Part V: Conclusion and recommendations
11 Conclusion
193. From our detailed study of the examination system
in England, we have come to the conclusion that competition between
the exam boards for market share, combined with the influence
of the accountability system, leads to significant downward pressure
on standards. Ofqual is taking action to address competition on
grading standards and grade inflation. But current incentives
in the system encourage the exam boards to compete for schools'
business by having the most "accessible" syllabus. Schools
buy into the syllabus that will help them achieve the best results.
This perpetuates a "race to the bottom" on content.
It is essential that the Government takes action to change these
damaging incentives.
194. There are several ways of addressing this situation,
all of which we have examined carefully. A single exam board is
the obvious option, but this has significant downsides. Franchising
subjects to exam boards is another alternative, but this too has
significant downsides. We therefore support piloting a change
to national syllabuses, which would remove the incentive for exam
boards to compete on content and the associated downward pressure
on standards, while retaining the benefits of competition on quality
of service and the incentive to innovate. We stress that this
is not an argument against multiple syllabuses in a subject: there
could be more than one national syllabus in a subject, to provide
choice to schools.
195. National syllabuses, coupled with a strengthened
Ofqual and the introduction of national subject committees, should
help to maximise the benefits of multiple exam boards while minimising
the downsides and avoiding the cost, risk and disruption involved
in major structural reform. However, as with all options for reform
of exam administration, they can have only limited impact while
the school accountability system continues to drive behaviour
in the classroom. Only when issues with the accountability system,
such as the dominance of the C/D borderline, are directly addressed,
can we hope to see an end to "teaching to the test"
and appropriate attention given to the progress of every child.
We therefore call upon the Government to re-examine the school
accountability system as a matter of utmost urgency.
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