Gove’s GCSE plans – what do you think?

By: Lindsay Plumpton

Communications Leader

Friday 22 June 2012

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According to reports yesterday, Education Secretary Michael Gove is preparing to scrap GCSEs from Autumn 2014, in favour of ‘tougher’ O-level style exams in English, Maths and Science. Less academic pupils would sit a ‘more straightforward’ exam, like the old CSE. Mr Gove said action is needed to tackle ‘competitive dumbing down’ and restore rigour to the system, allowing England to keep pace with educational improvements in other countries.

The ideas, which are going to be put out for consultation, would amount to the biggest change to the exams system for a generation if they were introduced. This is in addition to recent changes whereby many vocational qualifications will cease to hold GCSE equivalency from the end of the 2012-13 academic year, in line with Professor Wolf’s recommendations.

It’s a time of much uncertainty for schools who are trying to digest the changes that emerged from the Wolf report as well as understand the implications of Gove’s newest proposals.

According to Labour's education spokesman Kevin Brennan, Gove’s plans would take the exam system 'back to the 1950s,' dividing children into winners and losers at just 14. But we’d like to know what you think.

Is the reform a backwards step, segregating the young people? Will the ‘more straightforward’ exams be seen as an inferior qualification for the less able? Surely, we want to avoid making a decision about a child’s capabilities too early in their career and risk demotivating them...

Or alternatively, is the proposed 2 tier system a good step forward, allowing young people to focus on their individual skills and talents? Is the current exam system letting children down? After all, there’s no doubt that some young people will be more engaged by technical / vocational study with others better suited to the academic route…

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Lindsay Plumpton

Communications Leader
96 posts
David Grailey

Chief Executive
79 posts
Andrew Gladstone-Heighton

Policy Leader
75 posts
Esme Winch

Managing Director
35 posts
Michael Lemin

Policy and Research Manager
25 posts

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