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Government backs A-level alternative

Posted on 7th March 2008

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The government announced that it is adding an extended option to its diploma scheme, in the hope of attracting the support of top universities and leading private schools.

From 2011 the brightest students will be able to take the extended diploma from age 14, which will equate to four and a half A-levels at the top level.

Currently the diploma has been seen as a vocation option, but the children's secretary Ed Balls is hoping that the new advanced option will appeal to Oxford and Cambridge, which have questioned the academic rigorousness of A-levels in recent years.

Mike Tomlinson, who devised the diploma scheme, told the Guardian: "It will be more attractive to the universities and private schools."

The government hopes that the diploma will have replaced the traditional GCSE and A-level system as the more popular choice for pupils by 2013.

A number of top independent schools have already implemented new exam schemes for their students, in particular the French-created International Baccalaureate, which is also preferred by Oxford and Cambridge.
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