The quality of education in Britain has suffered terribly from the attempt to impose one national examination system – GCSE and A-level – on all children, regardless of ability and interest.

The lifeblood of British schools has become choked by a regime that frogmarches children through exam after exam, leaving them bereft of the skills they need to get on in the world beyond the school gates. No other country in the world is as obsessed with the external exam as Britain.

So what? Well, for both teachers and students, it has meant that originality of thought, creativity, thinking skills and personal initiative have all been sacrificed on the altar of rote learning and instruction in how to pass exams.

Teachers no longer teach history: they teach history GCSE. No longer biology but biology AS-level, and no longer French, but French A-level. Many teachers know only too well that the current mix of GCSEs and A-levels is profoundly inadequate but few have the freedom they need to do anything about it.

So what about IGCSEs (the international GCSE)? Are they the answer? Certainly IGCSEs are an improvement. Pupils enjoy a test-free two years with the final exam at the end, instead of having to force down a curriculum that has been cut up into bite-sized modules and morsels of coursework that can be regurgitated until the desired mark is achieved.

However, in reality, the IGCSE is the same animal as the GCSE on which it is based, and it is hardwired with many of the same flaws.

The IGCSE is not the holy grail that many would like it to be. And neither is its A-level counterpart, the PreU. Something far more revolutionary is needed to break our national addiction to the exam.

We are lucky. The cure this country needs for an education system that is bloated with external exams and tests already exists. More than 2,500 schools in around 130 countries worldwide already benefit from the International Baccalaureate (IB) programmes; and this number is rising all the time. In the UK, nearly 180 schools, including Wellington, offer the IB diploma as an alternative to the A-level and many more are preparing to start it.

At Wellington, we have been so delighted with the impact of the IB diploma, we have decided to extend its benefits to our pupils in years 9-11 (13to 16-year-olds). So from September 2009 we will be offering the IB middle years programme (MYP) as an alternative to GCSEs.

Why? Because, like its diploma sibling, the IB MYP is the only qualification available that poses a genuine challenge to Britain’s dependence on rote learning and offers schools a real opportunity to put the life back into learning.

The IB MYP is run by an independent international body renowned for its high standards and academic rigour all over the world – a reputation sustained for more than 35 years. Since it is independent, the organisation which runs the IB is free from the meddling hand of government and immune to grade inflation.

Unlike the GCSE, this programme is based on continuous, internal assessment using a variety of techniques including assignments and presentations – as well as exams. This not only stretches the most able but allows all children to excel, not just those good at passing exams.

Crucially, it teaches children how to learn as well as what to learn. It fosters – not stifles – children’s natural curiosity, replacing rote learning with independent thinking and inquiry. It replaces instructions for passing exams with genuine teaching and exciting learning; it swaps separate subjects for subjects that are connected in all sorts of ways, shedding light on the exciting links between disciplines that are currently taught in complete isolation from each other. It replaces academic sponginess with academic rigour.

Finally – and perhaps this will prove to be the most important element of all – the IB MYP restores trust to teachers and schools, giving them the freedom to develop their own courses and to decide what is best for their pupils – albeit according to the exacting standards of the IB.

In short, recent attempts to move away from the GCSE system are welcome but they are not enough. They do not go the distance. What is needed in Britain is nothing less than a sea change in the way we approach education. At Wellington, I am confident that this is exactly what we will see when in a few months’ time, we start the IB MYP.

What we need now are bold moves to ensure that the rest of the country sees the same. The IB MYP, which can be offered in all schools, not just independent schools, is the only qualification out there that stands a chance of making this happen.

Anthony Seldon is master of Wellington college

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