New test 'will help show top students'

The Government is planning to require academic high fliers to write a university-style long essay - indicating that it may decide to replace A-Levels with a more demanding qualification, a minister signalled today.

This year's record haul of A-Level passes and A-grades has once again been overshadowed by the row over whether the exams have become too easy.

A Government review has called for the replacement of A-Levels and GCSEs with a Baccalaureate-style Diploma containing a mixture of compulsory and optional modules, which would require all teenagers to complete a "personal challenge".

School standards minister David Miliband, who set up the review in the wake of the 2002 A-Level grades crisis, said he took this "very seriously" as an option.

For the most academically able, the personal challenge could be a dissertation running to several thousand words.

Distinguishing high-flyers

For those whose Diploma was slanted more to the vocational side, it could be a project such as making a video or building a fully working prototype or, in the case of someone specialising in music or drama, an extended performance.

The idea of the personal challenge was included in the second report from the Government's Working Group on 14-19 Reform headed by former chief schools inspector Mike Tomlinson, which was published in February.

It comes as the record-breaking A-level results mean the entry mark for a good career has now been raised to a grade C, it has been claimed.

Pass rates have risen for a 22nd consecutive year to a new high of 96 per cent.

Figures out today showed that the percentage of pupils gaining A grades has increased again, from 21.6 per cent last year to 22.4 per cent. This compares to just over 11 per cent in the early 1990s.

For the first time in four years, boys have closed the gender gap, with the difference in the proportion of A grades between the sexes falling from 2.9 per cent to 2.7 per cent.

But worried headteachers say that the relentless rise in grades means that the value of grades D and E - gained by tens of thousands of students this year - will be questioned by employers and universities in future.

Dumbing down

And critics claim that as the pass rate draws closer to 100 per cent, the 'gold standard' of A-levels is being devalued into a qualification that no one can fail.

David Hart, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, insisted that A-levels are no easier than they were a generation ago.

But he admitted they are fast becoming like GCSEs, where the benchmark for success is grade C and above.

He said: "Although Ds and Es are perfectly respectable awards, we are reaching the stage where nearly 100 per cent are getting As to Es. I'm not sure what attention higher education will pay in future to awards at the bottom end.

"Employers will increasingly look at A, B and C as important benchmarks. That's unfortunate, because the work of students getting Ds and Es is important and should be recognised."

In total, the number of A-level enteries rose from 750,537 to 766,247 statistics released by the Joint Council for Qualifications.

Soft options

They showed students increasingly turning to the 'soft' options of psychology and media studies rather than tougher subjects such as French, German, physics and geography.

At AS-level, there was a 0.1 per cent increase in the number of grade As from 17.4 to 17.5 per cent. Pass rates rose from 86.7 to

The Institute of Directors yesterday demanded grading reform so a smaller proportion of students achieve an A. This would help ensure that passes at B and C continue to command respect.

James Walsh, policy adviser at the IoD, said: "With an evergrowing number of A grade passes, the brightest students are not shining through."

Professor Alan Smithers, director of the centre for education and employment research at Buckingham University, said A- levels need to be toughened up so university places can be fairly awarded.

'Needs more challenging questions'

He added: "The exams aren't distinguishing at the top end in the way universities are relying on them to do. There need to be more challenging questions."

The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service is planning to allow admissions tutors to see the grades of the six individual modules which make up A-levels to help them distinguish between candidates in future.

School Standards Minister David Miliband denied that A-levels had been dumbed down. He said: "We are getting better as a country at getting the best out of our young people."

John Dunford, general secretary of the Secondary Heads Association, said: "There should be no complaints about the large number of A grades. This is a tribute to the exceptionally hard work of students and teachers."

There has also been controversy over the system of letting students retake exam modules more than once.

The Tories said yesterday that they would stamp out multiple re-sits. Spokesman Tim Collins said: "Olympic athletes do not get a second or third go at the 100 metres if they don't like the result."