A-Levels should be axed: UK report

LONDON — The A-Levels should be scrapped for a European-style baccalaureate because schools are failing to prepare teenagers for university and the workplace, a major report in the United Kingdom has warned.

Apart from the UK, a number of countries worldwide, including Singapore, also use the A-Levels as a grading and course structure in academia, although the content and structure of the courses vary with each country.

But a powerful lobby of academics and business leaders say traditional “gold standard” qualifications should be done over six to eight years to give pupils a grounding in a wider range of subjects and job skills.

The expert group insisted that A-Levels were “too narrow”, failed to properly reward pupils with flair and promoted a system of “learning to the test”. It was claimed that too many UK sixth-formers left school with poor levels of writing, basic numeracy, critical thinking, problem-solving and time management, and an inability to work independently.

The report recommended shifting towards a baccalaureate-style qualification in which pupils study around six subjects rather than specialising in only three. New courses should also include a compulsory extended project and cover the assessment of “softer” skills such as teamwork and interpersonal skills, it said.

The conclusions were made as part of a six-month inquiry led by Professor Roy Anderson, former Rector of Imperial College London. The 14-strong advisory group also included Mr Michael Rake, Chairman of British Telecom and President of the Confederation of British Industry, and Mr David Bell, Vice-Chancellor of Reading University and former Permanent Secretary at the Department for Education.

Any move to a baccalaureate would be resisted by the UK Government, which has already rewritten the national curriculum and unveiled a significant overhaul of the A-Levels.

But Prof Anderson said there was a concern that the “English classroom and what’s taught in it has changed little in the last 60 years. While the past has much to teach us, that shouldn’t be at the expense of keeping a keen eye on the future”.

Mr Rake said the country needed to “move on from our narrow, outdated focus with A-Levels and to improve on the other competencies necessary for success, including the fundamental need to improve the basic skills of literacy and numeracy, which are at an unacceptably low level”. THE DAILY TELEGRAPH