Students have returned to exam halls for the first time since 2019 – and this Thursday will receive their GCSE results.

But as schools return to pre-pandemic arrangements, more pupils are projected to miss the top marks, calling the current exams at 16 status quo into question once again.

It comes as former Prime Minister Tony Blair said this week GCSEs and A-levels should be scrapped altogether because they leave children “poorly prepared for work”.

A report from his Institute for Global Change (TBI) has recommended that the education system in England be overhauled so that students can thrive in a digital work environment increasingly geared towards automation and artificial intelligence.

However, a separate Whitehall think tank has warned the next Prime Minister against ditching the qualifications because although "imperfect" schools are not equipped for the “upheaval” post-pandemic.

But Peter Read, a former Gravesend grammar head who runs the acclaimed KentAdvice.co.uk education website, believes educational revolution is long overdue.

He insists the assessment-led system focusses too heavily on preparing children for exams rather than teaching them to think constructively and critically.

"We are obsessed with exams," he says. "We are constrained by this and the idea that exams are what matters when we should be teaching skills."

Mr Read believes we should draw inspiration from our European neighbours such as Germany, France and Denmark who have much broader approach to education.

"We are very unusual as a country to have externals exams at 16. Most plan up until 18. Why is it that we do this, it is not necessary?

"As a country we are used to testing rather than teaching and we teach to the test."

Instead, the education consultant says the curriculum should be redesigned to place a far bigger onus on higher-quality technical and vocational educational programmes which might better prepare pupils for the workplace.

"The curriculum needs to change as well," he adds. "This will particularly help those struggling with academic subjects and destined to failure which is dreadful.

"I'm not saying all children should pass but some children should find success at something if you can, but the curriculum is consumed by this academic obsession."

It's not the first time calls for the current exams-led structure from age 16 has faced calls to be scrapped.

The current system has faced criticisms over its bias towards traditional academic studies and the impact of exams as a sole means of assessment on pupil welfare.

Mr Read said: "It has failed to deliver for most young people for the last three years because of Covid".

But he hastens to add the calls to scrap GCSEs are nothing new and himself and others working in education have long called for such reforms for the past "20-30 years".

"For many years many people have championed the scrapping of exams at 16 because of what it does to the wider education system," he adds.

The TBI report recommends establishing an expert commission to reform the national curriculum, one based on minimum proficiencies in numeracy, literacy and science, which will eventually incorporate more digital skills.

The former maths teacher is supportive of the proposals, explaining that he believes pupils not gifted in Mathematics would be better served attaining basic arithmetic skills and dedicating more of their time to other pursuits, or more vocational and skills-based learning.

With regards to A Levels he also believes the selection of three options is too narrow compared to our "European competitors".

Looking back he says the dismantling of vocational units at various Kent schools and the conversion back to an "academic curriculum" was a mistake.

He also emphasises that he is not against the school's own ability to set - without unjust interference - internal assessments but is a critical of a reliance on "external exams".

"There needs to be assessment but not for the children, it is the schools."

And Mr Read believes if youngsters at struggling schools such as Sheppey's much maligned Oasis Academy had an education that was sympathetic to their needs it could make a difference.

"That is an awful lot of failure and young people growing up with failure"

"That is an awful lot of failure and young people growing up with failure," he said.

"Would it not have been better to have offered them something in which they would succeed?"

The report also recommends transferring the responsibility for the design of the curriculum to a non-political body and changing the strategy and approach of Ofsted, the schools watchdog.

But Mr Read holds reservations over just how far-reaching any such reforms could be.

"I worry that the Conservative leadership is looking to take the education process back rather than explore and look forward," he explains.

"Education has been a political football for as long as I can remember and before that.

"I cannot see government of either persuasion wanting to loosen its hold on the curriculum."