Stop exam boards fighting

After a long inquiry, the House of Commons Education Select Committee has concluded that competition between exam boards creates significant pressure to drive down standards in exams and that the time is right for fundamental reform. In a wide ranging report that covers many aspects of the examination system, the Committee has rejected a move to a single national exam board or to single boards for each subject.

The cross-party committee says that exam boards should be stripped of the right to own their own syllabus and content. The committee suggests that there should be a single national syllabus for each subject which would be accredited by the regulator, Ofqual, with every exam board able to set question papers against that syllabus.