Good luck with that one, Robert Halfon (Influential Tory calls for GCSEs to be scrapped in exam overhaul, 11 February). We’ve been round that particular educational mulberry bush many, many times in the past; most notably, perhaps, with Mike Tomlinson’s radical proposal in 2004 for a series of interlocking and progressive diplomas that would replace both GCSE and A-level public examinations.
Tomlinson and his team set out to deal with systemic and other problems regarded at that time as bedevilling GCSEs and A-levels: his guiding principle was that all young people, and not just the privileged few, should have the widest range of educational opportunities available to them.
Furthermore, the Labour government of the day had identified key issues to be tackled, among which was young people lacking the skills, knowledge and attributes to succeed in life, learning and employment (well, fancy that).
Alas, Tomlinson’s radical approach foundered and died as a result, it seems, of Tony Blair’s apparent insistence on maintaining the supposed gold standard of A-levels – a stance echoed now in the Department for Education’s spokesperson stating that GCSEs “are the gold standard qualifications at age 16 and a passport to further study and employability”. If only!
We had a unique opportunity in 2004 to deal with the problem and replace existing secondary-level qualifications with Tomlinson’s diplomas, more suited to the future needs and demands of students and employers.
I wish Halfon success, but fear his initiative is doomed to fail if the government remains fixated on the – in my view, now badly tarnished – gold standards of GCSEs and A-levels.
Tim Feest
Hanley Swan, Worcestershire
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