Vocational GCSEs 'are suffering from poor teaching'

Job-related GCSEs are too academic and suffer from poorer-quality teaching than traditional subjects, a report warned today.

Ofsted said that the courses, introduced two years ago, often have the same flaws as industry-linked A-levels and confirmed that pupils ' achievement is below average.

The eight new GCSEs were introduced as part of the English education system's attempts to boost the status of vocational courses, which are usually seen as inferior to academic courses.

Inspectors said some schools made clear they were of lesser importance and found that often only pupils who did badly in other subjects took them.

However, the behaviour of children taking the new qualifications - including that of "difficult" teenagers - has improved because they enjoy the practical nature of the courses, inspectors found.

Eight " double award" GCSEs were launched in September 2002: applied art and design; applied business; engineering; health and social care; applied information and communications technology; leisure and tourism; manufacturing; and applied science.

Each carries two GCSE grades to reflect the amount of time and effort required to complete them.

Ofsted said that on its performance scale, achievement was satisfactory or better in 75 per cent of vocational GCSE lessons, at least good in a third and unsatisfactory in a quarter. But that was below the average for all GCSEs, where 91 per cent of achievement was satisfactory or better.

Ofsted chief inspector David Bell said: "The new GCSEs have got off to a satisfactory start but we now need to look more carefully at how to bring to life the vocational element of the courses."