GCSE U-Turn
February 7, 2013 by staff
GCSE U-Turn, Plans to scrap GCSEs in key subjects in England and replace them with English Baccalaureate Certificates are being abandoned by the government. The reversal was announced by the education secretary in the Commons, alongside curriculum changes. Michael Gove said plans for the new exams had been “a bridge too far”. He had wanted to bring in what he said were more rigorous exams in some core subjects from 2015, but faced criticism from MPs and teachers.
Labour’s shadow education secretary Stephen Twigg told MPs the announcement was a “humiliating climb-down” and exam policy a “total shambles”.
The change means plans for the new qualification, announced in September, are being shelved, while GCSEs are retained, despite having been previously condemned by the education secretary.
It comes after a damning report by the Commons education committee which said the changes would mean “too much, too fast” and could threaten exam quality.
The new English Baccalaureate Certificate was billed by the government as having a tougher syllabus, with exams at the end of the course in a return to an O-level style traditional qualification.
Mr Gove told MPs: “Last September we outlined plans for changes to GCSE qualifications designed to address the grade inflation, dumbing down and loss of rigour in those examinations.
“We have consulted on those proposals and there is now a consensus that the system needs to change.
“But one of the proposals I put forward was a bridge too far.”
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