London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Jul 23, 2025

Exam system in England needs an overhaul, says schools leader

Exam system in England needs an overhaul, says schools leader

New head of the Girls’ School Association wants to lower the mental burdens placed on teenagers

England’s school exam system needs an overhaul to lower the mental burdens they place on teenagers striving for the “holy grail” of results, according to the new leader of the Girls’ School Association.

Samantha Price, head of Benenden School in Kent, wants reforms on how and when students are examined, including a possible delay to the start of degree courses until January rather than autumn, to allow students more time to make course applications, do work experience and learn skills such as financial literacy.

“I don’t think our current assessment system is any longer fit for purpose and I don’t think our university application system is fit for purpose. I don’t think it’s fair across the sectors and I also don’t think it caters for young people’s mental health,” Price said, in her first comments since taking the role as president of the GSA, which represents girls’ schools.

Price admitted that “not all my fellow school leaders may agree”, but called for a serious look at whether high-stakes exams such as GCSEs and A-levels were appropriate for 16- and 18-year-olds in their current form.

The government in England is preparing to publish the results of its consultation on post-qualification university admissions, which is likely to recommend major changes to the timing and structure of applications so that decision-making takes place after A-level results have been published.

“For school students with their sights on a traditional university degree course, we need to overhaul the admissions system to embrace either post-qualification offers or applications. This would be a much fairer system for all young people and would reduce the pressure on them in their final year of school,” Price said.

Samantha Price, head of Benenden School in Kent, says the university year could begin in January. P


“We have to recognise that there is a mental health crisis in our country’s young people. Doing away with predicted grade offers and moving to a post-qualification system would minimise the negative impact of striving for the ‘holy grail’ of grades.”

Bringing forward the timing of A-levels would enable the admissions process to be completed for the traditional autumn start. Alternatively, Price said, the university year could begin in January.

Price, the head of a boarding school that charges £40,000 a year, also said there were questions over whether a university degree was still a better option than apprenticeships or other options.

“The extent to which universities may or may not offer value for money has been questioned for a number of years … Lingering student loan debt long into adulthood is a very real problem not only for individuals but also for the country as a whole,” Price said.

A separate report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), published on Monday, found that the quality and duration of home schooling in England improved during the lockdown earlier this year, but that many pupils will struggle to catch up because of the effects of lost learning during the previous lockdown in 2020.

The government’s major effort to recover learning has been through a national programme of tutoring. But the IFS found that among the poorest fifth of families, while 36% of pupils had been offered extra tutoring by March 2021, nearly a third of these chose not to take it up.

By contrast, while a similar share of those in the most affluent families had been offered tutoring, only one in seven of them turned it down.

Angus Phimister, an author of the IFS report, said: “Catch-up policies need to be carefully designed to be taken up by poorer pupils if they are to have any chance of putting a dent in the educational inequalities that have grown so much wider during the pandemic.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
×