Debate: bright students straight to A-levels

UK – Ministers are considering giving state schools the freedom to bypass the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) and fast-track bright pupils straight to A-levels, The TES reports.

New performance measures are also proposed, including an “advanced Bac” GCSE benchmark - building on the controversial English Baccalaureate (EBac) - and an “accelerated Bac” to reward schools that skip GCSEs.

“We are considering much greater freedom for schools to accelerate bright kids past GCSE to do A levels… and introducing league table measures that capture that and reward schools for it, not penalise them,” a source close to education secretary Michael Gove said.

The source points to Singapore where they say around a fifth of pupils take A-levels without any intermediate national exams.

Ministers are concerned that schools in England that did the same thing and put 16-year-olds in for more advanced exams, instead of GCSE, would be punished in the current league tables.

As a result they are planning an “accelerated Bac” for the GCSE tables to reflect and reward passes in “much harder” qualifications.

Brian Lightman, Association of School and College Leaders general secretary, said: “This would have to be thought out very carefully because at the moment GCSE is considered for university entrance and by employers.

“Bypassing GCSE would lead to a curriculum that was either extremely demanding or very narrow.”

Some state secondaries in England already have under-16 year olds studying for AS- levels but must still also enter them for GCSEs at some point.

The government source said: “We want a league table system that doesn’t disincentivise schools from doing what they think is in the best interests of the kid.”