Exam crisis: Inquiry chief to quiz government officials

The head of the independent inquiry into the A-level fiasco promised yesterday to "keep an open mind" on whether there had been any government interference in the marking of exams.

Mike Tomlinson, a former chief schools inspector, was speaking on the day the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), the Government's exams watchdog, issued a report denying there had been any pressure on exam boards to mark down pupils to avoid grade inflation.

Mr Tomlinson said he would be calling witnesses from the Department for Education and Skills, the exam boards, headteachers' organisations, the QCA and individual examiners.

He added that he would deliver his initial report to Estelle Morris, the Secretary of State for Education, by next Friday.

Mr Tomlinson spoke of the "great sadness" of the situation because it was not just an administrative matter but something that affected young people's lives.

Speaking on the BBC's Today programme, he added: "It is affecting the confidence that people have, that the community at large have with our exam system."

He said there had been an obsession growing "over the past 10 years" with exam results. "The performance of schools has come under much closer scrutiny," he said.

"As a consequence of that, much more of the school's reputation and standing in the community rests upon the performance of the school in national tests if you're in a primary school, and in public examinations if you're in a secondary school. It puts a very high premium on the examination system and the examination system getting it right and getting it right first time for students; that is, giving them the grade that their work deserves and has earned.

"I'm hoping that the inquiry that I will complete later this year will once and for all solve this problem [of confidence in the exam system]. That is a high aspiration, but you've got to aim high."

Mr Tomlinson said the first stage of his inquiry would look at the possibility that grade boundaries set by exam boards had later been altered. "That is a possibility I need to look into," he said. "And if they were, then why?

"Was the change justified and – the crucial question that everyone is asking – was the change, or changes if there were many, brought to bear by pressure from an external source?"

He conceded that the source of that pressure could have been the QCA or ultimately the Department for Education, but he added: "I keep an open mind on that."

The QCA will be sending the results of its investigation to Mr Tomlinson. It claims there is no evidence of any undue pressure being put on exam boards and that one of the reasons for the controversy was that teachers did not understand the way the coursework would be graded by examiners.

Mr Tomlinson's appointment as the head of the team has been welcomed by heads and teachers' organisations.

He is widely credited with restoring credibility to Ofsted, the Government's education standards watchdog, after the controversial reign of Chris Woodhead, who resigned as chief inspector of schools in November 2000.