HAS Ruth Kelly sounded the death knell for coursework in GCSEs?

After two decades in which examiners and many schools have extolled the virtues of coursework, the Education Secretary’s demand for a subject-by-subject review suggests a fundamental change of heart at the top of Government.

The tone of Ms Kelly’s letter to the Government’s examinations watchdog makes plain her alarm at the extent of cheating taking place and its potential to wreck confidence in the qualifications system. Her instruction to the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) to regard coursework as “not the favoured approach” turns the established orthodoxy on its head.

It will gladden traditionalists who have long blamed coursework for a “dumbing down” of academic standards since GCSEs replaced O levels in 1988.

Many have also argued that coursework has been the prime cause of the widening “gender gap” in performance, since it is more suited to the diligent working style of girls, while boys tend to do better in all-or-nothing exams. There was little difference in achievement between the sexes at 16 before the arrival of GCSEs and coursework. This year, in state schools, 48.4 per cent of boys achieved five or more GCSEs at grades A*-C compared with 58.9 per cent of girls.

Warnings have been issued repeatedly about the impact of coursework on standards. A survey of 2,000 students in 1996 found that more than half agreed that it was easy to cheat in coursework.

The boards dismissed this finding as a “blip”, preferring to highlight the fact that two thirds of students believed that coursework was also a fairer method of assessment. But some teachers began to argue that coursework was making a nonsense of standards. Candidates were getting higher grades with the aid of parents and their teachers than they could achieve on their own.

John Major ordered a crackdown in 1991 amid concern that it was contributing to grade inflation. The controversy was heightened by the availability of an English GCSE that involved 100 per cent coursework and no final exam.

This was cut back to 40 per cent in the changes that took effect in 1994, but the concerns continued. The spread of the internet fuelled the fears as students began offering “model” work online for anyone to copy.

Graham Able, the Master of Dulwich College in southeast London, said in 2001 that the internet was making it impossible for schools to police coursework. He called for examined coursework to be done under controlled conditions.

Now Ruth Kelly has acted. Her plans to introduce vocational diplomas for 14-year-olds in 2008 depend on them winning credibility with employers. The crackdown on standards sends them a clear signal that she prefers rigour to popularity, even at the cost of a drop in pass rates.

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