GCSEs to I-levels: the key questions answered

I-level grilling: students would be graded according to an upside-down system, under the plannned new system. Photograph: Chris Radburn/PA

The education standards regulator, Ofqual, is reported to be proposing a series of exam reforms that would replace GCSEs with a new examination tentatively entitled "intermediate levels", or I-levels. A new marking scheme, with grades running from 8 (highest) to 1 (lowest), would replace the scheme currently in use, which grades students from A* (highest) to F (lowest).

A: It depends on how close the report, first carried in the Times, is to the final outcome. Since the changes could officially be announced next week, it seems they represent something being discussed. But it will depend on the results of power tussles between the Department for Education (DfE) and Ofqual, since the upper echelons of the DfE have not yet signed off on any of it. Sadly, I-level, or iLevel, may not survive as a name.

A: Most of the changes had already been trailed by the DfE, such as the end of coursework in most subject assessments, curtailing of exam resits and the end of modules. What is new is the suggested name, and the upside-down grade scheme, where 8 is the acme of achievement.

A: Parents may be bemused to hear their children exclaim: "I got an 8 in maths!" In Avatar, the Na'vi used a similar octal numeral system – but their excuse was that they had four fingers on each hand. Ofqual argues that the system will allow higher grades, such as 9 and 10, to be added in the future, and so avoid the A to A* patch.

A: The changes are scheduled to be introduced for the start of the 2015 school year in the eight core subjects of English, maths, physics, chemistry, biology, double science, history and geography, with the first exams in 2016. Other GCSE subjects will have to wait to be reformed, which means students in 2016 and beyond would sit a mixture of I-levels and GCSEs.

A: Yes. Some people will spent the rest of their lives cursed with CVs boasting of an A* in Spanish and a 7 in history. For teachers, the national curriculum reforms taking place at the same could make it a dog's breakfast of different courses and exams overlapping.

A: According to the DfE, more rigour, more emphasis on exams and more teaching time. Of the eight subjects that would get the I-level makeover first, only science would retain any coursework component, with 10% allowed for practical laboratory skills. Currently, coursework accounts for between 25% and 60% of marks for GCSEs.

The real problem will be with languages exams, since spoken-language assessment is a crucial part of any qualification. Some teachers have also warned the move could hinder girls' performance, as they typically score better in coursework than in end-of-year exams.

A: Only at the same time as end-of-course exams taken in the summer, apart from English and maths exams in November. In practice, that means most students would have to wait a full year to retake an exam.

A: The Ebacc? That's Ebad, according to Ofqual. Anyway, that was at least two reforms and a U-turn ago. It is hard to keep up.

A: Ofqual and the DfE are worried that GCSEs in England will somehow be infected by the insistence of their counterparts in Wales and Northern Ireland on going their own way. They do want to keep the A-level name, because of international recognition.

A: Kevin Stannard of the Girls' Day School Trust, said: "I don't see anything in the new setup that fundamentally suggests these new changes will give us a superior system." Christine Blower of the National Union of Teachers, the largest teachers' union, said: "The proposals to get rid of coursework from every core subject apart from science are really not the best way forward. This will ignore different learning styles and will narrow the skills that can be tested through terminal examinations."

A: Why not? People laughed at Steve Jobs when he launched the iPad. But otherwise, who knows?

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