Eton head calls for exams overhaul

Tony Little, headmaster of Eton College, said the number of GCSEs teenagers take should be slashed by half to no more than five or six.

He condemned the prevailing culture of assessment that dominates education and argued for more room to be given to broader courses that are not externally examined.

Mr Little said: "There is a very good case to look again and ask the question, 'are we examining too much?' I think we are. We have got into a habit of assessing everything that young people do.

"It is seen often by young people themselves as a virtue that they have 11 or 12 GCSEs. Not so long ago it would be quite normal for young people to take five or six O-levels and a range of other courses that were not examined."

He suggested limiting the number of GCSEs that pupils can take.

"We can reduce the assumption that there has to be a whole raft of GCSEs with grades at the end," he said. "If we had an expectation that there would be a smaller number - say four, five or six - that had to be achieved", students would have more time to study other courses.

Mr Little was speaking after research showed that English children face more tests from a younger age than pupils in many other countries. The Cambridge-based Primary Review said England's preoccupation with assessment was unique.

Last week, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) exams watchdog announced an investigation into marking amid concerns that pupils have been given the wrong grades. Eton, which charges annual fees of £26,490, was one of the schools that complained to the QCA after sending hundreds of papers back to exam boards for re-marking last summer.

Mr Little said: "We are asking our exam boards, the way they are currently constituted, to do too much. Understandably, they find it very difficult to deliver effectively right across the board."