The pupils reduced to tears by tough new GCSEs and A-levels
PUPILS have been left in tears after sitting tougher GCSEs and A- levels in the biggest exam shake-up in a generation.
Teenagers have had panic attacks, been sick or collapsed exhausted at their desks after exams, with some sitting more than 30 papers.
Teachers say pupils have been left feeling demoralised after being unable to finish papers and failing to understand all the questions.
Reforms mean that around 750,000 teenagers are sitting tougher GCSEs and Alevels this summer. New GCSEs will be graded 1 to 9, with 9 being the top grade, to allow more differentiation between the highest performing pupils.
The changes were triggered by former education secretary Michael Gove following research showing British pupils were falling behind peers in other countries.
Employers have long complained that youngsters do not leave school with the right skills and campaigners have pointed to a ‘dumbing down’ of the curriculum under the previous Labour government.
But students have criticised the exams on social media, with many saying they left them in tears.
Emma Wickham tweeted: ‘Don’t think I’ve ever cried so much about school till A-levels!! Stressed is not even the word, someone put me out of my misery.’
Kirsty Scott said her history exam ‘was genuinely the hardest one I’ve sat so far’.
Another teen agreed, adding that she had emailed her teacher after being thrown by the questions. Teachers have told how they have been forced to schedule extra lessons and set additional homework just to cover the new syllabuses.
An English teacher at a west London comprehensive said: ‘I’ve got a girl in my Year 11 class who’s perfectly capable but she’s stopped coming to school because she’s finding it too overwhelming.
‘I have to run two extra one-hour lessons a week at 7.45am. It’s not a refresher or revision class, it’s because we haven’t got through the new syllabus.
‘In GCSE English it’s all exams – there is no coursework – and pupils are not allowed to bring in any of the texts. They effectively have to memorise three texts and 18 poems. The expectation is killing them.’
A history teacher from Gloucester told BBC Radio 5 Live: ‘ New GCSEs are a totally demoralising experience for staff and students. Every lesson we had to teach a different topic and then had to move on. Students had no time to reflect.
‘I had to set hundreds of hours of homework and by the end of Year 11 I had set nearly 100 homework tasks including revision and catch-up work.
‘Before and after exams I witnessed students with ashen faces in tears and others being physically sick. Most students missed questions or simply could not understand the question.’
Parents have also complained, with one tweeting: ‘Not sure who the new science and maths GCSEs are designed for Michael Gove but I had a daughter in tears last night saying, “I’ve worked so hard but don’t feel like it’s paying off as the exams are so difficult...” This from a confident, able student!’
Louise Wearden wrote: ‘Tonight my beautiful, bright 16-year- old daughter cried so hard in fear of her GCSE maths paper & English lit paper 2! The new exams are so tough & pressure too much!’
The new maths and English exams with the numbered grading system were phased in last year but this year will be the first time pupils are sitting new exams in 20 other subjects, including science, French, German, Spanish, history and geography. A grade 4 is a pass, equivalent to a C, while a grade 7 is equivalent to an A. Speaking in May, schools minister Nick Gibb said the new qualifications were designed to be on a par with the best performing education systems in the world.
He said: ‘These more rigorous, gold-standard GCSEs are helping to nurture the next generation of scientists, linguists and historians. Thanks to our reforms and the hard work of teachers, education standards are rising in our schools and last year, teachers and pupils responded well to the new English and maths exams.’
The new qualifications have been designed with employers in mind following consultation with specialists. For example, the new science GCSEs now include space
‘The expectation is killing them’
physics, and the new computer science GCSE will provide greater focus on programming.
It comes after international tests by the Organisation for Economic Co- operation and Development found 15-year- olds in England have been slipping behind their peers in many other countries in reading, maths and science.
THE Mail has much sympathy with the GCSE and A-level candidates reduced to tears by the toughest exams set in a long while, under reforms masterminded by former education secretary Michael Gove.
But after decades of dumbing down, begun by Tony Blair in a deceitful attempt to make his record on school standards look good, the change had to come.
Indeed, the Mail applauds Mr Gove on a rigorous curriculum, with grades that distinguish between the must-try-harder, the competent and the exceptional.
But a word of advice to employers: in fairness to those taking today’s exams, they should insist on being told if job applicants sat their GCSEs and A-levels before or after Mr Gove’s reforms. Only then will they be able to judge how much weight to attach to paper qualifications.