Pressure is growing for the government to scrap its policy of compulsory GCSE English and maths resits.
An unprecedented alliance of sector bodies and unions (see box, below) has told TES that it believes the contentious policy should be changed and an alternative qualification permitted for learners who have not achieved a C grade in either subject.
A new report backed by senior figures in the sector, shared exclusively with TES, also concludes that a rethink on resits is needed.
According to the Association of Colleges, in 2015-16 - the first year in which resits were a condition of providers’ funding - 73 colleges had 1,000 or more students sitting GCSE English or maths.
‘Serious questions’ over policy
The groundswell of opposition comes after a senior Ofsted official this week said there were “serious questions” about the policy.
The overall number of GCSE entries among students aged 17 and above in the two subjects increased by about a third from the previous year. In total, 128,201 older learners took GCSE English, while 173,628 sat maths. The A*-C pass rate in English dropped to 26.9 per cent from 35.1 per cent the previous year, while in maths it fell from 35.8 per cent to 29.5 per cent.
Speaking at the UKFEchat conference in London on Saturday, Paul Joyce, the inspectorate’s deputy director for FE and skills, said that Ofsted’s annual report in December would consider whether the policy was “doing the job or not”.
He continued: “I think it’s something the sector continues to struggle with. And I think we need to ask the question: is the policy right? Is the direction of travel right? And what have we got to do to either get those results better or to find a more fitting solution to enable learners’ English and maths skills to be developed further?”
‘We need to ask the question: is the policy right? Is the direction of travel right?’
The report by the Skills Commission, made up of sector leaders and politicians, concludes that there is no value - “rather, there is likely a cost” - in entering a young person for an exam they have little chance of passing.
A Spotlight On…Young People says that the Department for Education and Ofqual should consider whether a post-16 modular GCSE should be introduced for learners retaking English and maths GCSEs. This echoes a recommendation made by Dame Sally Coates in her review of prison education, published in May. In July, apprenticeships and skills minister Robert Halfon told TES that he was “open-minded” about the idea.
Dame Ruth Silver, who co-chairs the Skills Commission, said functional skills could be another alternative to GCSE. She added: “Creating more appropriate pathways and programmes of learning, which are not dominated by a bias towards GCSE yet emphasise the importance of literacy and numeracy, could help engage learners better and see them progress further throughout their time in FE.”
Social and welfare issues
Peter Mayhew-Smith, chair of the inquiry behind the report, said learners resitting their GCSEs “often bring with them social and welfare issues, challenges that colleges willingly pick up and make a success of” despite funding being “tight”.
The report also calls for additional financial support for institutions working with a large proportion of young people who have below-average academic attainment.
A DfE spokesperson said: “School-leavers who achieve their GCSEs significantly increase their chances of securing a good job, an apprenticeship or progressing to further learning. Thanks to our reforms, thousands more students are successfully resitting their maths and English GCSEs each year.
“We are working closely with the post-16 sector to address the issues that are holding back the progress of students in securing the basics of maths and English. We have also invested £30 million to fund training for thousands of teachers in the FE sector.”
