Durham University expert comments on GCSE exam changes

Durham University expert comments on GCSE exam changes. A Durham University expert has called for more discussion on examination systems before the government introduces changes to GCSEs for 16-year-olds. The comments follow the move by Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education, to replace GCSE exams with a single examination which pupils will sit at the end of the school year, rather than working on continually-assessed coursework based on the current modular structure. The proposed changes represent the biggest shake-up of secondary school qualifications for nearly 25 years. Professor Robert Coe, Director, The Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring at Durham University, said: "Coursework and modular exams have been getting a bad name recently but there are good educational reasons for including both in assessments. The problems come when you combine them with a high-pressure accountability system that includes league tables, closing down schools that don't meet 'floor targets', and the general perception, reinforced by Ofsted, that exam results measure educational quality. The truth is that no kind of assessment can really withstand this kind of pressure. "Accountability is here to stay, and rightly so, but we need to have some discussion about how we create accountability systems that are not completely dysfunctional for learning. "It is not obvious how the new qualification will be different from GCSEs. Of course you can give it a new name and say it will be rigorous and be like the O-levels were, but what does this mean?