Need to know: GCSE results, EBacc risk and Inset days

The first GCSE results from exams since 2019 this week sparked calls for the government to take “levelling up” action to tackle a North-South divide and showed that private schools had experienced a bigger drop in top grades.

Catch up on your must-read Tes news and features articles from the past week right here:

News

• GCSE results day: The results roundup
  Tes breaks down Thursday’s GCSE results by grade, subject and gender.
   
• GCSE results: Schools tell the DfE to ‘do some levelling up’
  The government must do more to tackle regional inequalities after this week’s GCSE results showed a widening of the gap between regions in the North and South of England, in terms of the proportion of students receiving top grades, school leaders and education experts have said.
   
• GCSE results: North-South divide in top grades wider post-Covid 
  The gap between regions in the North and South of England in terms of the proportion of top GCSE grades has widened since exams were last held in 2019.
   
• Private schools suffer bigger fall in top GCSE grades
  Independent schools saw a bigger drop in GCSE grades 7/A or above this year compared with state schools.
   
• Ofqual boss: ‘No reason’ to delay return to pre-Covid GCSE grading 
  The chief regulator at Ofqual has told Tes that she can “see no reason” to delay the return to pre-Covid GCSE grading levels next year - although a decision on this is yet to be formally made. This year, after grade inflation in the past two years resulting from exam cancellations, Ofqual set grade boundaries at a midway point between 2019 and 2021.
   
• Which GCSE subjects ‘could disappear’?
  These GCSE subjects with smaller numbers of entries could “largely disappear” from state schools because of the funding crisis, a union leader has warned.
   
• GCSEs: EBacc is ‘done for’, says expert 
  The government’s English Baccalaureate subject target at GCSE “will be quietly phased out” because not enough students are studying a modern foreign language, according to a report from the Centre for Education and Employment Research.
   
• GCSE English ‘putting students off’ subject at A level 
  A headteachers’ union has expressed “severe concern” over the drop in the number of students taking English literature at A level and called for the GCSE qualification in the subject to be urgently reviewed.

Features

• GCSE results: Six key insights teachers need to know
  Tes delves into all the data from GCSE results day to provide the essential insights that teachers need to know ahead of the start of the new school year.
   
• Inset days: Why we send our teachers on tour 
  One headteacher explains the benefits of using Inset days to send all staff to other schools across the country.
   
• GCSE results day: A head of department’s guide
  Earlier this week, Tes published this guide to help heads of department better support both staff and students - and look after themselves - on GCSE results day.
   
• GCSE results day: What is a teacher’s role?
  Lead practitioner James Bullous offered his advice to fellow teachers on how to handle GCSE results day and students’ reactions to their grades in the days afterwards.