Plan for 'more difficult' A-levels

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For the first time since it was set up 10 years ago, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) is proposing to take a more active role in the drafting of individual question papers.

The watchdog wants to ensure exam boards implement a Government drive to make A-levels more stretching, with greater use of open-ended, essay-style questions.

The move comes amid continuing debate over the standard of A-levels and GCSEs as pass rates rise.

Earlier this month Simon Lebus, Chief Executive of exam board Cambridge Assessment, said he was "troubled" by studies that suggested A-levels and GCSEs were getting easier.

The QCA's director of regulation and standards, Isabel Nisbet, raised the issue of taking "a more active role" in setting GCSE and A-level question papers at a board meeting in September.

The purpose would be "to ensure that papers are of high quality, and to ensure that future GCE (A-level) papers have fewer structured questions, requiring more extended responses", according to the board minutes.

The watchdog, which is to be split up with the creation of a new independent regulator of exam standards, will send consultants into a small sample of exam board meetings.

These consultants will observe the question setting process before the A-level papers and mark schemes are finalised.

The reformed A-levels, to be taught for the first time from next September, will also include a new A* grade to recognise students who score marks of 90% or more in their final exams.