A plan to make A*-C grades at GCSE in English, maths and ICT dependent on a pass in the corresponding functional skills test has been dropped on the advice of Ofqual. It was judged it would have caused technical problems, issues with fairness and left open the possibility that the same script could be awarded different grades in England and Wales. Ofqual said the three new GCSEs in 2010 would include a “strong level” of functional skills.
