Schools' push on vocational subjects attacked

Too many pupils are being encouraged to take up vocational subjects to boost school league table rankings, a Black Country MP has claimed.

Margot James called for longer school hours and attacked what she described as an "obsession" with league tables during a parliamentary debate on performance in education.

The Stourbridge MP said far more effort was being applied to help struggling pupils than stretching the more academically gifted.

She warned with a growing number of pupils choosing vocational BTEC courses, the number studying for academic qualifications was falling.

In Stourbridge, she said, just 25 per cent of students now take history at GCSE level, and fewer than 20 per cent take geography.