Consultation on GCSE exams launched

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The new criteria include controlled assessments in which coursework is removed in some subjects, such as mathematics, and in others teacher-marked assessments are taken under supervised conditions.

The consultation comes after the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) announced sweeping cuts to GCSE coursework in October 2006 as part of the drive to stamp out cheating in schools.

Controlled assessments would replace coursework in business studies, classical subjects, economics, English literature, geography, history, modern foreign languages, religious studies and social sciences, it said.

Dr Ken Boston, QCA chief executive, said: "Controlled assessments will increase public confidence in the GCSE and allow the integration of new sources of data and information, including the internet, under supervision.

"QCA will ensure that the standards and comparability of the GCSE is maintained as we develop the qualification for the future."

Shadow education secretary David Willetts said: "Any move to strengthen assessment is welcome, but the spin claiming this is the abolition of coursework is seriously misleading. This exercise is largely about tightening up controls on coursework, and the report admits that it is largely a renaming exercise. Use of the internet will still be permitted, and work can take place without teacher supervision outside the classroom - it's just it won't be called coursework.

"The right way forward is not to rename coursework, as the Government is doing. Instead, what is important is that work is properly monitored to ensure it reflects the student's own efforts."

Liberal Democrat education spokeswoman Sarah Teather said: "While cutting down on cheating is vital to maintain the credibility of GCSEs, students must not be denied the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities outside of exam situations."

Commenting on the announcement, Education and Skills Secretary Alan Johnson said the proposals would ensure that GCSEs were seen as a "robust and rigorous qualification".