of jobs that require no qualifications in the UK economy has fallen by a third - from 2002 to 2008, the UK has lost 400 unskilled jobs daily. It is like riding an escalator. We need to increase the speed at which our students to improve their skills to cope with the rapidly changing labor market.

• business leaders have told me regularly. Yes, they are frustrated by the basic standards in French and mathematics among young school leavers. But how to improve through greater choice and segregation, but improving the quality of education and to give young people the opportunity to get additional courses in English and math exams after 16 years as Professor Alison Wolf says in his criticism of the government.
• There is strong evidence that weaknesses employer groups key to our school leavers are poor resilience, presentation skills and the lack of low skills. That's why I said "speaking" should be a priority for all schools in the state, as they are in many private schools.

"open to ways to improve GCSE. And rigorous, examination reform should focus on the assessment of critical thinking and teamwork. We need to encourage entrepreneurship and creativity, we create the jobs of the future, do not return to a nostalgic vision of the past.

Think about your own job - how he is spitting on the facts, and to what extent is the problem-solving and effective communication? Yes, parents want their children to have a solid understanding of basic principles. But they also want their children to have the ability to think critically and intelligently, in a way that allows them to solve problems and develop a rewarding career.

These changes will improve the learning of all children in all schools. There is evidence to suggest that the CST - Ken Baker called a "worthless piece of paper" will be taken disproportionately by poorer students and those living in the north

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