GCSE ‘gibberish’ risks jobs

THE new GCSE grading system is “gibberish” and will cost students jobs, the Institute of Directors has warned.

Students will receive their marks for GCSES this week for the first time in the new numerical system of grades one to nine, rather than from A* to G.

The grades were designed by Michael Gove, former education secretary, as part of reforms to toughen up syllabuses and to counter grade inflation at the top end. Pupils will be marked under the new system for English literature, English language and maths.

Seamus Nevin, head of employment and skills policy at the Institute of Directors, said that many employers will only discover that the GCSES have changed once they begin receiving CVS. “They might think, ‘What is this gibberish and what does it mean and how has it changed from previous grading systems?’” he told the Times Educational Supplement (TES).