More top grades could be awarded this year in French, German and computer science GCSEs after exam boards were told to grade the subjects more generously.
Popularity of the language subjects has waned in recent years with pupils increasingly choosing Spanish, which Ofqual previously found was graded less harshly.
Meanwhile, Schools Week can also reveal computer science will be graded more generously. The regulator found grading standards in the subject were “more stringent” pre-pandemic, a report to be published today will show.
Ofqual’s chief regulator Sir Ian Bauckham told Schools Week he hoped the changes would “have a positive impact on the morale of the sector”. But he did warn against “silver bullets” solving language popularity.
Language standards ‘moving in right direction’
Last year, exam boards made adjustments to French and German GCSE of a two percentage points increase at grades 7 and 9, and a one percentage point rise at grade 4.
These are adjustments to the statistical evidence that boards use to guide their senior examiners when recommending grade boundaries. Overall outcomes depend on pupil performance.
Bauckham, appointed chief regulator in January, said while standards had “moved in the right direction, they were still a little bit more harshly graded” than Spanish.
This summer, there will again be positive adjustments in grades 9, 7 and 4 in German and grades 7 and 4 in French. Ofqual said there was “broad alignment” between top grade 9 in French and Spanish last year, so no changes are needed.
This year’s changes are expected to be the last lot, with the exact rises announced on results day.
A 2019 investigation by Ofqual found a “significant decline” in languages entries. Teachers said some content was “too difficult”.
Shortages of languages teachers could also impact how difficult pupils found the subject, it warned.
Since 2020, there has been a 23 per cent rise in entries to Spanish, compared to a four per cent rise in French and a 15 per cent drop in German.
‘Grading could affect popularity’
Bauckham, who chaired a subject content review for GCSE MFL, said while there are “lots of factors at play … it’s certainly possible that one of them is related to grading and certainly many experts in the sector believe grading standards played a part.
“I’m pleased that Ofqual did that research before I was involved in it and I’m very happy to be in the driving seat now we are completing that work.”
Pressed on whether this meant students were put off taking the qualification, he said: “We wanted to get to the point where in languages, if a student or group of students had sat either French, German or Spanish, their likelihood of getting any particular grade would have been broadly speaking, evenly balanced.
“And I think that’s what we are going to achieve. I hope that will have a positive impact on the morale of the sector.”
But he added: “Complex problems tend not to be easily solvable by silver bullets – I’m just going to exercise a little bit of caution in overpromising on that front.
“But I think as a matter of basic fairness and parity between those three languages, I’m really glad we are able to complete that piece of work.”
Computer science more stringent
Meanwhile, a report due to be published today into computing science standards found they “may have become slightly more stringent” between 2014 and 2019.
This was likely because of changes in the cohort – which has “rapidly” increased – and qualification design of the subject, introduced in 2012, the report will say.
But the report will state subject experts believed a big grading change could “undermine the value of the qualification”. However a small change “would have a limited impact on the skills and knowledge demonstrated by pupils”.
Exam boards will be required to make adjustments of a two percentage point rise at grades 9 and 7 and three percentage point rise at grade 4.
Bauckham said the sector had been saying “for some while they believe it would be beneficial to take another look at the grading standard”.
“We hear the sector, we listen to their views, but at the end of the day, we do have an obligation to maintain standards and part of that is looking at evidence we did this piece of work and we reached a conclusion that a small calibration was needed.
But he warned changes to grading will only be visible when you look at a “very large sample”. It will be “very unlikely that an individual school… will notice any significant difference”.
2024 results will be ‘similar’ to last year
Ofqual expects next month’s overall results for GCSE and A-levels to be broadly similar to summer 2023.
The watchdog said it’s “normal for results to vary a little each year due to changes in the cohort of students taking particular qualifications, and based on how students perform in their assessments”.
Students taking GCSE maths, physics and combined science were given exam aids, such as formulae and equation sheets, for a final year due to the pandemic disruption.
GCSE students this summer would have been in year 7 during the first lockdown.
Not sure why students learn French or German these days, unless they intend to work or live in those countries. I can think of other language’s that would be far more valuable in the future whatever career they choose!
I think it obviously depends on your life goals.
There are some jobs that aren’t dependent on you living in those countries that having that language as a skill can be beneficial.
Also as far as french is concern given that there are native French speaking communities in essentially every continent it does open a lot of doors. Also sometimes languages don’t have to be useful in a practical way otherwise native English speakers wouldn’t speak English. Both french and German have an older history than English as languages. Plenty of cultural and artistic rabbit holes for someone to fall in love with.
Speaking as a French and German A level teacher this adjustment is welcome. Trying to retain numbers in the two languages is becoming increasingly difficult. To reply to Nigel’s comment, French is still a very widely spoken language in the world, and German is an important European language in the world of business and research. English people will find it easier to make their way around the world of work snd travel if they even have a modicum of ability in these languages. Contrary to popular belief, not everyone speaks English! Learning any language is a skill which can be used by employers the world over.