GCSE changes are confusing, says minister who introduced exam
THE changes to GCSES are “deeply unsettling” and will leave people “puzzled”, according to the man who introduced the original exams.
Lord Baker, who was education secretary under Margaret Thatcher in the Eighties, has criticised the new numerical grading system, saying that “schools won’t understand it, and certainly employers don’t at all”.
He warned that the exam regulator, Ofqual, should be “very wary of making such fundamental changes as this”.
Students will receive their GCSE results for the first time tomorrow under a system which uses grades nine to one, rather than A* to G.
The grades were designed as part of a package of reforms to toughen up syllabuses and to cut down on the number of students getting A*s, which has now been split between two grades, eight and nine. Pupils will be marked under the new system for English literature, English language and maths, while the rest of their subjects will be marked under the old A* to G grades.
Lord Baker told The Daily Telegraph: “I think it is going to leave many people puzzled to understand the new system and how it relates to the old one. The real test is what will industry think of this. They see GCSE performance as very important. This is a new standard and it will take some time for people to understand it.”
Lord Baker, who served as education secretary from 1986 to 1989, went on: “To bring in a whole new measure is deeply unsettling. Several schools won’t understand it, and certainly employers don’t at all. You should be very wary of making such fundamental changes as this.”
Lord Baker introduced the General Certificate of Education (GCSE) over two years, between 1986 and 1988, to replace the O-level and the Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE) exams.
His comments come after experts spoke of the “alarming” consequences of the new system, as they predicted that thousands of students will receive the wrong GCSE marks this week.
Lord Baker said that the Department for Education has a “huge job” of explaining the changes to students,
‘It is going to leave many people puzzled to understand the new system and how it relates to the old one’
teachers and employers and “trying to win their confidence that this is a better way, and I’m not so sure it is”. He added: “It is a very fundamental change and I don’t see the purpose of it.”
He said that since teenagers must now stay in full-time education until they are 18, he expects “more and more people to question the necessity of GCSES”.
Lord Baker’s comments about employers chime with the Institute of Directors, which last week warned that the new GCSE grading system is “gibberish” and will cost students jobs.
An Ofqual spokesman said that the exam reforms were designed to raise standards in schools and keep up with universities’ and employers’ demands. Ofqual had been working with the DFE “for several years” to raise awareness of the new grading system.