Yet again we have to listen to politicians wittering on about how great O levels were and how bad GCSEs are.
Well I took O levels in 1960. Not the O levels I wanted to take but the ones that there was space in the timetable to teach. I don’t blame the school. Indeed they went to great lengths to do the best they could for me. All of this happened because of the depth and narrow scope of O levels of which I took seven. Now students in many if not most state comprehensives take 10 GCSEs and benefit from the chance to study a wide range of topics.