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Education and Inspections Bill

Absolutely, my Lords; they have that option and it may be appropriate. We strongly encourage that the offer be made so that they can follow the most appropriate course for them. The article in the Times Educational Supplement on the introduction of the diplomas to which the noble Baroness referred was unduly alarmist. We will be putting significant resources behind the diploma and exerting all the powers of persuasion and encouragement that the QCA and my department have. We do not intend the diploma to be yet another failed experiment in the introduction of a broader curriculum. Because of the important entitlement that is set out in the Bill, we will be in a very strong position to require schools and colleges to take the introduction of diploma lines very seriously. We are also establishing 14-to-19 partnerships across the country to ensure that the full range of the new curriculum, including the specialised diplomas, is available on a collaborative basis between schools and colleges in the partnerships. That will give significant impetus to making the enlarged curriculum properly available in all parts of the country. I hope that I have met the noble Baroness’s concerns on that point. Amendment No. 102, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Buscombe, would mean that students are no longer required to complete assessment at AS-level in order to achieve an A-level. The AS-level currently makes up 50 per cent of A-level assessment and is an important step in the transition from GCSE to A-level. We agree that there should be less assessment and fewer units in the AS-level. As part of our response to the Tomlinson report we announced our plans to reduce the number of assessment units in A-levels from six to four so that students will have to study only two units in the AS year and not three as is currently required. In most cases that will lead to fewer AS assessments and will reduce the assessment burden of the AS-level and the A-level by a third. It is a significant reduction and goes in the direction that the noble Baroness wants. Amendment No. 103 deals with the IB. I entirely associate myself with the remarks of the noble Baroness, Lady Buscombe, and my noble friend Lady Whitaker in supporting the IB. It is an excellent qualification and should be widely available in the state system. However, the amendment is unnecessary as the IB is already an approved qualification in the state system. State-maintained and independent schools are already free to offer the IB to students and it is currently being taught in over 70 schools and colleges in England including a large and growing number of maintained schools. The Government are keen that students in the maintained sector should have a wider opportunity to study it if they so wish. I hope that, on the basis of those assurances, the noble Baroness will not feel it necessary to press the amendment.