AS/A-level Examination Reforms (Hansard, 1 November 1999)

§ The Minister of State, Department for Education and Employment (Baroness Blackstone)
Yes, my Lords. My department and the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority have sent schools and colleges a wide range of advice and guidance on implementing the reforms arising from the Government's consultation on our manifesto commitment to, support broader A-levels and upgraded vocational qualifications, underpinned by rigorous standards and key skills". The awarding bodies have now published the new AS/A-level specifications in draft form. The final versions will be available in January.

Baroness Young
My Lords, I thank the Minister for that reply. However, does she accept that the fact that 558 schools will not receive the new syllabuses until January will leave very little time for staff to prepare to teach pupils eight or nine months later, given that the new teaching will be coupled with a requirement for a complete reorganisation of the sixth form in order to have both the staffing and the necessary skills to teach four or five AS-levels in the first year sixth?

§ Baroness Blackstone
My Lords, that is not a fair criticism of the QCA. It sent out a detailed guidance document on the new qualifications in April and a detailed curriculum guidance suitable for a wide range of schools and colleges in September. Synopses of all the AS and A-level specifications were sent out in mid-October. The draft synopses are similar to the final version; and indeed schools were always told that the final versions would be available in January.

§ Baroness Blatch
My Lords, it is understandable that the noble Baroness will not accept a criticism from my noble friend Lady Young, as I suspect she will not accept a criticism from me. However, will she accept that there is genuine anxiety on the part of staff on three counts: first, that they will not receive information until well into the new year; secondly, that they do not have the staffing to gear up for the new subject syllabus in the new year; and thirdly, that they do not have the resources to do so because there is an unprecedented top-slicing of money by the Department for Education which is eating into the core funding of our schools?

§ Baroness Blackstone
My Lords, I am always happy to accept criticisms, even from the noble Baroness, Lady Blatch, when they are valid, but I am afraid that none of these is. To take the three points she mentioned, as I indicated, schools have already received an enormous amount of information about the changes, and the changes have been welcomed. This Government have finally done what had been necessary for a long time; namely, broaden the sixth form curriculum. That has been welcomed not only by schools and FE colleges, but also by employers and the universities. The noble Baroness mentioned staffing. The Government are investing £17 million in development programmes to support staff in developing the new curricula. She also asked about resources. The Further Education Funding Council has put £75 million into—

§ Baroness Blatch
But, my Lords, that is FE—

§ Baroness Blackstone
My Lords, further education and sixth form colleges have more than half the total number of full-time students aged between 16 and 19. If the noble Baroness will wait a moment, I shall move on to talk about schools. FE is receiving a further £75 million, and the schools will have an enormous increase of over 5 per cent in their budget through the local education authority settlement for the year 2000–2001.

§ Lord Tope
My Lords, does the Minister agree that while we must do all we can to expedite arrangements 559 for AS and A-level examinations in September next year, it is high time we developed a single nationally administered qualification system covering both academic and vocational qualifications?

§ Baroness Blackstone
My Lords, the noble Lord raises a big issue. We are taking steps to create a more rational and coherent system, including in these particular reforms aligning the GNVQ system much more closely to the A-level/AS-level system.

§ Lord Taylor of Blackburn
My Lords, is my noble friend aware that some of us would prefer to scrap A-levels completely and introduce the baccalaureate?

§ Baroness Blackstone
My Lords, yes, I am aware that there are those who would like to see a radical reform of the curriculum for 16 to 19 year-olds. The Government judged that the right way to proceed was to build on the good qualities of A-levels by defending the academic rigour that is central to them, but at the same time in the hope that, given the new opportunities, far more young people will study a rather wider range of subjects than the very narrow and rather restricted curriculum that they studied previously.