- More Students Face Retaking English and Math GCSEs
- Growing Number of Failing Grades in Key Subjects
- Financial Strain on Colleges and Concerns About Retake Policy
This year, tens of thousands more 16-year-olds will need to retake their English and mathematics GCSE exams than last year.
More than 167,000 students in England received a grade of 3 or below on their math exam, approximately 21,000 more than in 2022, while 172,000 students failed English language, the highest number in a decade.
Unions for principals have stated that this will increase the strain on colleges.
The overall quantity of GCSE passes has declined for the second consecutive year.
A parent who wishes to remain anonymous said that her son earned As and Bs in English, music, art, media, and photography, but is devastated because he failed his mathematics exam despite working extremely hard and receiving extra tutoring.
Her son, who is autistic and has dyslexia, is a talented musician and filmmaker who had planned to take A-levels in film studies and photography and a BTec in music production; however, one of these will conflict with his maths-resit classes, so he must now take alternative subjects.
“All he can see is the failure – it’s torture,” she stated. “Now he must spend hours working on a topic he dislikes and is terrible at.”
In England, students must earn a grade 4 or higher in maths and English GCSEs to qualify for further study. However, retakes are permitted alongside new subject choices.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak desires that all students in England study some form of mathematics until the age of 18, but an education committee heard earlier this year that implementing this plan would be difficult.
According to the Association of Colleges, the additional GCSE retakes could result in “additional costs of approximately £500,000 per week across colleges in England, or approximately £16 million per year.”
Eddie Playfair, senior policy manager, stated that grading changes surrounding the Covid pandemic had a “yo-yo effect” on the number of retakes, making organizing an enormous challenge. And colleges required additional funds to pay for additional instructors and seminars.
“Demoralising re-tests”
Nick Gibb, the minister of education, stated that the compulsory retake policy was “extremely important.” But he did not indicate whether more funding would be made available.
Julie McCulloch, of the Association of School and College Leaders, stated that the additional retakes would “increase the pressure on sixth forms and colleges” and force “many students into a series of demoralizing retakes in which the majority will again fail to meet the benchmark.”
She added that the development of new English and mathematics qualifications was “desperately needed.”
Only 20% of those retaking their mathematics GCSEs last year passed.
In addition, the NAHT school leaders’ union stated that the current policy required “immediate change.”
This year, more students took GCSE exams, but since 2022, the proportion of students receiving failing grades has also increased.
English, Welsh, and Northern Irish GCSE pass rates have dropped to 68.2% of submissions obtaining grades 4/C or better.
England’s ratings fell the most this year, despite expectations that they would return to 2019 standards.
This year’s grades in Wales and Northern Ireland were always expected to be slightly higher.
More than 225,000 Level 2 BTec results and more than 120,000 Cambridge National results were released on Thursday.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, students took exams for the first time last year. It was deemed a “transition year” by Ofqual, with grades reflecting a midpoint between 2019 and 2021. Approximately 73.2% of GCSEs in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland received grades of 4/C or higher.
In the second phase of the strategy, grades match 2019’s 67.3% pass rate for GCSEs.
Nick Gibb has stated in the past that bringing them back down would ensure that results carried “weight and credibility” with employers, universities, and institutions so that they are aware of what the various grades signify.
He also said the government’s “major concern” was the grade gap between rich and disadvantaged kids.
In England, the disparity between regions with the lowest and highest GCSE pass rates widened, and state institutions saw a steeper decline in GCSE pass rates than private schools.
Stephen Morgan, the opposition education minister for Labour, stated that the results demonstrated that “the government’s efforts to level the playing field have failed.”
When the pandemic struck, the majority of this year’s GCSE students were in eighth grade. This year, teacher strikes affected them, but unions stated they tried to minimise the impact on exam year groups.
Ofqual states that there was “protection built into the grading process” so that students should have received the same grades they would have received if the pandemic had not occurred, even if they performed less well in their exams.
In addition, some Covid measures remained in force for this year’s examinations. Before the pandemic, GCSE papers in the same subject were scheduled closer together, reducing leisure and revision time.
In modern foreign language examinations, students were not tested on unfamiliar vocabulary and were given formula sheets and equation sheets in certain subjects.
However, unlike the rest of the UK, English GCSE pupils were not told of the test themes.
A-levels, T-levels, BTecs, and apprenticeships are compulsory for English students till 18.
Last week, the aggregate percentage of A-level students with the highest grades approached pre-pandemic levels.
Even though 5,210 students began T-level studies in 2021, only 3,448 received results.
According to the Department of Education, efforts are being made to “improve retention.”
