GCSE Examinations: Coursework (Hansard, 17 December 1991)

§ The Minister of State, Department of the Environment (Baroness Blatch)
My Lords, my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Education and Science recently announced the Government's decision to reduce the amount of GCSE credit gained through coursework and to increase the extent of external control over it.

§ Baroness David
My Lords, I welcome the Minister's reply. However, can she explain why the decision to change the GCSE was taken without consultation with teachers, parents, governors, examination boards, national professional teaching bodies, employers or LEAs? It has caused widespread anger and consternation.

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, the Government did consult their examinations council. They also acted on the basis of a number of reports which were brought to their attention. HMI said that there were emerging problems such as the varying amounts of help given to pupils by the school and/or other adults as well as difficulties encountered by marking, standardising and moderating. Indeed, the examinations council itself, SEAC, identified inconsistencies in coursework markings, unclear and sometimes conflicting coursework guidance being sent to examination centres and an absence of arrangements for co-ordinating the standards of coursework. There were so many problems that I believe my right honourable friend has responded very positively.

§ Baroness Cox
My Lords, does my noble friend the Minister agree that, while it is generally recognised that there have been advantages in coursework for GCSE, many problems have also been identified in addition to those which she mentioned. I refer to the strain on pupils in having 100 per cent. coursework and also the real problems caused by the fact that some pupils perhaps come from advantaged homes with more parental support than others. Therefore, the shift in the direction of a reduction in the amount of coursework, and an appropriate balance with unseen examinations at the end of the course, is actually educationally desirable.

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, apart from the issue of academic rigour, my noble friend raises an important point. Courses which have 100 per cent. coursework seriously disadvantage young people from homes which do not provide back up and support. It is not always possible to tell who has done the work. When we consider the effectiveness of the system it is most important that we should think about the children and not the indulgence of the teachers.

§ Lord Glenamara
My Lords, will the Government please stop messing around with the education system? Will they please leave the teachers and the schools to get on with their job? Do they not realise that they are destroying the education system and knocking all the life out of it? When will they stop doing so?

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, the noble Lord will not be surprised to hear that I do not agree with him. The party of noble Lords opposite did a great deal of talking about the problem but did not address it in practice. We now have a very firm framework in the national curriculum which I understand enjoys all-party support. We have a system of systematic assessment and testing. Having been advised that a great deal of coursework was advisable we realised that, in practice, that is not so. Academic rigour is 1188 important. A balance between coursework and summative testing at the end of the course is important.

§ Baroness David
My Lords, does the Minister realise that all she said in her last answer but one, and what her noble friend Lady Cox said, has been challenged by very reputable people in the education world? The noble Baroness mentioned the Schools Examination and Assessment Council, but does she know that the maths committee of that council is very unhappy about the decision to cut the coursework and that it would prefer 70 per cent. of coursework to remain? Is she further aware that four major mathematical associations have written to the Secretary of State begging him to reconsider the decision? It is not all one way.

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, it is interesting to note that the noble Baroness chooses to cite the example of mathematics. The increase of coursework in mathematics has not increased the number of young people taking the subject; nor, indeed, has it increased the academic rigour of the subject. I believe that the balance suggested by my right honourable friend is right.

§ Baroness Blackstone
My Lords, will the Minister make available to the House the advice of the Schools Examination and Assessment Council? It is the normal practice to make available advice to the Secretary of State from the council so that others may read it. For some reason that practice has not been followed in this case. It would be most helpful if the Minister could make it available.

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, HMI reports are published documents. We are talking about observations that the inspectors have made from visiting the schools. There are imagined problems. As a school governor and a parent of children who have recently been through schools I know that there are weaknesses in having a high proportion of coursework for young people without there being a large element of summative testing at the end of the course.

§ Baroness Blackstone
My Lords, I am sorry to intervene again. Will the Minister answer my question? She completely failed to do so.

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, I said that inspectors had made observations. We know that they also come from the public because the department has had correspondence about the subject. I said that the examinations council also identified inconsistencies. I shall have to ask my right honourable friend whether he can refer the noble Baroness to documents which codify the evidence.