This year saw a transition for GCSE Level qualifications, with a focus on end point examination, (removing the earlier ‘January series’ re-sit & modular examinations).
Last week, thousands of teens received their all-important results and overall, the 2014 results show a 98.5% pass rate, down 0.3 percentage points (but with a rise in students receiving A*s). While some subjects, such as ICT, Computing and Business Studies recorded significant growth, the number of English entries dropped by more than 215,000. Among 15-year-olds, the number of maths entries dropped by 76 per cent, from 170,357 down to 39,292.
The results in English seem to have been the most affected, with the number of A*-C grades down 1.9 percentage points to 61.7% from 63.6%. This is likely as a result of a change in assessment for this subject.
Girls are still out-performing boys at GSCE and once again lead pass rates at grade C and above, with 73.1% of girls’ entries scoring A*-C compared with 64.3% of boys’.
The results could be seen as an indication of how the government’s education reform plan is impacting on learners with the introduction of the “first results count” system.
At NCFE, we’d like to say congratulations to all those students who have received their results and the best of luck in your next steps. Whatever a student’s results, there is a route which will be suitable for them and a range of possibilities available.
Not every individual is suited to the standard academic A-Levels and a degree – a vocational course or apprenticeship is in some cases a much more appropriate option. In fact, according to research by The Edge Foundation, the skills required for 9 out of the 10 most in-demand occupations of the future can be attained by completing vocational qualifications. By 2022 there is set to be an additional 3.6 million job vacancies in mid-skilled occupations in a range of sectors, all of which employ high numbers of people with vocational qualifications.
With this in mind, it’s about time that vocational options came under the spotlight. It’s time that people stopped dismissing these options as only relevant for under-performers at school. It’s time we started recognising their potential for helping learners achieve success.
There are also a number of vocational qualifications which carry performance points and can be woven into the school curriculum such as NCFE’s V Certs.
Let us know what you think!
