Lib-Dems want GCSEs scrapped

Is the time up for GCSEs?

The Liberal Democrats are calling for the abolition of GCSEs and for children to stay in education or training until they are 19.

The party's education spokesman, Phil Willis, says it is time for a radical change to the education system for 14 to 19 year-olds.

To abolish GCSEs would be to deny parents vital information about the achievement of one school compared to another

Chris Woodhead

He says the GCSEs are meaningless for brighter children - who have their eyes fixed on A levels and university - and for the less academically gifted.

"The exam has served its purpose. Why do we need everyone to jump through these hoops?

"What we need to do is engage children in learning rather than be obsessed about how we are examining them," said Mr Willis.

'Grenade'

Mr Willis will outline his plans to the North of England education conference on Friday, where he is expected to say it is time to "throw a grenade into the system".

"Time for radical change" says Phil Willis

Mr Willis argues that children should stay in education or training until 18 or 19, and says employers should be given more funding to provide training.

"Some children could opt to do training in the workplace and employers could become eligible for the fee the school would have got, and that would be a large incentive for employers to become trainers," he said.

The idea of abolishing the GCSE has already been suggested by secondary head teachers, who say children are over-examined.

The National Association of Head Teachers wants a broader curriculum, based on a Baccalaureate approach.

'Dangerous'

But the former chief inspector of schools, Chris Woodhead, said the abolition of GCSEs was a dangerous suggestion.

While there was an argument for greater flexibility over GCSEs, the wholesale abolition of the exams was a worrying prospect, said Mr Woodhead.

Mr Woodhead said GCSEs were a way of holding schools accountable

"GCSEs concentrate the mind - the preparation, the revision students do leads to better understanding and higher standards.

"Secondly we need to know what students have achieved at the end of their period of statutory schooling.

"And thirdly we've got to look at the schools themselves - we need to know how schools are performing.

"To abolish GCSEs would be to deny parents vital information about the achievement of one school compared to another," he said.

Alternative qualifications should be developed for young people not suited to academic study, while maintaining GCSEs as academically rigorous, he added.