The musical talents of Ian Pryce first came to attention when he recorded Justine, a cover of Dolly Parton’s Jolene appropriated in a plea for additional funding.
The Bedford College principal then recorded a version of Katy Perry’s Roar¸ in tribute to former Association of Colleges (AoC) president Alison Birkinshaw.
Now, to mark GCSE results day, he has recorded a cover of the Village People’s YMCA in an unlikely tribute to colleges’ work to support students on GCSE resits in English and maths. This was recorded by the College People - made up of Pryce and technicians from his college.
The release of the song comes as new figures from the Joint Council for Qualifications, published this morning, show that, of the 161,139 entries this summer for students aged 17-plus taking GCSE maths, 22.7 per cent achieved a grade 4 or higher - down 14.3 percentage points compared with 2017. The results for GCSE English show that, of the 148,986 entries from students aged 17 and above, 33.1 per cent achieved a grade 4 or higher. Last year, the figure stood at 35.5 per cent.
Celebrating colleges’ achievements
The resits policy has proved controversial. Last week Tes revealed that some students ended up sitting the qualifications nine times.
Organisations including the AoC (Association of Colleges) and Association of Employment and Learning Providers have called for the condition of funding, which requires students with a grade 3 (or D under the old system) to retake the qualification, to be amended.
But Pryce insists that he wanted to “celebrate the achievement of colleges and students”.
He said: “The scale of maths and English retakes has proved a huge logistical problem and everyone deserves congratulating for implementing such a complex policy change so quickly.”
“When the condition was introduced colleges did not occupy the moral high ground. Too many colleges had neglected these vital skills and had been too focused on the funding methodology, rather than the needs of their students. This meant we had to accept the new policy and the funding condition in full with no real input.
“A few years later we have earned the right to be heard on how to make the policy stronger. Colleges have taken maths and English seriously and the arguments put forward by David Hughes and the AoC deserve proper consideration.”
However Pryce says that he would personally prefer a system with all students required to resit their GCSEs once post-16 “given their importance”.
He added: “They should also be entitled to take them as often as they like, whatever grade they got at school, but after the first resit colleges should be able to impose an attendance condition and take students off the GCSEs without it affecting their funding if they don’t attend.
“It makes more sense to allow us to concentrate on those students motivated to go again. The song tries to reflect that.”
GCSE by The College People - the lyrics
Young man, didn’t do well at school
I said young man, always playing the fool
Came to college, to study something you like
But you found there’s no escaping...
It’s time to retake your GCSEs
It’s time to retake your GCSEs
And there’s no chance you’ll pass, you were never in class
It’s an impossibility
It’s time to retake your GCSEs
It’s time to retake your GCSEs
You’ll be first out the door, post a terrible score
So you’ll do them again next year
Young man, failure getting you down
I said young man, pick yourself off the ground
And let’s teach you, show you how to achieve
Learn to pass your maths and English
Young man listen to the tutor
I said young man, then you’ll get a grade 4
If you work hard and do just what we say
You could make us both so happy.....
It’s time to retake your GCSEs
It’s time to retake your GCSEs
There’s a good chance you’ll pass, if you get off your arse
There’s a good probability
It’s time to retake your GCSEs
It’s time to retake your GCSEs
Yes we turned you around now keep your feet on the ground
And progress now to level three
Young man!
