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GCSE resits and Neets
Young people who do not pass GCSE English and maths face a “blockage” to further study and work, Education Secretary Lucy Powell said as GCSE grades and technical awards were released across England, Wales and Northern Ireland on Thursday.
“Young people who fail to score a decent pass in GCSE English and maths face a “blockage””
Powell said the Government will bring in a “new level one qualification” so students have “a strong foundation in English and maths” and a “passport” to go on for further study, an apprenticeship or a training place, adding that without grade 4s they are “often finding there’s a blockage because they haven’t got the 4 in English and maths.”
PA analysis of Ofqual figures suggested more than 350,000 current 16-year-olds will need to take resits next year, including 178,270 16-year-olds in England who did not achieve a grade 4 or above in maths this year.
In English language, it was likely that 180,570 did not achieve a grade 4 or above, with the analysis also linking the resit system to the Neets crisis by citing “more than one million young people aged 16 to 24 neither working nor learning.”
Officials and education leaders
Ofqual head Sir Ian Bauckham told PA that if more people gain good qualifications, “particularly about that grade 4 threshold that is so widely recognised,” then “there will be more opportunities for the young people that have those qualifications.”
Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the post-16 resit results reinforce that the Government policy of “force-feeding them a relentless diet of GCSE English and maths in post-16 education is simply not working.”
Di’Iasio argued that “Tinkering at the edges of the qualification system will not solve this problem,” and said that as long as students are graded in these “gateway subjects of English and maths” the policy will “continue to damage their future prospects.”
BBC Radio 4’s Today programme coverage also quoted Powell saying the Government will bring in a “new stepping stone qualification” to end the cycle of demoralising resits, while the Department for Education said new preparatory qualifications will be introduced to help students before they take the resits.
Pass rates, resit trends
The BBC said GCSE passes across England, Wales and Northern Ireland were stable at 67.3% of all grades at 4/C and above, “exactly the same as it was in 2019,” while the proportion of top grades rose slightly from 21.9% last year to 22% this year.
“67.3% of all grades across England, Wales and Northern Ireland at 4/C and above”
The BBC also reported that nearly a quarter of maths and English GCSEs were taken by people aged 17 and older this year, making up 24.3% of maths and English language grades in England compared to 23.4% last year.
It added that in England, “Just 19.8% of English language entries and 15.3% of maths entries from people aged 17 and over in England were marked at grade 4 or higher,” and said Cambridge OCR warned that “the number of resit entries is still going in the wrong direction.”
The BBC said the DfE expects “future years won’t face this demoralising cycle” because of a new “stepping stone” qualification planned for those who don’t pass GCSEs from 2028, and it noted that the plan has been broadly welcomed but calls remain for students to be able to take it before they reach the point of sitting GCSEs.