International GCSE's wider reach

Designed as a secondary school qualification for pupils overseas, it is now being adopted by an increasing number of independent schools in the United Kingdom, in preference to the standard GCSE.

John Marshall, director of studies at King's School in Ely, says his school is considering whether to switch to the International GCSE in maths.

The attraction of the international version is that it is a more rigorous preparation for A-level, he says.

And when GCSEs are less likely to be school leaving qualifications, their importance as stepping stones toward A-levels increases.

He says that he has had discussions with other independent school representatives who are considering switching to the International GCSE for some subjects.

"In the not too distant future, I wouldn't be surprised to see many more schools offering them," he says.

Flexibility

There have already been some recent high-profile adopters of various forms of International GCSEs.

This month, St Paul's School in south-west London, which came top of the independent schools league for GCSEs, announced it was going to drop GCSE science and switch to the International GCSE.

The high master, Dr Martin Stephens, said the qualification's sense of direction had become confused.

"Is it a leaving certificate representing a guarantee of minimum competence? Is it a qualifier for further and higher education?

"By trying to do both, it has managed not to do either terribly well," he said.

Last month, the head of Manchester Grammar School, Dr Christopher Ray, announcing a switch to International GCSEs, said "some GCSEs do not appear to be appropriate for the most able".

The director of international education at the University of Cambridge International Examinations, Tom Eason, says the particular appeal of the international qualification is its flexibility.

This reflects its design for an international audience - so that it can be customised to fit local needs.

But this also appeals to independent schools in the UK, who want the flexibility to provide a more stretching course leading towards A-level.

With International GCSEs, if schools want to reject coursework, they can have a completely exam-based assessment.

There is also greater scope for a wider range of set texts or covering more topics.

"There has been a long debate about coursework - but with the International GCSEs there's no need for an argument, because the schools can choose whether they want to do it," he says.

Submariners

At present there are about 100 schools in the UK where pupils are taking the Cambridge International GCSE - out of a global total of 2,000 exam centres that use the qualification.

The biggest concentration of students taking the exam is in the Middle East, says Mr Eason.

In 2004-05, about 100,000 students sat Cambridge's International GCSE exam papers, with maths the most popular subject worldwide.

And the global reach of the qualification saw exam papers being delivered by fishing trawler to the South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha and the exam being taken by submariners below the polar ice cap.

For independent schools, the difficulty in introducing new qualifications can be the resistance from fee-paying parents, who might be suspicious of less mainstream qualifications.

But the barrier to state schools taking up international qualifications is more likely to be the impact on exam league tables.

Pupils taking International GCSEs do not appear in them - and state schools are likely to be deterred from opting for qualifications which could lower their standing.

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