Examination boards may be replaced, says watchdog chief
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.An overhaul of the entire examinations system to rescue it from "breaking point" was demanded by the new head of the Government's exams watchdog yesterday in the wake of the A-level fiasco.
In his first public speech since taking office a month ago, Dr Ken Boston, the new chief executive of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, told its annual conf- erence: "Doing nothing is simply not an option."
He said that scrapping the existing exam boards, replacing them with a single body, and offering the International Baccalaureate alongside A-levels, were being considered.
Dr Boston gave a stark warning that Britain's "currently fragile examination system" could not survive any further crises such as shortage of markers or unmarked scripts. "Where you are marking 24million scripts over a period of three weeks, the reality is the system is close to breaking point," he said.
Ministers had to decide whether "education is best provided by a competitive market" in which exams were set by boards "which compete with each other for business".
If they answered "yes", one option would be to run A-levels and the International Baccalaureate side by side for schools to choose which exam they wanted. If "no", they would have to decide how to regulate the new system.
"It seems to me that all options are on the table and a choice has to be made between them," he said. "In the interests of our young people, doing nothing now is simply not an option – regardless of the question of whether we continue with the A-levels or change eventually to an English baccalaureate."
His call for radical reform was backed by Mike Tomlinson, the head of the independent inquiry set up to invest- igate this summer's A-level crisis. He held out the prospect of a radical change to the school year – with A-levels either being taken earlier in the summer or the university year starting in January.
He said: "We have to seriously consider whether actual A-level results should be the basis for higher education entry rather than predicted grades being the basis for a provisional offer." If either system had been in operation this year, problems over grades and marking would have been sorted out before students started at university.
It also emerged the scope of the second stage of his inquiry is being widened to allow him to consider whether "students are being over-examined". Under the present system, they face three consecutive years of external examinations with GCSE's followed by AS-levels and A-levels.
Dr Boston said the way the QCA operated also had to undergo radical change and that teachers should also be given a bigger role in marking their pupils' work for exams.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments