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The exams watchdog has dismissed calls to overhaul the A-level grading system amid concern that soaring numbers of teenagers are achieving As.
Kathleen Tattersall, chairwoman of Ofqual, said it was more important to maintain consistent standards from one year to the next than to make the exams harder.
Last month's results showed a record 26.7 per cent of A-level exams were awarded A grades as the overall pass rate rose for the 27th year in a row.
Exam boards had raised the prospect of "cranking up" the standard of A-levels to take account of rising pass rates.
But Ms Tattersall said she was "not enamoured of the idea", adding: "What we're looking for is consistency in standards, not something which becomes tougher or, God forbid, easier."
Her remarks will disappoint traditionalists who believe exams have become easier in recent years.
The pass rate leapt in 2002 when the first group of teenagers to take modular A-levels completed their courses.
Last month, Jerry Jarvis, managing director of the Edexcel exam board, suggested "recalibrating" the value of A-level grades may be required in future.
Such a move could see the marks required for an A rise from 80 per cent to 85 per cent, for example.
However, Ms Tattersall told the Independent: "You have to have consistency."
Reader views (3)
...but there is consistency. The results are consistently indicating inappropriate seeming, and therefore valueless results. That old saying about not fixing something if it isn't broken has a flip-side too, you know.
- Rogan, Irving, 03/09/2009 14:20
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Of course exams are getting easier. The only other possible explanation for the rapidly increasing number of A and A* grades is that today's youth is evolving into a new species, much more intelligent than the human race has ever been during the last two milennia and more. Does Ms. Tattersall really believe the latter?
But you don't even need to consider the results. Just look at the syllabuses. When I did my Physics A-level (35 years ago), a knowledge of calculus was required, something which A-level Mathematics supplied. Today, calculus is no longer part even of the Mathematics A-level syllabus. The Physics syllabus has been cut back so much that an A-grade can be obtained without studying A-level maths at all. Which is sad - it's like teaching Geography without maps, or Carpentry without chisels.
Many of today's students could accomplish a lot more during their years at achool, but the system does not give them any chance to do so. It's a sickening waste of their potential.
- Nigel, London, 03/09/2009 13:52
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Shame, I thought she was going to rename them GCSE's and bring in a harder exam to replace it.
- Bob, Cheam, 03/09/2009 12:19
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