MOVES to replace A levels and GCSEs with a new school diploma will begin in three years’ time under the biggest reform of examinations for half a century.

Children entering their final year of primary school this September would be the first to “graduate” with the new school diploma at 18, under plans that would scrap the A level by 2011. Preparations for the diploma would begin in 2006, with GCSEs disappearing by 2009.

The proposals will be set out today by Mike Tomlinson, the former Chief Inspector of Schools, who has been appointed by the Education Secretary to lead a review of qualifications for pupils aged 14 to 19. He will set out plans for a broad diploma at four levels of difficulty, with students accumulating credits through the courses they choose.

The countdown to the new curriculum will begin in October when public consultation ends. Mr Tomlinson will deliver an interim report to Charles Clarke in January with final recommendations next July. The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority would then work with the examination boards to draw up new syllabuses, based on many of the existing modular courses for GCSE and A level.

Labour is expected to include the diploma in its next election manifesto. Mr Clarke and David Miliband, the School Standards Minister, are expected to give only a cautious welcome to Mr Tomlinson’s report because they are anxious to ensure that public consultations are seen to be genuinely free and wide-ranging. But Mr Miliband, who has described a single baccalaureate-style diploma as the best way forward, said at the launch of the review in January that he wanted the qualification to be taken by pupils now in the upper reaches of primary school.

The tight timescale is likely to lead to criticism that the Government risks a repeat of the debacle over the Curriculum 2000 reforms which led to last year’s “grade-fixing” controversy. Mr Tomlinson’s inquiry into the crisis over the 2002 results — the first under Curriculum 2000 — concluded that it was partly caused by the rushed introduction of changes to A levels and a failure to test them in schools.

The National Union of Teachers wants a minimum of ten years’ notice before any new system is introduced, which would put the diploma back to 2014. Doug McAvoy, its general secretary, said last night: “Examination reform is a high-risk business. It can go badly wrong, as the past has shown.”

Mr Tomlinson’s report does not explicitly call for the abolition of GCSE and A levels, but presents that as one of two options. He will say that the examinations could survive as component parts of a single diploma rather than as free-standing qualifications.

He will ease the transition to the new system by proposing a large reduction in the number of exams that pupils face, with much of the diploma gained through school-based assessment and recognition of achievements in sport, the arts and voluntary work.

All courses would be broken into modular units so that pupils could build up credits as they progress through school.

The diploma would have up to four components. Students would pursue a general education in English, maths and information technology (IT) and to take specialist subjects related to their interests.

These could be a mixture of academic and vocational courses, supplemented by additional study in relevant fields. A student taking geography, for example, might take a course in statistics.

Students would also get credit for extracurricular activities such as performing in the school play or orchestra, taking a Duke of Edinburgh award, or doing voluntary work. Mr Tomlinson said last week that even playing “in the local village cricket team” should be recognised.

The diploma will be awarded to students at four levels of ability. The entry level would be equivalent to the standards expected at 14; foundation level would be the same as the lower grades at GCSE. The intermediate diploma would be roughly equal to five GCSE passes at grade C or better, and Advanced level would be equivalent to A levels.

Mr Tomlinson will admit that he has still to resolve how best to recognise achievement for the thousands of pupils who leave school at 16. One possibility is the award of credits towards a diploma, allowing youngsters to return later to complete the full qualification.

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