Mr Gove believes GCSEs "have
gone beyond the point of rescue", thus has proposed the removal of GCSEs
and a return to O-Level style exams. This means that the proposed changes,
planned to be brought in for pupils from autumn 2014, would amount to the
biggest change to the exams systems for a generation.
GCSEs replaced O-levels and CSEs
in the mid-1980s. Under that system, the more academic teenagers took O-levels
while others took CSEs (Certificates of Secondary Education). Now a similar
system could return, although sources say the names of the new exams are yet to
be decided.
The details are in a leaked document seen by the Daily Mail which
sources say are broadly correct. The leak comes as tens of thousands of
teenagers finish their GCSE and A-level exams.
The plan is for students to begin
studying what the leaked document says will be "tougher" O-level
style exams in English, maths and the sciences from September 2014. They would
take their exams in 2016.
The leaked document also shows
plans for the national curriculum at secondary level to be scrapped altogether,
so that heads would decide what pupils should study. Already, the new academy
schools, which are state-funded but semi-independent, do not have to follow the
national curriculum.
The document also says the
government plans to scrap the traditional benchmark on which secondary schools
in England are measured - the requirement for pupils to get five good GCSEs
(grades A* to C) including maths and English.
Critics of the existing system point to the year-on-year rises in
numbers of pupils scoring top grades, while supporters say teenagers are
working harder than ever and teachers are getting better at preparing them for
exams.
According to the leaked document, the plan is to put the new
proposals out for consultation in the autumn, so it is not definite they will
happen.
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