A GOVERNMENT adviser is proposing to rescue A-levels from the ravages of grade inflation by introducing a new series of top marks to identify the brightest pupils.

Mike Tomlinson, who is chairing an official inquiry into the reform of the curriculum for 14 to 19-year-olds, is proposing to split the current A grade into four, ranging from A1 down through A2, A3 and A4.

Introduction of the grades would amount to an admission by the government that universities and employers had lost confidence in the existing system.

Grade inflation has made it increasingly difficult for universities to choose between applicants at the upper levels. Last year more than one in five A-level papers was awarded an A grade, double the level of a decade ago.

To help distinguish between A-grade applicants, Oxford University has announced plans to run its own tests in English and history alongside A-levels. A number of other universities are introducing similar tests in medicine and law.

This weekend Tomlinson said: “Differentiating the top grades is one of the biggest issues we face, with the large numbers now getting them. We are looking at the possibility of having the results of people at A grade telling them whether they are in the top quartile, second, third or bottom quartile. That would give a degree of differentiation. (At present) the marked range covering grade A is very considerable.”

Tomlinson, a former chief inspector of schools, also favours making some A-level questions more open-ended to allow top performers to shine.

Disclosure of the move — which would mirror the introduction of the A-starred grade at GCSE — comes less than two weeks before A-level students receive their results. It follows controversy earlier this year when students who were predicted to get straight As failed to get offers from the universities of their choice because of a glut of such applicants.

At present, students can take extension papers, on top of their A-levels, to try to give them an edge over other applicants. However, they have not proved popular: last year there were fewer than 8,000 entries. Tomlinson will submit his final recommendation to Charles Clarke, the education secretary, either next month or October. His advice on A-levels is part of a wider review into education for 14 to 19-year-olds. It is expected to recommend pupils study for a diploma that would absorb GCSEs, AS and A-levels and would cover entry, foundation, intermediate and advanced levels.

Tomlinson said the consultation process, which has so far cost more than £1m, had demonstrated support for root and branch reform rather than for further tinkering. “I think people feel we have made enough piecemeal changes,” he said.

Similar moves to help universities distinguish between A-grade candidates are also being considered by the government’s examinations watchdog, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. It is talking to Ucas, the body that processes university applications, about disclosing candidates’ marks for individual papers to give universities an even more refined guide to performance.

Tomlinson is also understood to favour a change to allow students to apply to universities after they have received their A-level results, which would enable applicants to be matched to places more accurately. This has traditionally been resisted by schools because it would require the exams to be held even earlier in the year.

A spokesman for the Department for Education and Skills declined to comment on Tomlinson’s proposals until the report had been received. However, he claimed they were a sign of the strength of pupils’ achievement: “We must be the only country in the world that thinks it is a national crisis when more people do well in exams.”

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