Government to blame for A-level fiasco, rules inquiry

The Government and its exams watchdog were responsible for last summer's A-level fiasco, a damning report by an all-party committee of MPs has concluded.

Ministers ignored their own advisers at the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) and insisted that new exams were introduced without a pilot scheme. This decision to rush the introduction of the A2 exams ­ the second part of the new-style A-levels ­ was the single biggest factor in last summer's crisis, when nearly 2,000 students were awarded the wrong grades, the House of Commons Education and Skills Select Committee said in its report yesterday. The crisis led to the sacking of Sir William Stubbs, the chairman of the QCA, by Estelle Morris. She later resigned as Secretary of State for Education.

Schools complained that students' A-level grades had been lowered by exam boards anxious to prevent claims that the exam was getting easier. An inquiry by Mike Tomlinson, a former chief schools inspector, found that grades in 18 AS and A2 units had been unfairly lowered.

The report called for the QCA to become independent of the Department for Education and Skills and instead to report directly to Parliament, a recommendation Sir William had put to the select committee as part of his evidence last autumn. Last night he said: "I am pleased that the committee has accepted my recommendation that the QCA should be made independent."

The report also concluded that the Oxford and Cambridge and RSA board (OCR) ­ at the centre of the row ­ had felt pressured into suppressing "grade inflation" by the QCA. It stated that the authority had been pushed by the DfES to rush to introduce the exams without adequate trials.

"The DfES should make greater use of the wealth of expertise within the QCA; if it had accepted guidance and allowed the A2 exams to have been piloted, this report would almost certainly not have been necessary," the report said.

The rushed introduction of the A-level reforms, known as Curriculum 2000, meant that the exam boards had not received detailed guidance from the QCA on the standard at which the exam should be set. This led to one board, OCR, interpreting it differently.

"On the evidence presented, we conclude that the events of last summer were not caused by the manipulation of the examination system but by confusion arising from the introduction of the A2 exam without adequate trials," the report concluded.

Barry Sheerman, the Labour MP and chairman of the committee, said he believed the chronic over-testing of pupils had added to the problems. Many pupils faced unacceptable pressures. "The pendulum has probably swung too far towards testing. We should swing back a little ... towards allowing schools to set up more informal testing arrangements," he said.

The report rejected moves to scrap the A-level in favour of a French-style baccalaureate, arguing that schools needed a "period of stability".

Any discussions on the long-term future of the A-level system should be undertaken carefully so that the current qualifications were not undermined in the eyes of students, teachers and employers. "We reject a knee-jerk change to the curriculum," it said. "The time and money invested in implementing Curriculum 2000 must not be wasted."

The committee also rejected calls for the three English exam boards to be merged to form a single board, saying that evi-dence suggested schools appreciated the diversity offered by three boards.

John Dunford, general secretary of the Secondary Heads Association, welcomed the recommendation that the QCA should become independent of the DfES. "Many of the present problems of our curriculum and assessment systems can be traced to the lack of independence of the QCA from the DfES over the last few years," he said.

Comulsory testing of pupils

Four or five: Compulsory assessment – known as the foundation stage profile – provides a picture of the child's progress. No tests. Teachers build the profile.

Seven: Key Stage 1 national tests taken in reading, writing (including handwriting), spelling and maths.

Eleven: Tests in reading, writing (including handwriting), spelling, maths, mental arithmetic and science.

Fourteen: Tests in English, maths, mental arithmetic and science.

Sixteen: GCSE exams.

Seventeen: AS-levels, usually taken straight after Easter in the first year of the sixth form.

Eighteen: A2s, which combined with AS results form A-level qualifications.