We will end the political control of A levels

Michael Gove, the Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, announces that a Conservative Government will end political interference in A Levels.

Speaking at the Royal Society, he said A levels shouldn't be politically controlled by the DCSF and QCDA.

Under Conservative plans, the content and structure of A Levels will be the responsibility of the experts: universities, exam boards, and learned societies such as the Royal Society and Institute of Physics. This will reverse the devaluation of the A Level's reputation across the world and help restore world-leading exams to Britain.

Further announcements in the speech include:

• The Conservatives will launch an immediate program to overhaul the National Curriculum in the core subjects of English, Maths and Science so that changes can be introduced from September 2011. The review of the curriculum will specify core knowledge that is required in every year based on global evidence for what children can and should learn at different ages.
• In the Science Curriculum every student will be given an entitlement to study the three proper science subjects – physics, chemistry and biology. The National Curriculum does not give students that right at the moment.
• Immediate change to allow all state schools to start studying the high quality international GCSE. The exam was described as a 'gimmick' by Ed Balls and he refuses to allow state school children to sit the exam. Independent schools are increasingly moving to the exam and a Conservative Government would allow all children to sit it.

Read Michael Gove's speech in full