UK exam board criticised for GCSE that requires no writing

British exam boards came under fire today over plans to introduce new GCSEs which which pupils can pass without having to write.

British exam boards came under fire today over plans to introduce new GCSEs which pupils can pass without having to write.

Britain’s first multiple choice-based science GCSEs are to become available later this year.

While multiple choice has long been a feature of science testing, the new qualifications, which are supplemented by coursework, are the first to completely ditch traditional written papers.

From September AQA is offering a science GCSE in which pupils will be able to score up to 75% purely on multiple choice papers – or “objective tests”. A similar GCSE is to be offered by Edexcel.

Former UK chief inspector of schools Prof Chris Woodhead described the move as “ludicrous” but added that he feared that other qualifications could follow suit.

“I think this is the future,” he said.

“It is partly driven by the difficulty we have in getting examiners, people to mark the papers, because it is easier and of course multiple choice papers can be computerised and I can understand the difficulties.

“But from an educational point of view then I think these are disastrous.”

A spokeswoman for AQA emphasised that the coursework element, which accounts for 25% of marks, would still require writing.

“It does test extended writing,” she said. “Candidates have to do investigative work.”

The organisation defended the use of multiple choice describing it as a “well established assessment tool”.

Prof Woodhead said: “Multiple choice has some value but I would see it as part of an examination where there are other forms of assessment.

“It can test factual recall but if you want to test understanding and if you want to test the candidate’s ability to think then multiple choice does not do that.”

He added that the move towards multiple choice was part of a wider “dumbing down” of science something he said was: “Driven by the totally erroneous conviction that science has to be made relevant to the interests of young people”.