Replacing A Levels - With What?
For many teachers, students, universities and employers, the opportunity to replace A levels with a new syllabus cannot come too soon. This narrow system of assessment deters many students from choosing further education, and provides a poor assessment of those that do. The attempt to broaden this system by the introduction of 'S' Levels has led to overload of exams and further confusion.

The choice of its replacement has to be one of the most important decisions a government could take. Any new system must both encourage students of 16 to continue studying, and arm all students with skills they need for employment. The new syllabus must promote values which help bind a community together.

Reinventing the Wheel
Yet the Government's proposal to design a British 'Baccalaureate' is expensive, time consuming and completely reinvents the wheel. The study will cost tens of millions of pounds and means 10 more years of A levels until the syllabus is launched. All this, when there already exists a recognized and established baccalaureate curriculum that could be used as a model and introduced in less time.

The International Baccalaureate (IB) provides the model of a comprehensive and balanced curriculum coupled with challenging assessment. It has been running for 30 years and is already recognize by every university in Britain. It is offered by over 1000 schools world wide and is already in place in 43 UK institutions. So why is the Government intent on spending tens of millions of pounds on a ten year programme to rewrite a curriculum? Labour wants Whitehall to maintain control and is dismissive of something which is not British, yet schools are crying out for less government interference.

The International Baccalaureate (IB)
The IB focuses on six subjects, three at a higher level and three at a lower level. This may not seem too different from the present mishmash of A and S levels. The crucial difference is that for the IB, students MUST choose a balanced programme. For English speaking students this would include English, a non-mother tongue language, maths, science, a choice from a humanities area, and one other choice such as art or drama. Credit is given for extra curricular activity such as voluntary work, music and sport. Students also complete one extended essay, and a programme in thinking skills.

If this seems a programme only for the elite it is not so. The full spread of student ability is covered and weaker students may take a less rigorous programme of certificates. What all students achieve in the final years of school is a balanced and rigorous preparation for the working world of the future. An ability to speak a foreign language, development of thinking skills and a broad understanding of responsibility to society all contribute to success as a person and in a job.

Where the Government needs to focus its intellectual thinking is in relation to the curriculum for 14-16 year olds and what will happen to students who leave full time education at 16 . Throwing out GCSEs may be a cheap solution, but it does not provide an answer to the education of this vitally important age group and its vocational needs.

With Britain lagging behind many of its economic rivals, the introduction of a curriculum based on the IB model would be an educational investment. It would raise standards and provide a much broader skills base, meaning not all students would feel obliged to attend university, as skills requirements for jobs will have already been met.

A watered down British baccalaureate with no clear philosophical aims, as presently proposed, would again tinker with the system, which would remain in Whitehall control and avoid the radical changes that our education community is calling out for. The IB is a well tried and tested model and would certainly be greeted by industry as meeting their needs.

Do we really want our children to be the guinea pigs of another 'horlicks' of a Whitehall experiment or would it not be wiser to work from the model of The International Baccalaureate and its 30 years experience ?