Teenagers will be allowed to boost their grades by resitting sections of their GCSEs, under reforms designed to make the exam less stressful. Critics said that this would make the qualification easier to pass, while pupils’ true abilities would be harder to assess.

Students could take modular GCSEs broken down into units spread across the two-year course, rather than just sitting exams at the end. They would be able to resit each unit, and take 60 per cent of the qualification before the end of the course.

The reforms seem to mirror that of the A level. It became modular in 2000 and pass marks soared two years later when the first exams were taken. This led to accusations that it had become easier to pass — and to achieve a high mark — because students could retake modules if they were unhappy with their grade.

The “flexible” GCSE in 43 subjects was proposed yesterday by the OCR (Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations) awarding body and will be introduced next year, if approved this summer. But there are concerns that schools could choose this over the usual option, as pupils would probably do better, giving the school a higher place in league tables.

Professor Alan Smithers, an education expert from the University of Buckingham, said: “The pressure on schools to maximise results will lead many of them to take advantage of these new arrangements. The downside is that assessment becomes dominant throughout the course, rather than towards the end of it. The opportunity for resits means the exams will distinguish less well between candidates and may give them an unrealistic picture of how they are likely to do at A level.

“It will take self-confident schools to stand out against these arrangements and go for linear assessments because research shows that modular courses tend to lead to at least half a grade higher in outcomes. One gets appreciably higher grades with modular courses for the same level of ability.”

OCR said that exam stress for pupils, which has become a key concern for teachers and children’s campaigners, could be reduced through a modular system. The reforms are backed by the exams regulator, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority.

In the first year of results under the modular A-level system in 2002 the pass rate jumped from 89.8 per cent to 94.3 per cent, with a similar rise in the proportion of A grades.

Parool Patel, head of GCSE project at OCR, said: “Flexible assessment is an improvement in the GCSE qualification, which is designed to offer teachers the opportunity to implement assessment processes that best suit the needs of their own students.”

He added that coursework was being replaced with “controlled assessment”, in which teachers supervise pupils’ projects at school. This was in response to fears over internet plagiarism.

But Nick Gibb, the Shadow Schools Minister, said: “Making GCSE students take more exams and allowing them resits is not going to help prepare them properly for further studying or getting a job. Thanks to the huge increase in resits at A level, the Government’s schools are already spending more money on exam fees than they are on books.”

OCR estimates that more than 5,100 schools will start teaching the redeveloped GCSEs to about 625,000 pupils from September next year. A spokesman said: “Pupils’ exam stress may be reduced through this new approach as assessments could be spread out over a period of time and not concentrated into one assessment at the end of two years.”

It will offer three new subjects this year — citizenship, law, and ancient history. The PE syllabus will reflect a changing taste in sports by offering ice-skating, surfing, snowboarding, karate or taekwondo.

The spokesman said: “We want to reflect the growing popularity of non-traditional sports in our revised PE qualifications. We feel it is important to offer a wide choice to reflect modern interests and personal strengths.”

Teenagers taking the GCSE in citizenship will learn about individual rights, the democratic process, community development, the economy, justice, welfare systems and how to act responsibly as a “global citizen”.

Marking time

— GCSE coursework was introduced in the 1980s and reached its peak in the early 1990s, when some exams such as English were 100 per cent coursework. Exam boards began scaling back such coursework after reports that pupils were submitting work that had been completed by their parents or teachers

— A levels became modular in 2000. Two years later, the results from these exams reached a record high

— Degrees started to become modular in the late 1980s and most are now assessed that way. This may be a factor in the rising number of first-class degrees attained

— Standard assessment tasks (SATs) have attracted controversy after it emerged that teachers were coaching their students to pass the tests rather than teaching a broad curriculum

Source: Times database

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