FE groups across the sector have condemned education secretary Michael Gove’s proposal to overhaul A-levels.
Mr Gove said from 2015 pupils will take exams at the end of two-year courses with AS-levels remaining but as stand-alone exams. A group of leading universities will play a bigger role in maintaining standards.
But various teaching associations and unions have rejected his proposals, with the University and College Union (UCU) saying it “entrenched elitism” into the education system making A levels “simply about university entrance”.
UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: “In the absence of good alternative qualifications young people will feel they have to continue with A-levels and many will fail.
“The secretary of state appears driven to replicate his own schooldays for all. While that era and set of qualifications may have suited him very well, they will not satisfy the varied needs of today’s pupils.”
Motivations for the move emerged in a letter to exam regulator Ofqual. Mr Gove said A-levels in their current form did not help students to develop a “deep understanding” of their subjects. Instead modular units will be scrapped, with the qualification returning to exams taken at the end of a two-year course.
Julian Gravatt, assistant chief executive of the Association of Colleges (AoC), said in FE and sixth form colleges there was “overwhelming support” for the retention of an AS/A2 structure because of the role that AS levels have in “bridging the gap” from GCSEs and in informing university admissions officers and employers.
The Department for Education has given Ofqual and awarding organisations an extra year to develop the new A-level qualifications but AoC said they were “concerned” that there appeared to be a plan to introduce new subjects in stages which “will cause confusion for students” starting sixth form in 2015.
Mr Gravatt added: “There is a question of whether the department will be providing sufficient funding to enable schools and colleges to teach a broader, harder set of qualifications.”
Toni Fazaeli, chief executive of The Institute for Learning (IfL) said: “We are concerned about reforms that remove the freedom for professional teachers to exercise their judgement about the most appropriate form of assessment for their learners, which will differ by subject.”
IfL also said they feared exams at the end of two years, without modular assessment or the ability to retake assessments, would “narrow participation” at A level and have a “damaging effect” on learner retention and achievement.
“What flexibility will there be for those who have missed periods of education through difficult circumstances – illness, disability or caring for a family member?”
Brian Lightman of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) said: “This is a classic case of fixing something that isn’t broken.”
Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers & Lecturers (ATL), said: “Michael Gove misses the point that only a very elite group of students benefited from an intensive regime that determined their future on the results of one set of exams.”
I completely agree that a return to one off, end of 2yr course exams is a big mistake. It reflects the narrow view of many elitist, successful people that what worked for them must work for everyone which no realisation that not everyone has had the same priviledged set of circumstances. Many students experience difficulties of one sort or another either during their course or, having worked hard for 2yrs, on the day of the exam. Students with difficult backgrounds are more likely to have problems and students from more priviledged backgrounds are more likely to be given extra exam tuition. Furthermore, modular courses with coursework and continuous assessment as well as exams are a more accurate reflection of a student’s long term abilities and how they will perform both in work and on university courses where the majority assess students in this way and have done for a long time.
I find it interesting that Gove, who is Scottish, is denigrating a system which is analagous to the long standing and highly regarded system in Scotland. The AS level, is similar to the gold standard exam in Scotland, the Scottish Higher, which is taken after one year of study and is used as an entry qualification to university. It has always been a feature of education in Scotland that you aim to do 5 Highers across a range of subjects so as not to limit your future choices at university and pupils normally do a range of arts and science subjects. If you get your grades for uni, you can go. alternatively, you can stay for a further year and do more subjects, or repeat to upgrade poor grades, or go further in your subject with advanced Highers. The latter option is by far, traditionally, the least favoured amongst pupils. So a one year qualification is deemed the standard in Scotland, but is somehow not good enough in England. The difference, of course, is that Scots spend an extra year at university, where the first year covers some of what you would have done in an A-level or advanced higher, thus those pupils with A-level or advanced Higher would find first year at uni an easier (though not easy) ride. The AS system was introduced to provide a breadth of education, and to save pupils wasting two years on a subject they are destined to fail rather than finding out after one year that it’s not for them. Is there another exam later in life in which you have to spend two years working before you can change your mind? even at university you sit exams every year. Are there any professional exams where you sit exams after two or more years without any intermediate assessment?