Ofqual has warned that the scale of change needed to introduce the Advanced British Standard (ABS) is “unprecedented” and it would require “significant investment”.
Last year prime minister Rishi Sunak launched plans to bring together A levels and T levels into a new single ABS qualification for school leavers.
The exams regulator today warned that “achieving the ambitions of the ABS requires change on a scale unprecedented in England in recent decades. It envisages concurrent reform to curriculum, qualification content and structures”.
Ofqual’s response to the ABS consultation suggests that the government could first focus on “investment on the teacher workforce” amid warnings that there are not enough teachers to meet its ambitions for the new qualification.
It warns that “international A levels” would be likely to run in independent schools and abroad, even if A levels were no longer available in English state schools. It says that these qualifications could pose a “confidence or reputational challenge for the ABS”.
Advanced British Standard: Concerns over A levels
Ofqual suggests the government could keep existing qualifications in place within an ABS framework.
It adds that the government must be confident “that the speed and nature of any reform programme is manageable” so that the delivery of current qualifications “is not put at risk”.
The regulator adds: “Reform on this scale can be delivered successfully, but its scale and complexity require significant investment of resource across all parts of the education system.”
Ofqual says it welcomes the long-term timescale for reform “and the resourcing commitments set out in the consultation”.
Ministers have said it will take a decade to introduce the ABS reforms.
Ofqual’s response also highlights the importance of trust in a qualification that it describes as being “a currency”.
It says that the A-level brand is especially well regarded by qualification users and that more than 80 per cent of respondents to Ofqual’s perceptions survey agreed that A levels are trusted qualifications.
“This high level of confidence has been stable over recent years. This trust has been built over the 73 years that students have taken the qualification,” Ofqual says.
It adds that new qualifications can succeed and gain recognition, citing the introduction of GCSEs - but warns that it can take time to build confidence and understanding.
“The department might consider whether the aims of the ABS could be successfully implemented whilst retaining the identity and branding of well-established and more recently introduced qualifications that are beginning to secure public awareness, as components within the new ABS framework,” Ofqual says.
Tes revealed earlier this year that a major exam board had urged the Department for Education to keep A-level qualifications intact.
In its response to the DfE consultation on the ABS plans, Cambridge University Press and Assessment, which includes exam board OCR, said that the “respect, recognition and success” of A levels is ”of great benefit to UK students and growing numbers of their peers who sit A levels in other jurisdictions”.
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