Tough new O-Levels to replace GCSEs under Gove plan

Education Secretary Michael Gove plans to scrap GSCEs for England and return to O-Level-style exams.

Sources told the BBC that Mr Gove believes the exams "have gone beyond the point of rescue".

The changes will be brought in for pupils from autumn next year but will not affect students starting GCSE courses this autumn.

Under the changes, less-academic pupils will sit a different exam, like the old CSE.

The details are in a leaked document seen by the Daily Mail, and sources say they are correct.

As control of education in the UK is devolved, the plans are for England only. It will be for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to decide whether to follow suit.

A spokesman for the Department for Education said: "We do not comment on leaks."