Tomlinson Report

Soon we should know what went wrong in the A level imbroglio. Or at least what the independent investigator thinks went wrong.

Heads, we have already been told, will roll as a result.

The most obvious candidate for the chop, the head of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority got his retaliation in first.

However the report turns out, in the words of the Western, this town ain't big enough for him and the Education Secretary.

Michael Crick reported.

MICHAEL CRICK:
Examination in the politics of education. Candidate, Michael Tomlinson. Time allowed, eight days. The candidate must answer all questions and keep total silence throughout.

Question one, were this year's A-level exam results downgraded:
Yes? No? Don't know?

If you answer yes to question one, question two.
Can you say who was responsible? Was it:
1. The examination boards? We know the boss of one board, OCR, Ron McLone, overrode the awarding committee, from a letter he wrote to one school. Was it:
2. The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, the QCA, and its boss, Sir William Stubbs? They are the guilty party in the eyes of many head teachers, and several examiners to whom we have spoken as well.

Contractually, examiners are forbidden from speaking publicly, but here is the evidence of one who talked to us, and whose words are spoken by an actor.

ACTOR:
I went to a meeting of examiners to set the marks for each grade. The marks we recommend are normally accepted by the chief executive of the exam board. But after our meeting, the grades were changed. I have no idea by whom, and we weren't told it was being done. The chairman of the grading meeting told us he would go with our recommendations to the board chief executive, but he felt these would probably not be acceptable to the Government. I wrote the words down at the time because I was stunned to hear them.

With these new exams, candidates can do modules in January and June. If you downgrade the June modules, as was done in my case, but you haven't done that in January, then the standard to pass in June is higher than that in January. What's vitally important is not so much what goes on year to year, but that you have consistency within the year group. If you don't, the results mean nothing.

This is a terrible slur on our professionalism, because it makes the whole system of grading a sham. If you end up with a system where statistics are more important than students, then you have gone seriously wrong.

MICHAEL CRICK:
Or multiple choice option three, did the decision to lower grades come right from the top, from the Education Secretary, Estelle Morris, and her deputy, David Miliband? We know the ministers met the QCA in August, but they deny any interference.

Tomorrow, Mike Tomlinson and his team should deliver the answers to those questions. But his inquiry is now beset by more controversy, after the QCA boss, Sir William Stubbs, accused Estelle Morris of acting improperly, by contacting the exam board ahead of Tomlinson's conclusions.

SIR WILLIAM STUBBS:
(Chairman, QCA)
I do believe she has acted improperly. It would have been much better for all concerned if she had stood back, as I've had to stand back. I refuse to speak to the awarding bodies, indeed, I refuse to speak to members of my own staff without a witness present. This is about standards in public life.

MICHAEL CRICK:
Today, the Tories demanded that Ms Morris resign, but she claims she merely contacted the exam boards to make contingency plans.

ESTELLE MORRIS:
(Education Secretary)
I haven't interfered. I don't know what will be in Mike Tomlinson's report. He will report tomorrow and we shall all see. What I've been trying to do this week is to make sure we are prepared for whatever he might say. He may come back tomorrow and say there is nothing wrong, in which case nobody needs to do anything.

MICHAEL CRICK:
But if ministers do need to act, and students' A-levels have to be regraded, the exam boards say that process could take months, and they may have to regrade this summer's AS-levels, too.

The big question is how universities will cope with the rush of rejected candidates who find their grades are now good enough.

There are wider issues, too. The growing row over exam grades has led some to suggest that A-levels are now so discredited, they ought to be scrapped altogether. One idea that's been mooted is that they should be replaced by the international baccalaureate, the IB, which involves both a broader range of subjects, and even extracurricular activities.

Here at Malvern College in Worcestershire, one of the country's top fee-paying independent schools, they give sixth formers a choice, either A-levels or the IB.

English is one of the six subjects that IB pupils have to take. Others include maths, a language and a science. There is a wide-ranging, theory of knowledge paper, a 4,000-word essay, and also marks for outside pursuits. But it's not everyone's cup of tea. It's better for all-rounders than for those who are particularly weak or strong in one area.

HUGH CARSON:
(Headmaster, Malvern College)
The IB breaks down the two cultures, the arts and science cultures. It means that pupils, when they become undergraduates, are pretty well organised, because there is more to do, and across a broader front. The advantage of A-level is that you can specialise if you wish to, you can give up your weaknesses, which some people think is an advantage. I think you should address them! A lot of the curriculum development within the subjects in AS and A2 has been very, very good.

MICHAEL CRICK:
As the IB is run from Switzerland, it would be hard for British ministers to interfere, even if they wanted to. But Malvern pupils don't think the advantages are clear-cut.

ALEX WALLWORK:
(IB student)
It sends you out of the system at the end of the sixth form a much broader and more interesting person.

MATTHEW WRIGHT:
(IB student)
It's possible to get four As in your A-level, it's not particularly demanding. However, you need to work really hard, and still have quite a good level of intelligence to get around 40 points in your IB.

MICHAEL CRICK:
Why haven't you gone for the IB?

ROSALIND POWELL:
(A-level student)
I wanted to specialise in four subjects, and also be able to keep up with the present extracurricular activities which I was already doing.

MICHAEL CRICK:
An IB-type structure will replace A-levels within the next ten years, reckons one of Estelle Morris's advisers, a man who used to run the QCA. Then, there is also the credibility of the existing exam boards to consider. Some say they should amalgamated.

CONOR RYAN:
(Former Adviser to Education Department)
I think the main problem is that we have three exam boards who are still being competitive with each other, when in fact what we need is a single board that could ensure quality, that could ensure consistency in the syllabuses that are being studied by students, and avoiding a lot of the cock-ups and problems that we have seen over the past year.

MICHAEL CRICK:
Yet amalgamation would reduce school choice, and make political interference easier. What's clear is tomorrow's Tomlinson report will be just a small step in resolving this sorry saga. The ripples are likely to rebound for years.