Online library of previous school exam papers shows decline?

An online library of previous school exam papers that shows an apparent decline in standards will be set up by the Conservatives if they win power.They accuse the Government of treating exam papers like state secrets and claim that such a tool is necessary to show the dumbing down of GCSEs and A levels across most subjects.The announcement came as a furious row broke out between MPs and universities about whether degrees have been devalued.

The number of first-class degrees has more than doubled in a decade, while 2:1s have risen by almost 50 per cent, according to the Innovation, Universities and Skills select committee. In a wide-ranging report into higher education, it said that students at different universities were achieving similar grades of degrees with wildly varying levels of effort.It described the system for safeguarding standards as out of date and inconsistent, and said that there was not enough protection for whistleblowing academics who felt standards were under threat.Universities derided the report’s suggestions that an independent Quality Standards Agency should be set up to monitor degrees.

Diana Warwick, the chief executive of Universities UK, which represents vice-chancellors, said: “We reject the suggestion that the way to improve the system that protects standards is to create some super-quango or Ofsted-style Quality and Standards Agency.“This seems to us a sledgehammer to crack a nut. The raft of centralising recommendations appear to us ill-thought through, disproportionate to the scale of any problem identified and made without supporting evidence.”Today the Conservatives said that school standards also needed protection and claimed they had become increasingly devalued in the last few years.A library of past exam papers, scripts and reports from examiners, dating back to Victorian times, will be established if they form the next Government.

It will be a free and open source and anyone who finds an old paper will be able to upload it.The Tories said that they would also let state school pupils take the International GCSEs (IGCSE) and pre-U exams that are increasingly popular in independent schools. The former has been likened to O levels because it is not modular and does not use multiple-choice questions or coursework.Michael Gove, the Shadow Children’s Secretary, said: “It is vital that we restore public confidence in our exam system. Universities, businesses and academics say the system has been devalued and private schools are opting out of GCSEs for international exams.

“Now the Government treats exam papers like state secrets and refuses to publish them. This is wrong and a Conservative Government will create a free online library of all exam papers and scripts so there is full transparency and academic scrutiny of our exam system.”The Conservatives have analysed this year’s GCSE exam papers in maths, science, languages, history, English and geography.The findings include candidates being allowed to take a cue card into modern languages and students being told when the First World War began in the history paper.