Exams

EBacc: DfE plans league table shake-up to ‘incentivise’ take-up

Government to 'explore making changes to the headline EBacc attainment measure'

Government to 'explore making changes to the headline EBacc attainment measure'

league tables attendance

The government plans to shake up its EBacc secondary school attainment measure to “incentivise” entry to the full suite of subjects.

In a guidance update issued tonight, the Department for Education said it would “explore making changes to the headline EBacc attainment measure” – which is an “average point score” for EBacc subjects.

The measure gives schools a score across the five pillars of the EBacc, which are English, maths, science, a language and history or geography.

But the DfE said it wanted to “move to a headline EBacc attainment measure that incentivises full EBacc”.

“We plan to engage with the sector on this during the autumn, with a view to confirming the approach in early 2024. The change would be introduced for 2024/25 measures, to be published in autumn 2025.”

No further details have been provided.

The government wants 90 per cent of year 10 pupils entering the English baccalaureate (EBacc) by 2025. Last year just 38.7 per cent did so.

Language entries becomes ‘headline measure’

The DfE also said it planned to change key stage 4 performance measures for the current academic year to make entries to triple science and languages “headline measures”.

They are currently “additional measures”, but would be displayed on schools’ main pages in performance tables from next autumn.

But the document does not confirm how the government plans to calculate progress 8 scores for schools in 2024-25 and 2025-26.

Because the year 11 cohorts in those years did not sit SATs in year 6 because of Covid, there is no baseline on which to calculate progress.

The DfE said it would “explore whether there are any alternative options for producing a progress measure in the affected years, and will announce our approach nearer the time”.

Today’s guidance is an “intermediary update” setting out plans for this academic year. The DfE is still yet to fully update its guidance about performance measures for last academic year. It will do so when provisional data is released in October.

Latest education roles from

Chief Education Officer (Deputy CEO)

Chief Education Officer (Deputy CEO)

Romero Catholic Academy Trust

Director of Academy Finance and Operations

Director of Academy Finance and Operations

Ormiston Academies Trust

Principal & Chief Executive

Principal & Chief Executive

Truro & Penwith College

Group Director of Marketing, Communications & External Engagement

Group Director of Marketing, Communications & External Engagement

London & South East Education Group

Sponsored posts

Sponsored post

AI Safety: From DfE Guidance to Classroom Confidence

Darren Coxon, edtech consultant and AI education specialist, working with The National College, explores the DfE’s expectations for AI...

SWAdvertorial
Sponsored post

How accurate spend information is helping schools identify savings

One the biggest issues schools face when it comes to saving money on everyday purchases is a lack of...

SWAdvertorial
Sponsored post

Building Character, Increasing Engagement and Growing Leaders: A Whole School Approach

Research increasingly shows that character education is just as important as academic achievement in shaping pupils’ long-term success. Studies...

SWAdvertorial
Sponsored post

Educators launch national AI framework to guide schools and colleges

More than 250 schools and colleges across the UK have already enrolled in AiEd Certified, a new certification framework...

SWAdvertorial

More from this theme

Exams

Exams: Try rest breaks before asking for extra time, schools told 

New JCQ guidance says supervised rest breaks 'often more effective and appropriate' than extra exam time

Ruth Lucas
Exams

Poorer pupils do better in more disadvantaged schools, report says

Researchers also find worst-performing areas for disadvantaged kids likely to have more poor white youngsters

Jack Dyson
Exams

WJEC exam board fined £350k after wrong food GCSE results

Ofqual to issue WJEC with six-figure penalty after 1,527 food preparation and nutrition GCSE pupils received incorrect results

Jack Dyson
Exams

Schools ‘over a barrel’ as exam fees rise again

Cost of exams will increase at a greater rate than school funding in 2026, with some provided by AQA...

Freddie Whittaker

Your thoughts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

One comment