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Education secretary Michael Gove considers fast-track plan Michael Gove is considering plans to allow the brightest pupils to skip GCSEs and start studying for A-levels at 14. The education secretary wants to encourage schools to fast-track their cleverest students on to the most taxing courses as soon as they are ready. At the moment a school would fall down the league tables if some of its brightest pupils did not take GCSEs. Gove is in discussions about introducing a new qualification – an advanced baccalaureate – for pupils who are bright enough to bypass GCSEs and start their A-level courses early. League tables would measure the number of pupils taking this qualification, which would require the equivalent of at least a grade C in English literature, biology, chemistry and physics. A Department for Education source is reported in the Times Educational Supplement as stating that England should look to copy Singapore, where about a fifth of pupils take A-levels without having sat GCSEs or their equivalents. “We are considering much greater freedom for schools to accelerate bright kids past GCSEs to do either A-levels or pre-Us [an alternative to A-levels] and introducing league table measures that capture that and reward schools for it, not penalise them,” the source said. “We want a league table system that doesn’t disincentivise schools from doing what they think is in the best interests of the kid. If, for example, you said a group of pupils in the top set in maths were going to skip GCSE and go straight to AS-level [the first year of A-levels], then we want to make it clear that they have done a great job. At the moment, they would all score zero.” The Department for Education confirmed that ministers were considering the idea. Schools could be measured on the advanced baccalaureate as early as next year. Stephen Gorard, professor of education at Birmingham University, said ministers should be careful not to create friendship problems for the cleverest pupils. “There is nothing more tedious than being held back when you can easily do the work you are set, but we have to think about the effect this might have on pupils. How many children are going to be bypassing GCSEs in any one school and are they going to be able to mix with their age group or with older children?” Chris Howard, headteacher of Lewis School, Pengam, south Wales, and immediate past president of the National Association of Head Teachers, said GCSEs were an “unnecessary staging post” and that students should just be tested at 18. “Teaching unions have argued for many years that GCSEs have become an ineffective benchmark and a barrier to progress. The general gist of these plans are correct.” He said there may be problems implementing them in schools. “Some schools will wonder how they can get around the fact that some courses are going to be regarded with higher esteem than others, but I think that many will say they can get over that.” Teachers have criticised Gove for assessing pupils’ performance according to the proportion who obtain GCSEs in English, maths, a science, a foreign language and a humanity, such as history or geography, at grade C or above. Gove retrospectively introduced what is now known as the English baccalaureate into this year’s league tables. Education policy GCSEs Schools A-levels Jessica Shepherd guardian.co.uk