The end of GCSEs: Leak reveals Gove's secret education revolution

By Ian Dunt

Students are set to take O-levels again under the biggest shake-up of the British education system in 30 years, a leak has revealed.

A document from the Department of Education suggests GCSEs will be scrapped, the national curriculum will be abolished and exams will be made significantly more difficult.

The proposals, which were seen by the Daily Mail, will put Michael Gove on a collision course with teaching unions, Liberal Democrats and his own civil servants.

But they will not actually require any legislation and can be implemented in the next two years while preventing Labour from undoing them if it comes back to power in 2015.

The plans would end competition between exam boards, who are accused by some analysts of contributing to the dumbing down of GCSE's by making their questions easier in a bid to attract schools to their product.

Starting this autumn, exam boards will compete against each other to set the first O-levels in English, maths and the sciences, but the winner will set the exam taken nationwide.

Science will be split into physics, biology and chemistry once again, while more difficult tests will be set for subjects such as history and geography.

In maths, pupils will be expected to master challenging skills such as calculus before they can attain an A grade. In English literature, they will no longer be able to take a copy of the set text into the exam.

The requirement to obtain five A* to C grades at GCSE will be removed, but less talented pupils will take simpler CSE exams.

The plans will be announced formally in two week's time, with a public consultation in the autumn running for 12 weeks.

Labour reacted cautiously to the reports.

"Michael Gove must explain his changes to parents and pupils. Will going back to O-levels for some and CSEs for the rest really improve standards for all?" asked shadow education secretary Stephen Twigg.

"Will this divide children at fourteen into winners and losers?

"With no secondary national curriculum how will he ensure a rigorous approach to learning in all schools?"

The plans are the most radical proposals to emerge from an education secretary who has made no secret of his desire to return to an old-fashioned standard of education, with core disciplines and higher standards being reintroduced at all levels.