The Administration of Examinations for 15–19 Year Olds in England
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House of Commons Education Committee The administration of examinations for 15–19 year olds in England First Report of Session 2012–13 Volume II Oral and written evidence Additional written evidence is contained in Volume III, available on the Committee website at www.parliament.uk/educom Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 12 June 2012 HC 141-II Published 3 July 2012 by authority of the House of Commons London: The Stationery Office Limited £20.50 The Education Committee The Education Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Education and its associated public bodies. Membership at time Report agreed: Mr Graham Stuart MP (Conservative, Beverley & Holderness) (Chair) Neil Carmichael MP (Conservative, Stroud) Alex Cunningham MP (Labour, Stockton North) Bill Esterson MP, (Labour, Sefton Central) Pat Glass MP (Labour, North West Durham) Damian Hinds MP (Conservative, East Hampshire) Charlotte Leslie MP (Conservative, Bristol North West) Ian Mearns MP (Labour, Gateshead) Lisa Nandy MP (Labour, Wigan) David Ward MP (Liberal Democrat, Bradford East) Craig Whittaker MP (Conservative, Calder Valley) Nic Dakin MP (Labour, Scunthorpe) and Tessa Munt MP (Liberal Democrat, Wells) were also members of the Committee during the inquiry. Powers The Committee is one of the departmental select committees, the powers of which are set out in House of Commons Standing Orders, principally in SO No 152. These are available on the Internet via www.parliament.uk Publications The Reports and evidence of the Committee are published by The Stationery Office by Order of the House. All publications of the Committee (including press notices) are on the Internet at www.parliament.uk/education-committee Committee staff The current staff of the Committee are Dr Lynn Gardner (Clerk), Penny Crouzet (Committee Specialist), Benjamin Nicholls (Committee Specialist), Ameet Chudasama (Senior Committee Assistant), Caroline McElwee (Committee Assistant), and Paul Hampson (Committee Support Assistant) Contacts All correspondence should be addressed to the Clerk of the Education Committee, House of Commons, 7 Millbank, London SW1P 3JA. The telephone number for general enquiries is 020 7219 6181; the Committee’s e-mail address is [email protected] Witnesses Tuesday 29 November 2011 Page Martin Collier, Headmaster, St John’s School, Leatherhead, Surrey, David Burton, Deputy Headteacher, St Michael’s CofE High School, Crosby, Liverpool, Rob Pritchard, Headteacher, St Mary’s Catholic High School, Menston, Ilkley, West Yorkshire, and Teresa Kelly, Principal of Abingdon and Witney College, Member of Principals’ Professional Council/Association of School and College Leaders Ev 1 Professor Nick Lieven, Pro Vice-Chancellor, University of Bristol, Anna Gutiérrez, Head of Student Administration, University of Bournemouth, and Anne Tipple, National Skills Executive, British Chambers of Commerce Ev 14 Thursday 15 December 2011 Paul Barnes, Paul Evans and Steph Warren, senior examiners Ev 20 Andrew Hall, Chief Executive Officer, AQA, Mark Dawe, Chief Executive, OCR, Rod Bristow, President, Pearson UK (on behalf of Edexcel) and Gareth Pierce, Chief Executive, WJEC Ev 27 Glenys Stacey, Chief Executive, Ofqual, and Dennis Opposs, Director of Standards, Ofqual Ev 39 Wednesday 18 January 2012 Professor Jo-Anne Baird, Pearson Professor and Director of the Oxford University Centre for Educational Assessment, Dr Michelle Meadows, Director of Centre for Education Research and Policy, AQA, Tim Oates, Group Director, Assessment Research and Development, Cambridge Assessment, and Professor Alison Wolf, Sir Roy Griffith Professor of Public Sector Management, King’s College, London Ev 48 Professor Stephen J Ball, FBA, AcSS, British Academy, Professor Sir John Holman, Senior Fellow for Education, Wellcome Trust, Professor Graham Hutchings, FRS, SCORE Chair, and Warwick Mansell, freelance journalist Ev 59 Tuesday 21 February 2012 John Butterworth, Educational Writer and Chief Examiner, on behalf of the Society of Authors, Paul Howarth, UK and International Managing Director, Nelson Thornes, Jacob Pienaar, Managing Director of Schools and Colleges, Pearson UK, and Kate Harris, Managing Director, Education and Children’s Division, Oxford University Press Ev 69 Rod Bristow, President, Pearson UK, on behalf of Edexcel, Mark Dawe, Chief Executive, OCR, and Andrew Hall, Chief Executive Officer, AQA Ev 75 Wednesday 21 March 2012 Amanda Spielman, Chair, and Chief Regulator of Qualifications and Examinations, Ofqual, and Glenys Stacey, Chief Executive, Ofqual Ev 92 Nick Gibb MP, Minister of State for Schools, Department for Education Ev 102 List of printed written evidence 1 Martin Collier, Headmaster, St John’s School, Leatherhead Ev 112 2 Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA) Ev 113 3 Pearson Ev 120 4 The Wellcome Trust Ev 128 5 Oxford Cambridge and RSA Examination Board (OCR) Ev 133 6 Cambridge Assessment Ev 144 7 British Chambers of Commerce Ev 152 8 SCORE (Science Community Representing Education) Ev 153 9 Ofqual Ev 160, E197 10 Department for Education Ev 170, Ev 201 11 David Burton, Deputy Headteacher CofE High School Crosby, Liverpool Ev 174 12 Robert Pritchard, Headteacher, St Mary’s Catholic High School, Ilkley, West Yorkshire Ev 175 13 Teresa Kelly, Abingdon and Witney College Ev 175 14 British Academy Ev 176 15 Jo-Anne Baird, Jannette Elwood and Tina Isaacs, Oxford University, Centre for Educational Assessment, Queen’s University, Belfast & the Institute of Education Ev 178 16 WJEC Ev 182 17 Society of Authors Ev 184 18 Oxford University Press Ev 188 19 AQA Centre for Education Research and Policy (CERP) Ev 192 List of additional written evidence (published in Volume III on the Committee’s website www.parliament.uk/educom) 1 National Union of Teachers Ev w1 2 Andrew Hunt Ev w3 3 Mark Hobson Ev w7 4 Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) Ev w8 5 Council for Awards in Care, Health and Education (CACHE) Ev w10 6 GL Assessment Ev w14 7 Institute of Mathematics and its Applications Ev w15 8 Association of Teachers of Mathematics (ATM) Ev w18 9 EMTA Awards Limited (EAL) Ev w19 10 The Royal Statistical Society Ev w20 11 Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) Ev w22 12 DRS (Data Services Limited) Ev w26 13 Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors (CIEA) Ev w30 14 Federation of Awarding Bodies Ev w31 15 Vicky McCarthy Ev w34 16 Roger Porkess Ev w35 17 Dr Ian Jones, Mathematics Education Centre, Loughborough University Ev w37 18 The Mathematical Association Ev w38 19 Examination Officers’ Association (EOA) Ev w41 20 Dr Tony Gardner, University Birmingham Ev w45 21 National Association of Headteachers (NAHT) Ev w48 22 Fiona Nicholson, independent home education consultant, Sheffield Ev w49 23 Sector Skills Council for Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies (SEMTA) Ev w49 24 David Leitch Ev w51 25 E-Skills UK Ev w52 26 University of Cambridge International Examinations Ev w55 27 London Mathematical Society Ev w58 28 Girls’ Day School Trust (GDST) Ev w60 29 Mathematics in Education and Industry (MEI) Ev w61 30 Centre for Market Reform in Education Ev w63 31 NISAI Group Ev w65 32 Association of Colleges (AoC) Ev w67 33 NASUWT, The Teachers’ Union Ev w70 34 The Royal Grammar School, Guildford Ev w75 35 National Union of Students (NUS) Ev w76 36 Helen James Ev w77 37 Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education (ACME) Ev w78 38 Neil McNaughton Ev w84 39 International Society for Design and Development in Education Ev w86 40 Janine Clatworthy Ev w100 41 Graham George Ev w106 42 Ian Thow Ev w109 43 Mark McKelvie, Senior Assistant Headteacher, Weatherby High School Ev w110 44 Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) Ev w112 45 National Association for the Teaching of English (NATE) Ev w115 46 William Godsoe Rigby Ev w117 47 Prit Prat Ev w118 48 Richard J Nixon Ev w119 49 Dan Bottom Ev w119 50 Dr Ian White Ev w123 51 Dr Roger Taylor Ev w125 52 Rodger Williams Ev w125 53 Geoff Hurst, Altain Education Ev w128 List of unprinted evidence The following written evidence has been reported to the House, but to save printing costs has not been printed and copies have been placed in the House of Commons Library, where they may be inspected by Members. Other copies are in the Parliamentary Archives (www.parliament.uk/archives), and are available to the public for inspection. Requests for inspection should be addressed to The Parliamentary Archives, Houses of Parliament, London SW1A 0PW (tel. 020 7219 3074; email [email protected]). Opening hours are from 9.30 am to 5.00 pm on Mondays to Fridays. Supplementary evidence from Oxford University Press cobber Pack: U PL: COE1 [SO] Processed: [28-06-2012 10:42] Job: 018183 Unit: PG01 Source: /MILES/PKU/INPUT/018183/018183_o001_db_Corrected transcript.xml Education Committee: Evidence Ev 1 Oral evidence Taken before the Education Committee on Tuesday 29 November 2011 Members present: Mr Graham Stuart (Chair) Alex Cunningham Charlotte Leslie Pat Glass Tessa Munt Damian Hinds Craig Whittaker ________________ Examination of Witnesses Witnesses: Martin Collier, Headmaster, St John’s School, Leatherhead, Surrey, David Burton, Deputy Headteacher, St Michael’s CofE High School, Crosby, Liverpool, Rob Pritchard, Headteacher, St Mary’s Catholic High School, Menston, Ilkley, West Yorkshire, and Teresa Kelly, Principal of Abingdon and Witney College, member of Principals’ Professional Council/Association of School and College Leaders, gave evidence. Q1 Chair: Good morning and welcome. Today is the Robert Pritchard: No, the massive changes do not day of the Autumn Statement—supposed to be a quiet, help at all. Going back to what examinations are little-noted latest update on Government figures—a about, it is assessing young people’s knowledge and day of great Parliamentary drama. We will try and understanding, and giving them the skills they need to crack on through our sessions this morning to inform go on to either A-levels or university. our inquiry into the administration of examinations for 15 to 19-year- olds.