New exams 'stress out' sixth formers

Students are encouraged to mix arts and sciences

An investigation into the impact the new AS-level examinations are having on sixth formers has been backed by teachers.

Delegates at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) said the new curriculum had created a highly stressful workload for sixth formers and teachers alike.

AS-levels, which were introduced at the beginning of this academic year, require students to take four or five subjects in their first year of sixth form study, scaling down to three in the second year.

The aim was to bring greater diversity and breadth to sixth form study, rather like the French baccalaureate.

'Utilitarian'

Veronica Rodriguez, a teacher at Mangotsfield School, Bristol, said the result was that creativity was being sacrificed to the "utilitarian" demands of a modern economy.

Ms Rodriguez cited several examples which, she said, showed the stress students were under.

One girl considered dropping out of school at the end of Year 12, while one boy said AS-levels had taken over his life, she said.

Ms Rodriguez quoted him as saying: "It has caused problems with my parents. I can no longer play cricket, rugby or do any music. It has taken my life away."