INQUIRY INTO A-LEVEL STANDARDS
AL/MT7
SIX EDUCATION SPECIALISTS TO ASSIST INQUIRY SECOND PHASE
Mike Tomlinson, chairman of the Inquiry into A-Level Standards, has assembled a small team of prominent figures in education to assist in concluding the second phase of the inquiry.
The group will help Mike Tomlinson review the evidence presented and comment on emerging conclusions. The six members will remain totally independent of the inquiry.
The inquiry''s second phase is broadly concerned with a) the responsibilities of, and relationship between, the QCA, the Department for Education and Skills and the awarding bodies; and b) the setting, maintaining and judging of A-level standards.
In alphabetical order, the group consists of: - Mike Cresswell, assistant director, Education and Research, AQA - Sue Kirkham, head of Walton High School, Stafford; - Judith Norrington, director of curriculum and quality, the Association of Colleges; - Professor David Raffe, director of research, Moray House School of Education, University of Edinburgh; - Susan Singer, retired head of Guildford High School, Guildford, Surrey, and former president of the Girls'' Schools Association, and; - Professor Leslie Wagner CBE, vice-chancellor of Leeds Metropolitan University.
The group will bring together different perspectives on A-level standards - how these can best bet set, maintained and judged.
None of the six people will be asked to associate themselves publicly with any conclusions Mike Tomlinson recommends. They will be free to comment on the inquiry''s outcomes with total independence.
Mike Tomlinson and the group have met once this week. He plans two further meetings.
Notes to Editors: The inquiry''s terms of reference are: 1. To investigate allegations about the setting of standards for A-level grades this year. In particular, to make sure that the conversion from marks to grades was determined according to proper standards and procedures. A first report on this was provided to the secretary of state for education and skills on Thursday 26 September and made public the following day.
2. To investigate the arrangements at QCA and the awarding bodies for setting, maintaining and judging A-level standards, which are challenging, and ensuring their consistency over time; and to make recommendations by November to Charles Clarke, the secretary of state for education and skills, and Ken Boston, Chief Executive of the QCA, for action with the aim of securing the credibility and integrity of these exams.
3. The then secretary of state for education and skills, Estelle Morris, appointed Mike Tomlinson on 19 September 2002 to chair the inquiry.
4. Mike Tomlinson CBE was born in October 1942 and was educated in Rotherham and Bournemouth. He is a chemistry graduate of Durham University, and obtained his PGCE at Nottingham University. He held various teaching posts in Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire between 1965 - 1977. He was involved in developing schools/industry links when the idea was in its infancy. In 1977, he was seconded to ICI. Later, on the creation of OFSTED in 1992, he became deputy director of inspection, in 1995, director, and in 2000, HM chief inspector of schools. He retired from the post in April 2002. Since retiring, Mike Tomlinson has taken up the post of chair of the Hackney Learning Trust, set up to run education services in the borough. He is also part-time director of Planet Science.
ENDS.
