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03/04/2012
Education Secretary Calls For A-Level Changes
The UK's Education Secretary has said that current A-Level exams fail to prepare students for university life and has called for the examinations to be reviewed.
Michael Gove said, in a letter to an exam regulator, that universities should dictate the content of A-level papers and review them each year.
Mr Gove's letter, obtained by BBC Newsnight suggests formal control of A-level content would be taken away from exam boards and handed to universities.
It is understood that any changes would apply to English board exams but would obviously affect students in Northern Ireland and Wales, who also sit the exams.
This comes as a recent study suggested universities wanted A-levels to be more intellectually stretching and with less spoon-feeding from teachers.
(LB/GK)
Michael Gove said, in a letter to an exam regulator, that universities should dictate the content of A-level papers and review them each year.
Mr Gove's letter, obtained by BBC Newsnight suggests formal control of A-level content would be taken away from exam boards and handed to universities.
It is understood that any changes would apply to English board exams but would obviously affect students in Northern Ireland and Wales, who also sit the exams.
This comes as a recent study suggested universities wanted A-levels to be more intellectually stretching and with less spoon-feeding from teachers.
(LB/GK)
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Changes To A-Level Exam System Confirmed
A-level examinations will now take place at the end of a two-year course, the Education Secretary has confirmed. Michael Gove confirmed that from 2015 so called “bite sized” units would be scrapped with pupils instead sitting final exams at the end of two-years.
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Northern Ireland WeatherToday:It will be cloudy again throughout the day. Mainly dry in the morning, but patchy drizzle in places, becoming more widespread and persistent in the afternoon. Freshening southwesterly winds. Maximum temperature 12 °C.Tonight:Cloudy with a spell of heavy rain pushing south through late evening and the early hours, followed by some clear spells. Minimum temperature 6 °C.
