A-level questions to be made tougher

London: A-level questions are to be made more difficult to counter fears that the "gold standard" exam has been dumbed down.

National exams watchdog the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority said yesterday that it will parachute officials into exam boards' meetings where A-level and GCSE questions are decided, to make sure examiners are following tough new guidelines on exam content. The decision comes in the wake of a demand from ministers that A-level questions be made more taxing.

The idea of looking over the exam boards' shoulder to make sure the new questions really are more difficult was put forward at a recent meeting of the QCA's board by Isabel Nisbet, the director of regulations. "The board emphasised that the QCA should exercise its authority to intervene where there is a significant risk to the standard of question papers," the meeting's minutes said.

Nisbet said the QCA should "ensure that papers are of high quality, and that future GCSE papers have fewer structured questions". So-called "structured" questions are widely blamed by top universities for producing students who cannot think for themselves and expect to be "spoon-fed".

Headteachers both of independent and state schools welcomed the QCA's move, which comes at a time when A-levels are facing increasing competition from more rigorous rival qualifications.

Geoff Lucas, general secretary of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC) - the organisation representing Britain's top 250 private schools - said it could lead to "better questions, better examinations and better teaching and learning". But exam boards accused the QCA of meddling. A spokesman for exam board OCR said: "The QCA should make up its mind whether it wants to be a regulator or an exam board."