A major week for schools, but the most significant reform has attracted the least interest.

A major week for schools, but the most significant reform has attracted the least interest.
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To say this has been a momentous week for English schools, teachers and pupils would be an understatement.

Newspapers and blogs have been electric with news of education secretary Michael Gove's now famous u-turn over the planned GCSE replacements, the English Baccalaureate Certificates (EBCs), the overhauled national curriculum and new school league tables.

The first has been of greatest interest to the national media and the second is now gaining headlines. However, it is the third that is perhaps most significant for schools, in the humble opinion of the TES's Big Ed Blog.

A more progressive accountability measure that removes the obsession with the current benchmark of 5 good GCSEs (including English and maths) would actually be welcomed by many in the world of education. Many hope it will see the end of schools' often myopic fixation on the C/D grade boundary.

In fact, we are far from certain that the so-called EBC u-turn is a u-turn at all, arguing that much of that was expected from EBCs can now be found in Mr Gove's reformed GCSEs. This includes cliff-edge exams, the eradication of coursework and the end of modular courses.

These analyses, together with expert commentary on the detail of the new National Curriculum, is all there on the Big Ed Blog. You wouldn't want to miss it.