Coursework is to be scrapped from most GCSE examinations in response to fears that it has allowed students to copy from the internet or to get their teachers, siblings or parents to complete projects for them.

It will be replaced by work supervised in strict conditions at school, to be known as “controlled assessments”.

Pupils will still be able to consult the internet and other source material, but teachers will be on hand to ensure that all work is suitably referenced and not simply “cut and pasted” by students claiming it as their own, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority said yesterday.

The QCA said that traditional coursework completed by pupils at home will be scrapped in English literature, foreign languages, history, geography, classical subjects, religious studies, social sciences, business studies and economics for courses starting in 2009.

No final decision about English language and information technology has yet been made.

Only practical subjects such as art, music, design and technology and home economics will retain a nonsupervised coursework element, which can be worth 20 to 60 per cent of the marks in certain subjects.

Under the new regime controlled assessments will account for 25 per cent of marks in most subjects.

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