School leaders have criticised claims that curriculum changes such as scrapping the EBacc are 鈥渄umbing down鈥 schools, although some point to concerns that it could cause a dip in language take-up. The front-page headline on the review declared 鈥淟abour dumbs down schools鈥, with shadow education secretary Laura Trott accusing ministers of 鈥渆ducation vandalism鈥. They singled out reforms such as scrapping the EBacc, a school accountability measure introduced by Michael Gove in 2010 encouraging pupils to take GCSE English, maths, science, a humanity and a language. But Sir Jon Coles, chief executive of United Learning trust, said those arguing that the review was 鈥渄umbing down鈥 or 鈥渨oke鈥 have 鈥渆ither not yet managed to read the report or are in need of support with their reading comprehension鈥. Hamid Patel He added that public service reform needs to be 鈥渞ational, evidence-based action with a 鈥榗ontinuous improvement鈥 mindset鈥, which governments don鈥檛 often do. Sir Hamid Patel, chief executive at Star Academies, added that the review provided the oppose of 鈥渄umbing down鈥, saying: 鈥淚t is a compelling road map to elevate our education system from good to great.鈥 The Francis review said the EBacc had 鈥渢o some degree unnecessarily constrained students鈥 choices鈥 and limited access to arts and vocational subjects. ‘A deeply retrograde step’ But ex-schools minister Nick Gibb called its removal a 鈥渄eeply retrograde step鈥 which would 鈥渨eaken academic standards鈥 and widen the attainment gap. It would also lead to a 鈥渁 precipitous decline in the study of foreign languages鈥 with them 鈥渋ncreasingly鈥 only studied in private schools among 鈥渃hildren of middle-class parents who can afford tutors鈥. Since the EBacc鈥檚 introduction by the Coalition government in 2010, GCSE language take-up has risen from 40 per cent to 46 per cent, however it has plateaued in recent years. However, the EBacc did halt a previous slide in languages take-up after the previous Labour government made them non-compulsory. For French, German and Spanish, take-up rose from 43 per cent in 2009-10, to 44 per cent last academic year. Nick Gibb Education secretary Bridget Phillipson used these figures to claim the EBacc 鈥渄id not have the outcome that was intended in improving languages take-up鈥. She added a new 鈥渟tepped鈥 languages qualification would 鈥減rovide a useful route鈥 for more pupils to study GCSE languages. But Suzannah Wharf, education director at Education South West, said a strategy to stem the reduction in MFL take-up would be 鈥渟ensible鈥. The government is also replacing the Key stage 2 grammar, punctuation and spelling test with an amended version. It believed that some of the Gove reforms, such as fronted adverbials, often 鈥渓ead to clutters and fussy sentences if not used properly鈥. Gibb said the review was a 鈥渄eeply underwhelming document, low on vision and a slide towards the 鈥榮oft bigotry of low expectations鈥.鈥 Mouhssin Ismail, founding principal of Newham Collegiate, warned that the 鈥渋ll-conceived reforms鈥 threaten to drag England鈥檚 schools back 15 years鈥.