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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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23 January 2013
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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30 July 2012
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Oxford University has rewritten its strict academic dress rules after proposals brought on behalf of transgender students. Now students taking exams or attending formal occasions will no longer have to wear gender-specific ceremonial clothing – men will be able to wear skirts and women will be able to wear trouser suits with bow ties.
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Report Shows Some Exams Are Easier Than Others
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Report Shows Some Exams Are Easier Than Others
A report from the Government exams watchdog has suggested some subjects in GCSEs and A-levels are easier than others. History was more "demanding" than geography at GCSE and AS-level, while chemistry was the most difficult of the three sciences at all levels, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) said.
27 March 2006
Cheating students using mobile phones
Students who cheat in exams are increasingly using mobile phones to help them pass exams, a study by the government exam watchdog has revealed. The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority found that the number of candidates penalised for malpractice increased by 27% to 4,500.
Cheating students using mobile phones
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