Teenagers could be ranked in shake-up of exams

The proposal would mean that exams would no longer just be given a simple grade.

Instead, pupils sitting new O-level style qualifications in English, maths and science would also be given a ranking on their exam certificate, as well as a graph showing where they placed nationally in the subject, according to the Times Educational Supplement (TES).

It is believed that the move is being considered by Ministers as part of a complete overhaul of secondary school exams.

The Government is looking at radical reforms which could see GCSEs scrapped and replaced by tougher, old-style O-level qualifications in a bid to raise standards.

The TES reported that it has been suggested the rankings could be used beyond individual exam certificates, although pupils’ identities would not be made known.

It could open the door to individual marks being used in league tables.

But Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), told the TES that using them for this purpose would be “complete nonsense”.

The new-style exams are unlikely to be “norm-referenced”, which would mean that only a certain percentage of students could achieve each grade, the TES reported.

Education Secretary Michael Gove has previously suggested that A-level students could be given rankings alongside their overall grades.

In a speech last October, he said that more information on A-levels could be produced so that it is clear where a student is ranked in a subject. This could mean national rankings which would show the top students in the country in each subject.

Mr Gove cited one school in west London that already ranks pupils on their results, saying the system had proved popular.

“If ranking can achieve that in one school in White City, if additional data and transparency can generate those beneficial results, is there a case for exam boards publishing more data about the performance of students, rather than less?”

It comes in the same week that the Commons education select committee warned that reforms are needed to remove the “perverse incentives” for students to take “dumbed-down” exams.

Exam boards competing to attract business should be stripped of their right to decide the content of exams sat by pupils aged 15 to 19, the cross-party group said.

A Department for Education spokesman said: “We are discussing qualification reform with Ofqual, and how we can work together to ensure that students are able to take the best possible set of qualifications at age 16 - both in the core subjects of English, maths and science, and across the full range of subjects that young people study.”