THE standards expected of students taking GCSE science examinations have fallen, the Government’s qualifications watchdog said yesterday.

Changes to the structure of the exam, which is taken by nearly half a million pupils, had made it less effective for children at both the top and bottom ends of the ability range, a report by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority concluded.

It blamed faulty questions set by the examining boards. It highlighted a “deliberate” lowering of demand for pupils and criticised the “disappointing” quality of coursework, saying some students received grades that they did not merit.

The comments came in a review of GCSE science papers between 1995 and 2000, one of a series published by the QCA as it announced the establishment of an independent panel to check exam standards.

The authority found that a shift from a three- to a two-tier structure for double-award science had led to changes in exams. Candidates in 1995 could sit papers at one of three levels, with the lowest tier offering a grade D at best. The two-tier system made the exam “significantly more demanding” for less able pupils.

By contrast, changes to the paper for brighter pupils had “resulted in fewer questions requiring higher-order skills such as extended writing, interpreting and evaluating unfamiliar information”.

The report found: “The demand of some of the 2000 higher-tier examination papers resembled that of the 1995 intermediate tier papers. A slimming down of the national curriculum in 1995 had also allowed exam boards in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to change the content of syllabuses. This had led to an “overall reduction in the knowledge and understanding content of syllabuses”.

Head teachers’ leaders have called for a radical reduction in GCSE coursework, arguing that it is open to plagiarism in an age when pupils can download essays from the internet.

In 2002, the “grade-fixing” inquiry into A levels carried out by Mike Tomlinson, the former head of Ofsted, recommended that QCA convene another independent panel to report on standards.

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