Plans being discussed by former Ofsted chief Mike Tomlinson's working group,which is investigating the reform of education for 14 to 19-year olds, wouldsee all in schools phased out and replaced with a single dissertationunder a new overarching diploma.



Mr Tomlinson told EducationGuardian.co.uk that a single dissertation couldreplace all coursework in both the intermediate and advanced stages of thediploma, in a bid to "reduce the burden of assessment on students".

"At the advanced level we think the dissertation, as part of the study,could be a significant means of differentiating between students.

"It would be of the highest quality and would illustrate skills forstudents relevant to higher education entry," he added.

This year 21% of A-level students scored at least one A grade, igniting adebate on how universities chose the right students for their degree courses.

Cambridge, Oxfordand University College London are planning new "supertests" to be satby applicants for medical, veterinary and biomedical science courses at Oxford, Cambridgeand University College London, and other Russell group universities areinvestigating similar moves. Law schools are also reported to be investigatingsimilar initiatives for their admission process.

Yesterday Mr Tomlinson said that he "felt sorry" for students whowould face another test, but accepted that a better mechanism of distinguishingbetween the best candidates was necessary.

Today he said that the practicalities were being considered. "There isthe question of how it would be organised and managed and how it would beassessed. We could, assuming they wanted to, have the universities veryintimately involved in assessing the work."

A spokesperson for Universities UK, which represents university chiefs, saidthe proposals were "certainly interesting".

She went on: "It is of course vital that the potential knock-on effectsfor universities and their admissions procedures of any changes are fullyexplored in consultation with the HE sector."

Mr Tomlinson's working group includes two university vice-chancellors,Professor David Eastwood from the University of East Anglia and Professor David Melville of the University of Kent.

Today, David Eastwood told EducationGuardian.co.uk: "As far asuniversities are concerned, we want to see greater stretch at the top end and agreater capacity for universities to be able to differentiate between students.

"One of the criticisms of the existing structure, at GCSE and at A2, isthat students spend a lot of time doing GCSE and fordifferent subjects and the skills being tested aren't very different. We aretrying to think through ways to create a core within a diploma where a majorextended piece of work would be part of that core and one thing which helpedprovide greater stretch and differentiation."

Professor Eastwood is to chair a sub-committee within the Tomlinson group toinvestigate how the proposed diploma would go down in the higher educationsector.

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