Tories Pledge End to Political Control of Exams

A Conservative government would overhaul the national curriculum and hand control of A-level content to universities to end "political control" of exams, says shadow education secretary Michael Gove.

Speaking to the annual conference of the Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education, Gove said that if elected the Tories would scrap the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA), the quango in charge of curriculum design, and reform the curriculum to specify core knowledge that children should have at each age, benchmarked against their peers across the world.
He also promised legislation removing the effective veto of local authorities, changes to planning laws so that anyone wanting to transform a building, including an office, into a school can do so under permitted development rights, and ensuring that land set aside for school development is protected. He said "cumulatively these changes send a powerful message that we are on the side of those that want to support new schools".