Teenagers are being pushed towards taking vocational qualifications or “softer” GCSEs and A levels, to improve their schools’ positions in the league tables.

Secondary schools are measured on how many pupils achieve five A*-C GCSE passes, including maths and English. However, a GNVQ is worth four GCSEs, leading many to submit students for the vocational exam, which can boost their ratings, rather than for a range of tougher academic subjects.

In a letter to Lord Adonis, the Schools Minister, about the possible inclusion of the international GCSE in the tables, Ken Boston, chief executive of the Qualification and Curriculum Authority, said that the effects of league tables on the education of children needed to be addressed.

While not calling for league tables to be scrapped, his officials said that he was concerned whether pupils taking ICT GNVQ, for example, which is worth four GCSEs, were opting for the best educational choice “when instead they could do French, history, geography and science”.

They confirmed that Dr Boston was referring to the way in which teenagers’ choice of exam subjects were being “partly influenced by the league table tariffs”.

His calls echo similar fears aired by teachers and universities. The University of Cambridge has already warned teenagers that they may not gain admission if they study “soft” A levels in the sixth form. Dr Boston has raised concern before about the influence of tables on subject choices. In February he said: “There are longstanding issues around the inclusion of all qualifications in performance tables, and the impact that those tables have on the curriculum and on the learning experience of young people.”

Last week David Willetts, the Shadow Minister for Higher Education, echoed Dr Boston’s concerns after it emerged that attempts to raise the number of state school pupils at Britain’s elite universities had stalled.

While the overall number of young students from poorer families and comprehensives attending university rose in 2005-06, nearly three quarters of the top 20 research-led universities had witnessed a drop in their numbers since 2002.

Mr Willetts blamed the school league tables for “corrupting the system” and forcing schools to push pupils into subjects that maximised their points but held them back from getting into the top universities. “Schools are under pressure to maximise their points while universities are saying that, in terms of opening up options, they’d far rather a student with a C grade in maths A level than a higher grade in drama or psychology.”

Cambridge insisted last year that pupils applying with A levels in subjects such as media studies or health and social care could rule themselves out of courses.

In a separate letter to Alan Johnson, then Education Secretary, in April, Dr Boston welcomed the Government’s plans to pilot different ways of testing children. Children in the ten pilot areas will take tests as soon as they are ready, rather than at the present fixed ages of 7, 11 and 14.

In the pilot areas, teachers will enter individual pupils into more focused “single-level” tests when they are ready. The Government will then take an aggregate of the results to measure schools’ achievements. There will be one-to-one tuition for underachievers and cash bonuses for schools whose pupils meet progress targets.

Jim Knight, Minister for Schools, said: “We are constantly working with the regulator to ensure that all exams are rigorous. We are confident that standards in schools and pupils performance continues to rise against this tightly regulated exam system.

“As pupils wait for their exam results it is irresponsible of politicians to devalue pupils’ achievements.”

Ratings game

111,803
the number of pupils taking GNVQ intermediate-level exams last year

1
GNVQ entry per 10 pupils from the first wave of academy schools in 2002

12
GNVQ entry per 10 pupils from the academy schools last year

52%
of pupils take GNVQs at academies

4
GCSEs are the equivalent of one GNVQ for league table purposes

Source: Hansard, Joint Council for Qualifications, Terry Wrigley, Edinburgh University

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