The A-level results show that Michael Gove's education reforms were the right move

The A-level exam has often been called the “gold standard”, recognised here and abroad as a reliable measure of academic achievement. If so, then the currency has recently witnessed a modest but significant revaluation, and one that, on balance, should be welcomed.

Like a good A-level essay, it’s only right to set out the arguments in a balanced fashion. The reforms to 13 subjects brought in by Michael Gove when he was Education Secretary have changed the nature of study. The old system whereby AS-levels, coursework and re-taken modules could be put towards an A-level pass has been abolished (in England – the other nations of the UK vary somewhat).

Now the A-level, at least in English, history and the sciences, has been reset to where it began some decades ago. The process is now two years of study and then exams at the end of it.

Of course there is valid criticism of this method of teaching, both in terms of the outcomes and the substance of it. It is said, slightly mysteriously, for example that boys are more suited to the type of last-minute cramming that such exams can encourage, whereas female students are likely to apply themselves more evenly over the whole course. It is also true that relying purely on a few exam papers at the end of a course can produce perverse results, tending to favour those with good short-term memories and who happen not to have had any emotional or health distractions on exam day.

On the other hand, modules and coursework in an internet age were prone to a certain amount of cheating. There is no such thing as a perfect exam system, but a linear course with exams at the end best tests the ability to marshal acts and arguments in order to make a case, to analyse a problem and to demonstrate creative as well as conventional thinking and knowledge.

It is, in other words, best suited to assessing students for university and the modern world of work.

The shifting around of the gender balance does not detract from the truth that every reform in education and exams will produce “winners” and “losers”, but that is no reason to leave things preserved in aspic.

It is interesting, aside from the bigger trends, that so many more teenagers wish to study computing and politics, subjects that have become more fashionable in recent years, as well as touching young lives more sharply. Distressingly, though, there is no sign of the British reversing their notorious aversion to learning a foreign language. Level entries in French and German are down by a quarter in five years, from a low base, and the applications for modern language courses at universities are also down. Devoted internationalists and pro-European Union as so many young people genuinely are, and politically aware with it, they do not yet seem to have shaken off some rather insular British habits. A good subject for analysis in a school project over the summer holidays.