Claims that pupils need to memorise long sections of text and scientific formulas for the new GCSEs are “overstated”, the school standards minister has said.
Nick Gibb defended students having to learn some things by heart, but said there was “no requirement” to learn “huge swathes of text”.
The minister was appearing in front of the Commons Education Select Committee this morning.
GCSE tips: Memorising poetry
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During the hearing, he was questioned by Labour MP Lucy Powell on whether there was too great an emphasis on rote-learning in the government’s reformed GCSEs.
“The balance has shifted greatly to having to cram stuff in at the expense of a love of poetry or a love of maths and being able to apply that love and that knowledge,” she said.
However, Mr Gibb said her claims were exaggerated. “The amount of quotes you need for a GCSE are overstated by these campaigns about the new GCSE,” he said.
But Ms Powell said she had witnessed it with her own teenage son.
“My son is sitting his English lit in a month, and he needs to know a hell of a lot of really awful poems frankly.”
She went on: “He loves literature, he’s not very good at it, but he loves it though, and he can critically assess it, but he’s having to get himself all stressed about having to cram into his head exact quotations that he might happen to need.”
Mr Gibb replied: “There is some element of that, but…there’s no requirement for masses of learning of huge swathes of text.”
The minister went on to defend some memorisation.
“There is a benefit from knowing some formula by heart, not all formula is required by heart, some formula is provided,” he said.
“If you read Daniel Willingham, he will tell you that there are some things you need to have in your long term memory, you can’t always be reaching for the information.
“The working memory is not big enough for you always be finding out what seven sixes are when you’re trying to simplify fractions. There are some things you need in your long-term memory.”
The reformed GCSE in English literature involves closed book exams, where students are expected to know quotations from up to 18 poems.
