School Exam Crisis

Action needed to tackle school examination crisis
Conservatives have promised to restore school examinations to a more rigorous standard after the Government admitted that GCSEs and A-levels are no longer hard enough.Admitting that the examinations need to be toughed up, Education Secretary Ruth Kelly signalled her intention to stretch brighter pupils by making top grades more difficult to achieve.

Her response to the Tomlinson Report on school standards will be published within days.But responding to the minister's initial comments outlining her plans for improving academic attainment, Shadow Education Secretary Tim Collins said: "It is almost beyond belief that after eight years and four secretaries of state that Labour have just woken up to the crisis of confidence in our examinations system."He protested that a once rigorous and transparent examination system, which served as a beacon to other countries, had been wrecked by a succession of Labour ministers. "They have created an opaque and devalued system that few would now seek to copy," he said.Mr Collins stressed: "

Not only will the next Conservative government ensure that GCSEs and A-levels are returned to previous and demanding standards by ring-fencing the top grades and raising pass marks, but we will also allow schools to offer other robust curricula such as O-levels and the international baccalaureate as well as vocational qualifications."

He told conservatives.com: "Only by giving head teachers and their professional colleagues the freedom to set their own academic agendas in line with their admissions policies will classrooms once more become the orderly and happy places in which are children can learn and play together."