The head of the government's exam watchdog today indicated he was considering reforms that would see pupils lose marks for poor grammar in a bid to improve literacy.
The chief executive of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, Ken Boston, said he wanted an investigation into recent assertions that schools were failing pupils on basic literacy.
His comments came as the QCA prepares to unveil plans to overhaul training qualifications with a massive streamlining process. A conference this evening will present how it plans to axe "outdated and duplicate" courses.
Ahead of the announcement, Dr Boston told the Independent newspaper: "We should reward good spelling and good grammar and the use of correct punctuation, and we should penalise errors. I have no doubt about that because it is at the heart of good literacy."
Reflecting on his experience in Australia, where he was head of education in New South Wales, he added: "What Mike Tomlinson said is perfectly reasonable. Marking [in Australia] would vary from state to state, but I would think we should take a holistic approach. For instance, if you take a global view of the quality of a history essay, you would reflect on how well it was written, the spelling and punctuation and the correct use of tenses.
"The Australian states would only differ as to the degree to which that should be done."
Universities have repeatedly claimed that even the brightest undergraduates are lacking in basic skills in grammar and spelling. Last week, Mike Tomlinson, head of a review of the 14 to 19 curriculum, claimed the current situation, whereby pupils do not lose marks for grammar and spelling, was "hard to defend".
Tonight, the QCA will launch the new framework for qualifications in a bid to untangle the messy options that young people in work-based training now face. "At the moment there are 4,500 accredited qualifications from over 100 awarding bodies across 23 industries," Dr Boston told the Financial Times. "Many are outdated and there are a great many duplicates. We can do better than halve this number. What we're proposing is a credit framework on nine levels from the age of 14 to level eight - the equivalent of a doctorate."
The proposals would see vast swathes of the current qualifications axed, with the components of the remaining qualifications swallowed up into an overarching credit framework.
Almost 300,000 14 to 19-year-olds are now in work-based training.
· The BBC will attempt to revive an interest in spelling tonight with the launch of its Hard Spell show, which quizzes young people on their skills.
