More pupils taking international GCSEs
More pupils in the UK are taking international GCSEs, figures from exam boards suggest.
In England, the increase has followed a lifting of a ban which stopped state schools from entering pupils for them.
The exams - known as IGCSEs - are taken at the end of two years - unlike many GCSEs, where students take exams in stages over two years.
From September, pupils in England starting GCSE courses will mostly take exams after two years.
In 2010, the coalition said state schools should be allowed to enter pupils for IGCSEs.
Until then, the qualifications could not be counted in school league tables.
Two exam boards which produce the qualifications are reporting increases in take-up.
Cambridge International Examinations says 400 state schools in the UK are now preparing pupils for IGCSEs, compared with 97 in 2010.
Among private schools, 500 are using IGCSEs, compared with 320 in 2010.
The Edexcel exam body also has IGCSEs and says the number of schools and colleges entering pupils for them in the UK more than doubled in the past two years, rising to just under 2,000.
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... (BBC News - 3 August)