GCSEs: New-look tougher exams revealed

[davieG]

New-look GCSEs for schools in England are to be unveiled, with exams graded from eight to one rather than A* to G.

From 2015, GCSEs will move from coursework and continuous assessment to exams at the end of two years.

Pupils will face more rigorous content, with those studying English, for example, having to read a 19th-Century novel and a whole Shakespeare play.

The National Union of Teachers (NUT) accused the government of not consulting properly on the changes.

Wales and Northern Ireland are keeping GCSEs, but so far are not adopting the changes proposed for England.

There is no sign of a change in name to I-level for the English exams - as had been suggested. The format, though, may be familiar to anyone who once took O-levels.

International rankings

Continue reading the main story

“

Start Quote

Michael Gove has had plenty of chances to bring forward evidence-informed policies, but I fear he has not learnt from past mistakes”

Stephen Twigg

Shadow Education Secretary

The changes to GCSEs in England will be presented on Tuesday in two reports. Exam regulator Ofqual will explain how the exams will be structured and ministers will give details of the course content.

The reforms will initially apply to a group of core subjects - English language and literature, maths, physics, chemistry, biology, combined science, history and geography.

Hundreds of thousands of pupils will begin studying these revised GCSEs from autumn 2015 and the first candidates to take the exams will be in summer 2017.

Apart from exceptions such as practical experiments in science, there will be a strong push towards exams being taken at the end of two years, rather than in individual units during the course.

Grading will be by numbers rather than letters - with eight at the top and one at the bottom. The pass mark will be pushed higher, with claims that it will be pitched at the level of the highest-performing school systems, such as Finland and Shanghai, which have topped international rankings.

The new GCSEs will represent a push for a more stretching, essay-based exam system, reminiscent of O-levels, taken by pupils until the late 1980s.

In history there will be more essays and fewer short-form questions, and the removal of a controlled assessment.

In English, responding to concerns that pupils were only reading chunks of books, there will be a requirement to read whole works and an expectation that pupils will study a wider range of of writing from different eras.

Maths will promote the idea of developing independent problem-solving skills, rather than setting types of questions that can be rehearsed.

Grade inflation

This is the latest stage in Education Secretary Michael Gove's drive to reconfigure the exam system.

Former Schools Minister Nick Gibb said it would end the "culture of resits" in which pupils were "taking exam after exam to bank grades".

Mr Gibb said the changes were being made to "eliminate grade inflation" and would create a new focus on essay writing.

"It has to happen. There's been concern for many years about grade inflation in the GCSE exam and with the proliferation of resits and modular exams in GCSEs there's been a real concern about standards.

"It's a concern shared right across the political spectrum."

Last year, Mr Gove announced plans for the scrapping of GCSEs and their replacement with English Baccalaureate Certificates, with each subject to be set by a single exam board.

This re-branding was scrapped, with GCSEs to be retained but reformed instead.

Graham Stuart MP warned against a rush to different exam systems around the UK

Christine Blower, head of the NUT, criticised the government's approach in an interview with BBC 5 live Breakfast.

"If you did this by consensus, by actually talking to the profession and understanding how best to examine things, we would be in a much better position than this highly politicised approach that the current government has," she said.

"We all want children and young people to be extraordinarily well taught and to do the very best that they can but you don't just do that by, in a rapid way, changing the whole basis of the system. "

The latest plans will be put out to consultation over the summer, with a timetable that will see the exam boards preparing to produce courses that can be accredited by Ofqual to be taught in schools from autumn 2015.

These changes are for exams in England. The prospect of different forms of GCSEs in Wales and Northern Ireland has raised the question of how they will be distinguished from each other.

It had been suggested that in England the exam could be re-branded as I-levels, but this is not expected to be adopted and it is believed that so far no name change has been decided.

England and Wales

Meanwhile, MPs on the Commons Education Select Committee warned the plans showed relations between ministers in England and Wales were "clearly under strain", and called for the continuation of "three-country qualifications and regulation".

Chairman Graham Stuart said members were "concerned that there is a rush towards separate exam systems for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, without careful reflection on what might be lost, or consensus that this is the right thing to do".

"The turmoil surrounding last summer's GCSE English results highlights the importance of carefully developing new sets of exams," he stressed.

"A series of avoidable errors were made when the current GCSE English was being designed under the previous government."

Labour's shadow education secretary Stephen Twigg attacked the proposals.

"Pupils and parents will be concerned by the uncertainty that Michael Gove has created around GCSEs. Having first talked down their value and then failed in his attempt to scrap them, the education secretary is having another go at setting out his plans."

Mr Twigg went on: "We need changes to assessments in schools that will strengthen rigour and reflect the best ways of testing skills and knowledge. Encouraging more shallow learning of facts alone will not help young people to be prepared for the jobs of tomorrow."

But a senior Department for Education source said: "We are reversing the devaluation of the exam system that Labour and the unions encouraged.

"GCSEs will again be exams at the end of two years instead of being broken up into low quality modules. Coursework, corrupted by cheating, will be limited."

The source added: "Exams will test higher level skills - such as more essay writing, problem-solving and mathematical modelling - that universities and businesses desperately need."

[Captain...]

So he ditched one set of big changes and then rushed through another. It is not so much about making them harder, if that is deemed necessary, which I am in no position to comment on, then so be it, then make it harder by including more content, more exams more assessment.

I just don't see one exam at the end of 2 years being able to accurately reflect the range of topics studied without spending the last part of the 2 years just going over everything again.

Take English, are they wanting to test your memory about a book you read 18 months ago, or are they wanting to test your understanding and comprehension of a book? I would have thought the latter, so it would make more sense to have an assessment on a book quite soon after reading it.

As for essay questions being harder, I disagree, I find more specific questions with a definite answer much harder, essay questions are just waffleathons. I remember coming out of some essay exams thinking I have just completely blagged that and written down anything I could remember that had even the most tenuous link to the subject, including in one just inventing sources for fake quotes, always got a decent mark.

Anyway it looks to me like another badly thought out proposal with no real benefit and massive upheaval, and who the fvck would grade things 1-8 with 8 being the best?

[davieG]

I've just heard an Education Minister describe the current exams as a 'drive to the bottom'. Surely this is down to having multiple examining boards all trying to get the highest % pass rates so they get more business.

[Captain...]

I've just heard an Education Minister describe the current exams as a 'drive to the bottom'. Surely this is down to having multiple examining boards all trying to get the highest % pass rates so they get more business.

Not sure about it being a drive to the bottom, but it is nonsense comparing kids grades when they are being set different exams, although I do remember we used the Welsh exam bored for some exams, including English, it was rumoured to be because it was easier.

I fully support there being only one exam bored, and I think that would have been a simple easy and quick to implement change that everyone could agree with, instead it is coming with a load of other nonsense and will likely as not end up getting totally scrapped as it comes under more scrutiny/criticism/ridicule.

[Xen]

Anyway it looks to me like another badly thought out proposal with no real benefit and massive upheaval, and who the fvck would grade things 1-8 with 8 being the best?

Musicians have been doing it for years...

 

 

Everything else you've said I pretty much agree with.

Only real change that's needed is a move to a single exam board. Everything else in just unnecessary.

[Webbo]

I've just heard an Education Minister describe the current exams as a 'drive to the bottom'. Surely this is down to having multiple examining boards all trying to get the highest % pass rates so they get more business.

He said on the TV the other week that he wanted to make only 1 exam board but he wasn't able to do that, he didn't elaborate why though.

[davieG]

He said on the TV the other week that he wanted to make only 1 exam board but he wasn't able to do that, he didn't elaborate why though.

Probably done an LCFC and given long contracts with no or expensive get out clauses.

If it's a major contribution to the perceived failure of GCSEs then I can't understand what is so difficult when you consider how much else they seem to be changing.

[Captain...]

He said on the TV the other week that he wanted to make only 1 exam board but he wasn't able to do that, he didn't elaborate why though.

So we are not getting just one exam board then?

[Webbo]

So we are not getting just one exam board then?

Not according to the interview I saw.

[Harry - LCFC]

They have this thing called 'grade inflation' where grades continue to go up over time and this seems to be viewed as a bad thing. So they feel it necessary to make exams harder so the younger generation don't hog all the A grades.

 

It's just a case of people getting smarter over time, it's what happens so it'd be wrong to give them a C when the same performance a few years ago would've merited a B.

[MooseBreath]

They have this thing called 'grade inflation' where grades continue to go up over time and this seems to be viewed as a bad thing. So they feel it necessary to make exams harder so the younger generation don't hog all the A grades.

It's just a case of people getting smarter over time, it's what happens so it'd be wrong to give them a C when the same performance a few years ago would've merited a B.

Or the exam boards are competing with each other to get the best grades, hence the "drive to the bottom".

Our knowledge base is expanding but I don't think there is any evidence to suggest people are becoming more intelligent. Infact I would say the opposite is more likely to be true.

[cambridgefox]

Or the exam boards are competing with each other to get the best grades, hence the "drive to the bottom".

Our knowledge base is expanding but I don't think there is any evidence to suggest people are becoming more intelligent. Infact I would say the opposite is more likely to be true.

I'm so old it was o'levels in my day,and if you got 7 A's then you would have had Cambridge or Oxford sniffing about,before A levels.

On Saturday we went to our friends and their son had an old GCSE mathematics paper,yes I admit some of it was hard( its been 20 odd years) but my 9 year old got the first 5 pages all correct,honestly.

[Jon the Hat]

They have this thing called 'grade inflation' where grades continue to go up over time and this seems to be viewed as a bad thing. So they feel it necessary to make exams harder so the younger generation don't hog all the A grades.

 

It's just a case of people getting smarter over time, it's what happens so it'd be wrong to give them a C when the same performance a few years ago would've merited a B.

 

IF it was a case of people getting smarter, and more and more people get A or A* grades, how do you tell them apart academically?  You cannot have ever increasing grades whatever you believe the cause to be, it defeats the object of having grades in the first place, which is to have a comparable measure among peers.

[DANGEROUS TIGER]

About time too, as the standard has nose dived over the years. The exam papers I have seen, back mainly in the early two thousands, were insultingly simple, and supposed to represent a high degree of difficulty, and understanding. 

 

I saw a couple my nephew showed me two years ago (English,and History), and they were shamefully simple.

[Guest MattP]

They have this thing called 'grade inflation' where grades continue to go up over time and this seems to be viewed as a bad thing. So they feel it necessary to make exams harder so the younger generation don't hog all the A grades.

 

It's just a case of people getting smarter over time, it's what happens so it'd be wrong to give them a C when the same performance a few years ago would've merited a B.

If that's happening the youth of today are doing a hell of a job of disguising it.

[Captain...]

They have this thing called 'grade inflation' where grades continue to go up over time and this seems to be viewed as a bad thing. So they feel it necessary to make exams harder so the younger generation don't hog all the A grades.

It's just a case of people getting smarter over time, it's what happens so it'd be wrong to give them a C when the same performance a few years ago would've merited a B.

Grade inflation is only a bad thing if it doesn't accurately reflect the fact that kids are getting smarter. It is not a bad thing if all 16 are able to get A s at GCSE but if that is the case then it suggests that they should be taking exams earlier.

I don't think it is hard to believe that kids are getting better grades now than before, we are improving in many ways, we are more aware of the importance of academic achievement as there is no fall back such as working down pit. There have also been many advances in technology to help teachers teach and students study, the main one being the internet. There is also a much greater understanding of how children develop so there are many more toys, games, tv programs with an educational slant.

The other angle is that things like the internet and study aids and target based teaching also means that kids are better at passing exams.

I honestly believe that this is a greater reason for grade inflation than exam boards dumbing down to get more customers. I'm sure I've read articles where they have compared recent and old ones and actually found the modern ones were harder.

As for kids not appearing smarter, well again that could be because of schools being driven to hit targets rather than actually develop things like social conscience and common sense and practical skills such as cooking, or using the self service machines in a supermarket.

[Father Ted]

If that's happening the youth of today are doing a hell of a job of disguising it.

They are not getting smarter, papers are just becoming more repetitive. Once youve done a couple, everything is piss. There is only so much they can ask so questions often get repeated and marks become easier.

[Matt]

Exams aren't everything, merely pieces of paper.

[breadandcheese]

Interestingly, Diana Abbott agrees with Michael Gove about the need to increase the rigour of exams.  

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/11/michael-gove-love-diane-abbott

[Danno]

Exams are piss. Look at Maths you only need about 33% for a C. You get drip fed how to answer questions.

[Harry - LCFC]

Or the exam boards are competing with each other to get the best grades, hence the "drive to the bottom".

Our knowledge base is expanding but I don't think there is any evidence to suggest people are becoming more intelligent. Infact I would say the opposite is more likely to be true.

 

And what evidence do you have to support that? I hope it isn't anecdotal evidence because I don't consider that particularly reliable.

 

Education improves over time, schools are better than they were fifty years ago and people know more - hence the continued stream of innovations in all fields. On a larger scale, humanity would not be where it is today were it not for education improving over time so please explain to me why you think there's an anomaly right now? What we probably also have are less disciplined young people who are free to act as they want, often in a silly manner and that gets confused with a lack of academic ability - this gives people like yourself a great opportunity to have a grumble about the misbehaving, idiotic youth of today.

 

Frankly I get a little sick of adults trying to diminish my achievements and those of my peers. I just see it as a weak excuse, you want to believe as it but have fairly minimal evidence to back it up.

 

 

IF it was a case of people getting smarter, and more and more people get A or A* grades, how do you tell them apart academically?  You cannot have ever increasing grades whatever you believe the cause to be, it defeats the object of having grades in the first place, which is to have a comparable measure among peers.

 

That is a problem. I could suggest bringing exams forward a year for the most able or perhaps introducing higher grades? Haven't really thought about it though.

[MooseBreath]

And what evidence do you have to support that? I hope it isn't anecdotal evidence because I don't consider that particularly reliable.

Education improves over time, schools are better than they were fifty years ago and people know more - hence the continued stream of innovations in all fields. On a larger scale, humanity would not be where it is today were it not for education improving over time so please explain to me why you think there's an anomaly right now? What we probably also have are less disciplined young people who are free to act as they want, often in a silly manner and that gets confused with a lack of academic ability - this gives people like yourself a great opportunity to have a grumble about the misbehaving, idiotic youth of today.

Frankly I get a little sick of adults trying to diminish my achievements and those of my peers. I just see it as a weak excuse, you want to believe as it but have fairly minimal evidence to back it up.

.

You're talking to me like you think I'm a pensioner or something.

I certainly have no reason to be making excuses and no motivation to diminish your achievements. Good luck to you. But I think your implication was that the reason for grade inflation was that human beings are becoming more intelligent, and I strongly doubt that is the case.

[Dylan]

About time too, as the standard has nose dived over the years. The exam papers I have seen, back mainly in the early two thousands, were insultingly simple, and supposed to represent a high degree of difficulty, and understanding. 

 

I saw a couple my nephew showed me two years ago (English,and History), and they were shamefully simple.

 

To be fair, how can you possibly assess how 'simple' it is by just looking at it... you'd have no idea whatsoever how it is marked and the criteria to do so?

[Harry - LCFC]

You're talking to me like you think I'm a pensioner or something.

I certainly have no reason to be making excuses and no motivation to diminish your achievements. Good luck to you. But I think your implication was that the reason for grade inflation was that human beings are becoming more intelligent, and I strongly doubt that is the case.

 

I think it's a fair statement to make considering the whole of human history shows exactly that. I find it odd that we suddenly find ourselves in a period of time that bucks the trend, and if that is the case I have to ask, why?

 

My personal explanation of why Britain's youth appear less intelligent is that it's due to perception, with youths given more freedom and attention from the media they're more likely to give the impression of being unintelligent. Teenagers today know they can say and do what they want with repercussion, that wasn't the case before.

[Captain...]

I think it's a fair statement to make considering the whole of human history shows exactly that. I find it odd that we suddenly find ourselves in a period of time that bucks the trend, and if that is the case I have to ask, why?

My personal explanation of why Britain's youth appear less intelligent is that it's due to perception, with youths given more freedom and attention from the media they're more likely to give the impression of being unintelligent. Teenagers today know they can say and do what they want with repercussion, that wasn't the case before.

I think it is because you don't notice the millions of British teenagers being normal developed adolescents, whereas every retard likes to demonstrate to the world how dumb they are through twitter, facebook and internet forums.

There is also the fact these things didn't exist 15 years ago, I'm sure if they did the amount of teen angst, uninformed 'rebellious' crap or vacuous gushing over celebrities would have been the same. The difference back then is that these banal outpourings were generally limited to your social group who were usually like minded.

So when you said things like 'Life is so unfair.' only a couple of similarly hard done by middle class white suburban teens heard you, and your awful attempts at forming a band were consigned to a badly record tape.

Now all awful music, morose poetry and banal social commentary is splashed all over the web to see, and the more moronic the more people see it.