The validation game

In 1974, not long before the second General Election of that year, there arrived on my desk in the Department of Education & Science — I was then Minister of State — the Reports of the Gann Committee on Technician Courses in Art and Design, and of the Hudson Committee on Agricultural Education. I scanned them quickly. It was clear enough to me that one of the major problems posed by each was that of the establishment of appropriate validation machinery in each area. I set out my views briefly, and referred the Reports to the Department.