Universities to get control of A-levels
Gove plans biggest exam shake-up in 30 years
A-LEVELS will be designed by universities under reforms aimed at ending years of political meddling in the exam system.
The biggest shake-up for 30 years will see leading academics deciding the content and format of A-level courses as Whitehall’s influence is stripped away.
Education Secretary Michael Gove has written to the exams watchdog, detailing the reforms to courses starting in 2014. It is hoped that the overhaul will restore rigour to exams, following years of tinkering that have dented public faith in A-levels.
His intervention comes as a study by Cambridge Assessment, which runs the OCR exam board, found that 72 per cent of 633 lecturers questioned – mainly from the Russell and 1994 university groups – have had to adapt their teaching because first-year students are not suitably prepared.
Under the plans, elite universities will publicly endorse Alevels they have been involved in developing and lead post-exam reviews to ensure that standards are maintained. Exam boards will be required to demonstrate that they have consulted academics extensively about subject content, syllabus and the style of questions.
The Department for Education would have no role in deciding the structure and content of A-levels under Mr Gove’s plans, which could also see the end of bite- size modules and the Aslevel, introduced by Labour as a stepping stone to full A-level.
In addition, GCSES may get tougher to prepare students for the revamped exams that follow them.
In his letter to Ofqual, seen by the Daily Mail, Mr Gove said: ‘Leading university academics tell me that A-levels do not prepare students well enough for the demands of an undergraduate degree . . . I would therefore like to see universities having far greater involvement in the design and development of Alevel qualifications than they do at present.’
He said there should be a ‘particular emphasis on our best, research-intensive universities such as those represented by the Russell Group’, adding: ‘This means that government must take a step back in order to allow universities to take a leading role.
‘In future, I do not envisage the Department for Education having a role in the development of A-level qualifications.
‘It is more important that universities are satisfied that A-levels enable young people to start their undergraduate degrees having gained the right knowl-
‘Government must step back’
edge and skills, than that ministers are able to influence content or methods of assessment.’
The changes will affect Alevels in key subjects including English, maths, the sciences and history from September 2014, with final exams taken in the summer of 2016.
Confidence in A-levels has been damaged with repeated reforms, such as the scrapping of final exams in favour of modular courses and multiple resits. Mr Gove said he was concerned that A-level courses split into several modules – which students can keep resitting to bump up their final grade – were hampering children’s ‘deep understanding’. He also questioned the division of A-levels into As-and A2-levels.
The reforms were disclosed as Cambridge Assessment revealed the results of an 18- month study. It found that 60 per cent of universities run remedial classes for first-year students to fill glaring gaps in their subject knowledge and boost essay-writing skills, including basic grammar.
Mark Dawe, OCR’S chief executive, said: ‘The design and content of qualifications has increasingly become the domain of government-funded bodies. One effect of this has been to disenfranchise university lecturers, tutors, and admissions staff.’
The lecturers questioned by Cambridge Assessment called for school exams to contain more advanced material and openended essay-style questions to stretch the brightest students.