Diploma pupils to be spared exams

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Cramming for exams could become a thing of the past for many sixth formers.

Pupils opting to take advanced-level diploma courses instead of A-levels will earn three quarters of their final grades without sitting any formal examinations.

Up to 78 per cent of the courses - equivalent to three-and-a-half A-levels - will be assessed by teachers, ministers said yesterday. The revelation has raised doubts over the stringency of the qualifications which are being introduced in September.

Ministers will argue that the diplomas are more practical than traditional A-levels and lend themselves to continuous assessment rather than crunch tests.

They have also said the assessments will be "controlled" - pupils would be timed and supervised but would be allowed to use textbooks and the internet for research.

However, this form of assessment has already replaced coursework in GCSEs and A-levels and can allow teachers to give pupils guidance before they redraft their work.

David Laws, Liberal Democrat schools spokesman, said: "It seems bizarre that diplomas should be so much based on internal assessment at a time when the Government has been trying to make the marking of A-levels and GCSEs more rigorous."

Schools Secretary Ed Balls has said diplomas could become the "jewel in the crown" of the education system and has refused to guarantee the future of A-levels.

Younger pupils opting for diplomas at a lower level will sit even fewer exams.

In foundation diplomas, worth five GCSEs at grades D to G, 13 per cent of marks will depend on exams, while in higher diplomas, worth seven at grades A* to C, it will be 14 per cent.