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The General Certificate of Education (GCE) Advanced Level, or A Level, is a secondary school leaving qualification in the United Kingdom, offered as a main qualification in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, as an alternative qualification in Scotland, and as an international school qualification worldwide. A Levels require studying an offered A level subject over a two-year period and sitting for an examination at the end of each year (A1/S and A2, respectively), proctored by an official assessment body. Most students study three or four A-level subjects simultaneously during the two post-16 years (ages 16–18) in a secondary school, in a sixth form college, in a further and higher education college, or in a tertiary college, as part of their further education. A-levels are regarded as equivalent in level to the BTEC Level 3 qualifications. A Levels are recognised by many universities as the standard for assessing the suitability of applicants for admission in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and many such partly universities base their admissions offers on a student's predicted A-level grades, with the majority of these offers conditional on achieving a minimum set of final grades. ==Background== A Levels were introduced in 1951 as a standardised 18+ qualification, replacing the Higher School Certificate. The examinations could be taken on a subject-by-subject basis, according to the strengths and interests of the student. This encouraged specialization and in-depth study of three to four subjects. The A Level at first was graded as simply distinction, pass or fail (although students were given an indication of their marks, to the nearest 5%), candidates obtaining a distinction originally had the option to sit a Scholarship Level paper on the same material, to attempt to win one of 400 national Scholarships, the Scholarship Level was replaced by the S-Level in 1963. Quite soon rising numbers of students taking the A-level examinations required more differentiation of achievement below the S-Level standard. Grades were therefore introduced. Between 1963 and 1986 the grades were norm-referenced:〔(House of Commons Education and Skills Third Report, 2003 ) accessed 6 January 2013〕 The O grade was equivalent to a GCE Ordinary Level pass which indicated a performance equivalent to at least a grade C at Ordinary Level. Over time, the validity of this system was questioned because, rather than reflecting a standard, norm referencing simply maintained a specific proportion of candidates at each grade, which in small cohorts was subject to statistical fluctuations in standards. In 1984, the government's Secondary Examinations Council decided to replace the norm referencing with criteria referencing: grades would in future be awarded on examiner judgement thus eliminating a possible inadequacy of the existing scheme. The criteria referencing scheme came into effect for the summer 1987 exams as the system set examiners specific criteria for the awarding of B and E grades to candidates, and then divided out the other grades according to fixed percentages. Rather than awarding an Ordinary Level for the lowest pass, a new "N" (for Nearly passed) was introduced. Criticisms of A level grading continued, and when Curriculum 2000 was introduced, the decision was made to have specific criteria for each grade, and the 'N' grade was abolished. In 1989, Advanced Supplementary (AS) awards were introduced; they were intended to broaden the subjects a pupil studied post 16, and were to complement rather than be part of a pupil's A-level studies. AS-Levels were generally taken over two years, and in a subject the pupil was not studying at A-Level. Each AS level contained half the content of an A-Level, and at the same level of difficulty. Initially, a student might study three subjects at A-Level and one at AS-Level, or often even four subjects at A-Level. However, due to decreasing public spending on education over time, a growing number of schools and sixth form colleges would now arrange for their pupils to study for three A-Levels instead of four.〔http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/teenagers-forced-to-study-fewer-alevels-in-squeeze-on-public-spending-says-exam-boss-10446807.html〕 A levels evolved gradually from a two-year linear course with an exam at the end, to a modular course, between the late 1980s and 2000. By the year 2000 there was a strong educational reason to standardise the exam and offer greater breadth to students through modules〔See the Dearing Report and Guaranteeing standards (DfEE, 1997)〕 and there was also a pragmatic case based on the inefficiency of linear courses where up to 30% of students were failing to complete or pass.〔See the Audit Commission/Office for Standards in Education. (1993). Unfinished business: Fulltime educational courses for 16- to 19-year-olds. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. See also (Higher Education, Curriculum 2000 and the Future Reform of 14–19 Qualifications in England ), Ann Hodgson, Ken Spours and Martyn Waring (Institute of Education) p.4. Retrieved 30 September 2010〕 Curriculum 2000 was introduced in September 2000, with the first new examinations taken in January and June of the following year. The Curriculum 2000 reforms also replaced the S-Level extension paper with the Advanced Extension Award. The Conservative Party under Prime Minister David Cameron initiated reforms for A Levels to change from the current modular to a linear structure.〔http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20140430095946/http://www.education.gov.uk/nctl/examsadmin/news/archive/a00217355/alevels〕 British Examination Boards (Edexcel, AQA and OCR) regulated and accredited by the government of the United Kingdom responded to the government's reform announcements by modifying specifications of several A Level subjects.〔http://www.edexcel.com/quals/gce/gce15/Pages/default.aspx〕 However, the Labour Party and in particular Tristram Hunt MP announced that it would halt and reverse the reforms and maintain the modular A-Level system.〔http://www.teachingtimes.com/news/a-level-reforms.htm〕 In addition, the Labour Party, Tristram Hunt and the modular AS- and A-Level system are supported and promoted by the University of Cambridge and by the University of Oxford.〔http://www.bbc.com/news/education-29914310〕〔http://www.bbc.com/news/education-24533511〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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