Ken Boston quits

Ken Boston, the chief executive of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, has resigned ahead of a critical report this week about the problems with this summer's tests. While the problems seemed largely to have been the fault of ETS at the time, one assumes the Sutherland report on Tuesday is also critical of QCA. If so, he is wise to go now rather than face the media pack in full flight later in the week demanding his head.

I had many dealings with Ken Boston over the years, and always respected his no-nonsense Australian manner, even if I worried sometimes that he was getting too close to the teaching unions in his occasional kite-flying. I have no doubt that his contribution to English education will be missed. The system needs serious players like Ken - and it has too few of them.

A balanced curriculum

The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority is today announcing its changes to the National Curriculum for 11-14 year-olds. The QCA has struck a good balance between prescription and flexibility. Flexibility in modern foreign languages fits with the times, given how many specialist language colleges have started teaching Mandarin in the last few years. It is great that cooking (rather than food technology) is back on the curriculum. And a greater emphasis on personal finance should help today's young people manage their household budgets more effectively. As Ken Boston, the QCA chief executive, said on Today this morning, it is also essential that teachers have the time to develop different approaches for able and struggling pupils. But at the heart of the National Curriculum - especially for 11-14 year-olds - there must continue to be a core entitlement in history and geography as well as English, Maths and Science. Alan Johnson ensured that he left that intact for Ed Balls, just as David Blunkett had done in 2000. Personalisation is nothing without purpose.