Head says exams at 16 may soon be unnecessary

Louise Robinson, president of the Girls’ Schools Association (GSA), questioned the validity of GCSEs and said that, in future, major changes to the university system could even mean students start degree courses without needing A-levels.

She also said it was unfair for Ministers to ask private schools to share their facilities and expertise with the state “competition” while at the same time imposing more rules and regulations.

In her speech to the GSA’s annual conference yesterday Mrs Robinson, headmistress of Merchant Taylor’s Girls’ School in Crosby, Merseyside, said the Government must stop looking for “the holy grail of education”.

“What will be the point of our education system when university degrees can be accessed without A-level qualifications?” she said.

“Will we have a freer sixth-form curriculum and will our education system look more like the American one?

“And, if we lose the necessity of our narrow three A-level prescribed university route, will there be a need for GCSEs or even English Baccalaureate Certificates – personally I cannot see one and we all know that some of us are questioning the validity of them anyway.”

Ministers announced plans in September to scrap GCSEs and replace them with English Baccalaureate Certificates (E-Bacc) in English, maths and science. The first courses would be taught from 2015, with the first exams taken in 2017.

The Government proposals would see retaking modules scrapped, coursework cut back and pupils expected to sit more rigorous end-of-year exams.

GCSEs have also been blighted this year by a row over the way English work was marked and graded. Exam boards moved grade boundaries between January and June resulting in the same standard of work getting different grades depending on when it was assessed.

The Yorkshire Post revealed yesterday that 2,000 pupils are believed to have missed out on a C grade in English as a result.

A judicial review into the way exam boards graded English GCSEs this year is being held after a national campaign involving 11 education authorities and 23 schools from Yorkshire.

Mrs Robinson said: “We are facing so many problems with our examination system: Too many examinations with poor standards of consistency in marking; the awarding bodies seemingly making profit on training and books; and more and more questions about the integrity of controlled assessments.”

She also warned the Government’s planned E-Bacc certificate to replace GCSEs was taking the country back to a “bygone era” and she cautioned against introducing change at an unprecedented rate. “It is good these issues are now in the public domain, but do we really think the solutions should be in the hands of politicians and not educators?” she added

The conference was told the purpose of schooling has altered – 50 years ago the philosophy was that schooling was to develop character, whereas 10 years ago, the focus was on emotional development.

The Government needed to stop looking for a perfect solution and “allow educators to do what we do best”, she said. “As we have proven within our own association, good schools come in all shapes and sizes.”

Mrs Robinson said the classroom of the future would rely more on the internet and could use computer games that deal with decision-making. She also addressed Education Secretary Michael Gove’s request for fee-paying schools to share their resources and facilities.

“Many of us happily do this already with a wide variety of schools on our own terms, but when we are squeezed between the tightening rules and regulations being imposed upon us, the rising cost of our provision and the ability of middle-class parents to pay our increasing fees, it seems a bit beyond the pale to ask if we will share aspects of our unique selling point with local competition.

“And competition it is; why should my school offer its expertise and experience to parents who could have sent their children to my school, but chose not to, or to a Government who criticises my morality?”