10.1 We look to the Government to make an early commitment to the principles embodied in this report. Only with that commitment will it be possible to make steady and orderly progress towards a new approach to A levels.
10.2 Responsibility for the detailed planning and implementation of this approach will rest with SEC working in co-operation with the Boards and other agencies. We welcome in particular the assurances given to us by the Boards that they will look constructively upon any new A level arrangements accepted by the Government. A positive and early response from the Boards towards the proposals for syllabus development contained in this report will be crucial. Similarly, their role will be vital in ensuring the careful study of such possibilities as the accreditation of centres.
10.3 We recognise fully the demands which our proposals will make upon the commitment, expertise and time of teachers. We have sought to secure for them a more positive role in the process of A level examining, and we are aware that this role cannot be assumed without the necessary training. At an appropriate stage, therefore, the Government will need to take a lead on teacher training.
10.4 Assuming the Government's early acceptance in principle of our proposals, the earliest date at which candidates could sit end-of-course examinations based wholly on the new approach is 1994.
10.5 Action leading towards this date, and beyond, should be set in hand as quickly as possible. The necessary steps are identified below:
(a) SEC groups should be established to produce General Principles by mid 1989 and Subject-specific Principles, including common cores, by early 1990.
(b) Such groups (to be financed and serviced by SEC) should be drawn from employers, higher education, teachers in schools and colleges and from the GCE Boards collectively. Invitations to serve on each group should be issued by SEC, which body should also appoint the chairmen.
(c) Responsibility for developing the new AS level syllabuses, which we have identified, should rest with the GeE Boards. We would expect that the groups developing these syllabuses would include both main subject specialists and specialists able to identify the needs of the target student group.
(d) A programme of research and pilot studies on issues identified in this report should be initiated, namely on modules (paragraph 5.17), oral and non-traditional approaches and improved forms of
assessment (paragraphs 6.1, 6.2 and 6.4), assessment criteria (paragraph 6.7), accreditation (paragraph 6.11), profile reporting and profile marking (paragraphs 6.15 and 6.16), development of new certificates (paragraph 7.8), student counselling (paragraphs 8.3 and 8.4), records of achievement for post-If students (paragraph 8.10).
(e) By mid 1990 a start should be made on the development of teacher training programmes.
(f) By the beginning of 1991 Boards should have submitted all syllabuses for SEC approval. As part of the process of reducing the number of syllabuses on offer, we anticipate that a Board would have to offer strong justification for submitting for approval more than one syllabus under a given subject title, and that many syllabuses would be submitted by one Board for use on a shared inter-Board basis. We anticipate also that all syllabuses would have to satisfy both General and Subject-specific Principles. An appropriate mechanism will be required to achieve this. It may be, for example, that the brief for subject-specific groups will have to allow for some flexibility of interpretation; and that Boards may choose under which Subject-specific Principles to submit a syllabus where this is not immediately obvious.
(g) By the beginning of the academic year 1991-2 SEC should have approved those syllabuses which will be examined in 1994.
(h) By the beginning of the academic year 1992-3 the new syllabuses will be in use in schools and colleges.
10.6 Our proposals will, we believe, introduce a greater measure of coherence into students' education and training both before and after the A level stage. We are very aware, however, that for the next six years at least, students will be embarking upon the present A levels having had experience of GCSE courses, and that such coherence and continuity may well be limited. In addition to the steps already taken to minimise any discrepancy, we urge that SEC and the Boards take as many measures as are practicable to prepare for the new approach in advance of the timetable set out in paragraph 10.5 above, for example in relation to procedures and openness. We would expect, for example, any new syllabus proposals to be very carefully scrutinised in the light of our recommendations.