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Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

My Lords, I have Amendment 271 in this group, which does not really seem to belong with anything that the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, has talked about, most of which I found myself approving of, having been at odds with the Liberal Democrat Benches over a couple of amendments. Even her last amendment, under the scenario she paints in which we would have a curriculum that took only half the time in school, I would approve. However, the idea that it should apply now, when we have a curriculum that takes up 120 per cent of school time? Perish the thought. The purpose of my amendment is to draw attention to the word "coherence". It is not a term defined in art, but it seems to be the opposite of "diversity". It seems to give the QCDA the remit of trying to eliminate any new shoots which may appear and sprout off in unexpected directions, and to remove the diversity in the system. That diversity is in many ways a source of strength to the system. One can find, certainly in independent schools with their broader ability to look at qualifications, a qualification that fits any particular group of learners and replace it with something that requires a focusing-down in which everyone sings the same note. That is what "coherence" means—at least in physics. A "coherent" beam of light does not diverge. There is no diversity and everything sings exactly the same tune all the time. I find that a distressing direction for the QCDA to be given.