Jim Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2014-07-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Government’s proposed reforms to A-levels will entail that students will have to decide which subjects they wish to continue to A-levels at the beginning of Year 12 rather than later in that year.

Mr Nick Gibb

As the first new A levels become linear from 2015, the AS will be entirely decoupled from the A level, so that the marks do not count towards the final A level grade. Students will still be able to take stand-alone AS qualifications at the end of year 12. This flexibility will help those who are unsure at the start of year 12 which subjects they wish to continue to A level. We expect teachers to help students decide whether it is right to take an AS qualification.

The decoupling of the AS aims to end the routine and automatic external assessment of all students at the end of year 12. We believe this places unnecessary burdens on students and teachers. Those students who have made clear subject choices in year 12 will be able to use AS qualifications to add breadth to their A level studies, but will not be required to take them in all subjects.

Schools should, as now, use their own assessments to enable students to understand how they are progressing and support them to decide what qualifications to take.