The Observer had this today, 29th August:

Charles Clarke, the Education Secretary, has called for traditional school standards to be protected through a renewed focus on grammar, spelling and algebra.

'We do need to be eternally vigilant that, at all levels, standards are constantly maintained or raised, and that extends to "traditional" standards, such as grammar, spelling and algebra, just as much as any other,' he writes. ....

The Education Secretary, who was furious at the recent decision by the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance exam board (AQA) to drop Greek and Latin from its syllabus, also uses his article to take a clear sideswipe at the decision.

'We do need to nurture "traditional" areas of study like the classical civilisations and their languages, rather than letting them fade away,' writes Clarke, who was angered by the AQA's failure to consult before dropping the subjects and their refusal to reinstate the exams.

Read Charles Clarke's piece here.

Thinking back to the furore over Charles Clarke's statements on Latin and Greek a year ago, we may be thankful for this seeming change of heart. He did back-track fairly rapidly last year in face of the storm of protest, and it looks as though his original remark, to the effect that he wouldn't mind if Classics disappeared from our schools, did not represent his considered views. I hope not, anyhow.

The question of AQA's infamous decision to drop Latin and Greek exams remains, and I have read that Archaeology has been even worse served, because AQA offers the only GCSE in that subject, and is dropping it.

Can it be right that private companies should effectively be able to dictate educational policy? As long as GCSE and A levels are the only officially recognised academic qualifications in this country, and as long as the examining boards are free to decide which subjects they will and will not examine, it is they rather than the government who are dictating the limits of the curriculum. This cannot be right. The government body appointed to supervise the boards says it can do nothing. I call for a change in the law. It is as if the police forces of the country were given power to decide which laws they chose to enforce. One police authority might decide: "It is too expensive to arrest rapists, so we shall concentrate on other criminals and let rapists go unpunished."