Changes to GCSE system

New GCSE exams for England are being revealed

By Nicole Hamer |

11:43 11 June 2013

Students in England will see a change to the GCSE exam system, with the government announcing its plans on Tuesday, 11th June, 2013. The Education Secretary Michael Gove will reveal the details later.

 

As of 2015, GCSE exams will no longer be graded A* to G but will be marked 8 to 1. Also, exams look set to be done after two years. This differs to what is currently in place, as students complete coursework and are evaluated throughout the course.

 

And the changes also mean that the pass mark will be raised.

 

This will mean that when the new plans come into effect, 16-year-olds will sit the exams in 2017.

 

The revamp will mean that GCSE’s will resemble O-levels in the fact that final papers will be sat at the end of the course.

 

Reportedly, the government’s aim is for the new GCSE’s to be more ‘rigorous’.

 

Education Minister Liz Truss told the BBC Breakfast: “For too long we have pretended that students’ results are getting better, whereas actually all that has been happening is that exams have been getting easier and there has been a race to the bottom between the exam boards. We need to stop that happening now.”

 

The General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers Christine Blower commented that, as quoted by the Mail Online: “We think this is slightly rushed and demeans the achievements of students who have taken GCSEs in the past.”

 

Adding: “Just because more children are successful does not mean that exams are getting easier.”

 

In other parts of the UK, Scotland uses a different system.