Task force draws up UK baccalaureate

The first steps towards a British "baccalaureate" will be taken today when ministers appoint a task force to transform the current GCSE and A-level exam system.

Head teachers, university academics and employers are to work on a blueprint for a new award at age 18, closer in style to European exams which test pupils on a wider range of subjects.

Ministers believe a new qualification recognising both vocational and academic qualifications would persuade more pupils to stay on at school after 16. The move is due to be announced as part of proposals on education for pupils between ages 14 and 19, which also aim to allow the less academic to spend more time learning at college and in the workplace.

The document will reduce the compulsory curriculum to 60per cent of the timetable from age 14, to tailor lessons more closely to pupils' interests and aptitudes.

It will also confirm plans to make a foreign language and design and technology voluntary, and revamp science lessons. The new qualification would aim to recognise vocational alongside traditional exams.

But ministers have dodged the question of whether a British "bac" would include any compulsory elements, like the International Baccalaureate which gives a single award to students studying up to six subjects. These must include English, maths, science and a modern foreign language.

Advocates of a baccalaureate approach say that without some element of compulsion, a new qualification would be a " ragbag" summary of whatever pupils have studied to age 19.

Next week's White Paper is also expected to continue down-grading the GCSE, with bright pupils missing them altogether, going on to study AS-levels instead. Less academic pupils would be encouraged to study for GCSE over three years.