A new qualification is being offered to minimise any disruption experienced by schools and students in the Gulf region as a result of the UK Government and Ofqual’s A Level changes.

The UK’s Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove has introduced sweeping reforms to A Level courses and exams which lead to the General Certificate of Education. The systemic changes will change the way many A Level students in the GCC undertake their exams, says Mark Andrews, Pearson’s regional director of the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

Under the changes, the January examination series has been removed, offering reduced re-sit opportunities. Modular assessment, a key feature of A Levels, is being replaced by linear assessment, where examinations will need to be taken at the end of the course.

A significant number of these schools and their students have voiced concerns over the reforms and what the changes will mean for their results.  Pearson is responding by developinga new suite of International Advanced Level qualifications for international customers that closely resembles the structure and format of Edexcel GCE A Levels.

However, the launch of Pearson’s new Edexcel International Advanced Level qualification, which was developed in consultation with the Russell Group, an advisory group to leading UK universities, will allow schools in the region to carry on offering both January and June exams, and to continue to offer a modular assessment structure in all the major A Level subjects, except for English.

Mr Andrews says that the Pearson Edexcel International Advanced Level qualifications are a positive alternative for schools who do not want to introduce the compulsory changes to the GCE A Levels. The quality and substance of the old and new programmes are almost identical, but the new qualification allows schools to continue to offer modular assessment, as well as June and January exams.

The new International Advanced Level qualifications are available from September 2013. - TradeArabia News Service