The government is to delay changes to A-level mathematics and further mathematics amid concerns that pupils will not be sufficiently well prepared for the new exam.
The changes will be put back a year and teaching will now start in 2017, following advice from the exams regulator Ofqual. The delay was confirmed in a letter from the school reform minister, Nick Gibb, to Ofqual’s chief regulator, Glenys Stacey.
Schools are struggling to get to grips with planned radical changes to A-levels. From next year AS-levels are being separated from A-levels, which will become two-year courses with grades decided by a final exam.
The changes are part of the government’s drive to make the exams system more rigorous. But some universities have said they want schools to continue with AS-levels. Cambridge University has written to schools asking them to stick with AS-levels, saying they are vital to the university selection process.
The shadow education secretary, Tristram Hunt, has said Labour will not pursue the government’s policy on decoupling, causing further confusion, and wants the new AS- and A-levels to be delayed across the board until 2017. He has called on the permanent secretary at the Department for Education to write to the heads of schools and colleges explaining the changes in order to tackle what he says is widespread confusion.
Ofqual said the maths delay meant students on the new courses would benefit from having taken new maths GCSEs being introduced in 2015, and would therefore be better prepared. The additional year will also allow more time for schools to prepare for teaching the new AS- and A levels.
Gibb said in his letter to Ofqual: “While there is a transitional phase for all reformed subjects, you have advised that for mathematics the gap between the current GCSE and the new A-level is particularly significant. Your concern is that the current GCSE does not have the same building blocks as the new GCSE to prepare students for the mathematical problem-solving content in the new A-level. I know your view is supported by Alcab (A-level Content Advisory Board) and by many in the mathematics community.
“I am content to accept your recommendation to defer first teaching of the new mathematics and further mathematics A/AS-levels until September 2017. I have taken this decision to give mathematics students the best opportunity to benefit from the new qualifications at GCSE and A-level, and in particular recognition of the importance of mathematics as a route to a wide range of valuable higher education courses.”
It remains to be seen whether there will be delays to the introduction of new A- and AS-levels in other subjects. In a speech last month to the Westminster Education Forum about A-level reform, Stacey said: “We are keeping to the timetable for reform, but not slavishly. It is the quality of the qualification and the educational outcomes that matter above all.”
She alluded to the confusion surround the decoupling of AS- and A-levels. “Should any future government wish to recouple, it can be done, albeit the timing of the election is awkward, as new decoupled A- and AS-levels will be in schools ready for first teaching in September 2015.”
Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, welcomed the delay in introducing the new maths exams. He said: “It takes a long time for schools to prepare for a new exam properly. This includes changes to teaching programmes, resources and even staffing. Schools need plenty of time if they are to do right by pupils, so we welcome this delay. There are few more important subjects to get right.”
