Morris accepts blame for mess of AS-level reforms
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Your support makes all the difference.The controversial A-level reforms did no credit to any ministers and officials involved in their introduction, Estelle Morris, the Secretary of State for Education, has admitted.
She told MPs: "It is with sadness that I admit today that the way the AS-levels reforms were introduced last year did not do credit to anybody."
The day after announcing a scaling back of the reforms, designed to encourage students to expand their knowledge by taking half-size AS-levels, Ms Morris acknowledged mistakes had been made.
She told an Opposition day debate on post-16 education that assessment had been allowed to get in the way of teaching. But she insisted: "I do not believe that those students who have just done their AS-levels have wasted their time."
Ms Morris accepted there had been other problems. "The information that went out wasn't clear, it wasn't sent out in a timely fashion, the examination timetables weren't organised in a way that it could have reduced some of the clashes and schools didn't have sample texts and sample examination papers in sufficient time."
The Secretary of State said teachers had believed they had had to do everything in the AS-levels. "I think too many teachers felt that if they didn't do every option they would be letting down their students and that's our fault for not making it clear enough."
Theresa May, the shadow Education Secretary, attacked the Government for rushing through the reforms. She said: "Young people are suffering because the Government did not ... give enough time for proper preparation."
The Liberal Democrat spokesman Phil Willis said: "The real challenge is that we need a comprehensive overhaul of the whole of that curriculum and qualification structure ... To be tinkering around with post-16 without looking at the rest of it, quite frankly is ridiculous."
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