Exams 'may be another Railtrack'

The exam system is heading for a Railtrack-style meltdown unless the Government cuts the number of tests children take during their school careers, headteachers and exam board bosses have warned.

A series of widely publicised blunders by exam board Edexcel highlighted the potential "Examtrack disaster" that could engulf A and AS-Levels, GCSEs and national tests for primary and secondary pupils, said John Dunford, general secretary of the Secondary Heads Association (SHA).

Mr Dunford said such problems were not confined to Edexcel, and he urged the Government to reduce the number of exams children sit - brighter children take up to 105 during their school career. His comments were followed by a warning from the head of Edexcel, John Kerr, that exam boards are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit enough markers - leading to fears that the whole system is close to collapse.

Mr Dunford, addressing the SHA annual conference in Bournemouth, said: "The faults of Edexcel are symptomatic of an examinations system in crisis. If they are not taken as a warning of a potential disaster, the Government will be seen as negligent when that disaster occurs.

"This country has a vivid memory of a disaster when a system under huge pressure of expansion is under-funded, subjected to constant government interference and lacks strategic planning."