GCSEs | Schools Week

Nick Gibb is wrong about modern foreign languages

Boosting foreign language GCSE entries is not the way to improve our country’s language skills – but there is a better way, insists David Harbourne The Schools Minister, Nick Gibb, wants 90% of 16-year-olds to take a foreign language GCSE. In a recent House of Commons debate on the EBacc, he said this is necessary […]

New GCSEs and A-levels finally signed off – just days before schools break up for summer

The exams regulator has announced today it has finished accrediting new qualifications, less than two months before they are due to be first taught in schools. Ofqual has faced criticism for much of this year over the pace at which it has dealt with 156 new GCSE, AS and A-level frameworks for first teaching from […]

Why the new D&T curriculum was so badly needed

The new D&T GCSE specification became available this term to allow teachers to prepare for the changes that will be implemented from September next year. Steven Parkinson explains why it represents a real opportunity. Design and technology (D&T) is at a crossroads. One road leads off a cliff. At the bottom of the ravine lies […]

The Post-16 Skills Plan: What do school leaders really need to know?

The government’s new Skills Plan describes significant changes to vocational qualifications for post-16 pupils – but what does it mean for schools? Editor Laura McInerney explains the relevant parts. When post-16 education changes are announced it can be difficult for schools to know which bits will affect them. Today’s announcement of a Skills Plan […]

What do teachers and pupils REALLY think about A-levels and GCSEs? 7 findings from latest government figures

The exams regulator Ofqual today released its annual survey on the perception of A-levels and GCSEs. Lots of people were consulted, including: headteachers (281), teachers (697), youngsters (338), parents (259) and academics (253). The survey, carried out by YouGov, comes during the government’s overhaul of qualifications in its push to make them “more rigorous”. Here’s […]

Ignore social media, pupils can cope with hard GCSE exams

What do drunk rats, teenage boys and an independent drugs company have in common? Despite sounding like key components from a song in the 1980s they are actually items mentioned in AQA’s biology GCSE paper taken earlier this week. Echoing youngsters across generations who walked out of exams and asked “what the heck was all […]

Why did some results dip last year? Ofqual reveals all…

Last year, on GCSE results day, panicked phone calls came through to the Schools Week office. There were dips – big dips – in the results of schools with outstanding records and well-respected leaders. What was going on? Many callers said the exams regulator, Ofqual, must have moved the boundaries of English and maths GCSEs, […]

Super heroes don鈥檛 solve problems, they punch people

Watching Nicky Morgan getting beaten up by her own party over forced academy conversions, I suddenly realised the fatal flaw of her plan is not so much money, but the fact it relies on imaginary, magical people. The idea of every school becoming an academy is that headteachers can do it all. They can train […]

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Tag: GCSEs