Former education secretary Charles Clarke will chair a review for a major exam board looking at how the burden of GCSE assessment can be reduced.
The former Labour cabinet minister has been asked to lead the review of the secondary curriculum and assessment for OCR.
It will focus on four areas of the 11-16 curriculum: improving English and maths provision; reducing the GCSE assessment burden, curriculum evolution; and digital assessment and learning.
The review will start this week and involve OCR consulting schools, teachers, students, parents and experts to develop policy proposals to be published in the summer.
OCR chief executive Jill Duffy said working throughout the education system and across the political spectrum will help develop “bold and pragmatic” policy ideas.
“We can create something better across education and assessment at 11 to 16. In a world shaped by technological, economic and environmental disruption, the next government has a tremendous opportunity to refocus and rethink key parts of our education system,” she added.
The review was announced today as the government said that it will consider the burden of assessment at GCSE and the “possibilities for streamlining”.
This came in the Department for Education’s response to a House of Lords committee report recommending exam reform.
Former Labour MP Charles Clarke was secretary of state for education and skills from 2002 to 2004 under then prime minister Tony Blair.
Mr Clarke said: “Secondary education from 11 to 16 is the foundation of a student’s life in school and in the world of work.
“I am pleased to be working with OCR, Cambridge and their first-rate network of educators and experts to develop ideas around how we can revitalise curriculum and assessment.”
A cross-party Lords committee on education for 11- to 16-year-olds warned at the end of last year that the government’s focus on a knowledge-rich curriculum overloads secondary school students.
Peers called at the time for the English Baccalaureate to be scrapped, and for the amount of external assessments at the end of key stage 4 to be significantly reduced.
Several exam boards have unveiled proposals for online exams starting in the next few years, including OCR.
OCR is part of Cambridge University Press and Assessment.
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