GCSEs | Schools Week

How to apply for re-marks and appeal GCSE results 2019

GCSE results are on the horizon. If a grade doesn’t seem right, there are still some options available. Each exam board takes a different approach to re-marks*, appeals and the fees they charge, so Schools Week has collated the latest information on how the system will work this year. (*Exam boards have renamed re-marks as […]

Poorer pupils ‘catch up’ by end of primary, but fall behind again at GCSE

The attainment gap between the wealthiest and most disadvantaged pupils almost disappears by the end of primary school before reappearing at age 16, new data suggests. Analysis by data site SchoolDash shows that pupils from poorer areas draw level with their more socially advantaged peers by the end of key stage 2, but that the […]

Halfon’s ‘reckless’ plan to scrap GCSEs a ‘non-starter’, says baccalaureate fan

Calls to replace GCSEs and A-levels with a “holistic baccalaureate” have been branded a “non-starter” by an advocate of a similar model. Tom Sherrington, a trustee of the National Baccalaureate Trust, warned that “headline-grabbing” comments made this week by Robert Halfon, the chair of the education select committee, and a number of other high-profile leaders […]

Why reinvent the education wheel, when a solution already exists?

It’s great that we’re talking about alternatives to GCSEs and A-Levels, but we don’t need to start from scratch – there’s already a qualification out there, says Ryan Kelsall Robert Halfon this week advocated the scrapping of GCSEs and A-Levels in favour of a broader baccalaureate-style education, with a mix of academic and vocational subjects, and […]

DfE rejects 7,000 requests by schools to wipe pupils’ GCSE scores

The government has refused nearly 7,000 requests from schools for their pupils’ GCSE scores to be wiped from league tables after applications rocketed following the introduction of Progress 8. Schools can apply for the results of seriously ill pupils or those in police custody or who are home-educated to be “disapplied” from performance data, on […]

Exam board marking league tables delayed by monitoring concerns

Ofqual, the exams regulator, is still trying to find a way to publish data on how the quality of marking varies between exam boards, more than three years after the idea was floated. Dame Glenys Stacey (pictured below), the former chief regulator at Ofqual, announced in June 2015 that the organisation would publish metrics for […]

Exams ‘useless’ for computer science, say experts

Computing experts have questioned the future of the subject in schools after Ofqual launched a consultation on plans to remove coursework from the computer science GCSE. The exams regulator admitted it no longer believed that it was possible to use non-exam assessment (NEA) to assess programming skills in a way that was “manageable, reliable and […]

Ofqual told to minimise fears around tests cheating

A behavioural-insights team commissioned by Ofqual to help it handle messaging around cheating and malpractice urged the regulator not to overplay the problem. Two companies called EdCom and Now advised Ofqual to avoid making it look as if exams malpractice is “rife”, according to an executive director at the watchdog. The advice was focused on […]

Did free schools really get the best progress scores?

Free schools came top as the best-performing “type” of school in this year’s Progress 8 tables, but were their scores really good enough to assert that with confidence? Becky Allen explains… Today appeared to be a good day for free schools, with mainstream free schools achieving a Progress 8 score of +0.24 across the sector. […]