New-style exams will test school standards

Throughout much of the past three decades, the proportion of schoolchildren achieving the highest marks in GCSE exams grew every year. This “grade inflation” led to confusion over whether standards were really rising, or marking was simply less rigorous. This was unfair on the students and threatened to devalue the entire system of examinations. It also made it hard to measure the performance of British children against those in other countries in an increasingly competitive global marketplace.

Today pupils across England will receive the results of the new-style GCSE exams in English and maths that have been designed to restore integrity to the regime. They have been described as the most difficult set of exams since the O-levels were abandoned 30 years ago.

Testament to that is the fact that just a few students have achieved the highest grade –a 9 – in all the subjects where the new marking structure applies, whereas an A* was becoming almost routine in many high-performing schools and As were commonplace. This was partly due to an excessive reliance on coursework or modules, which will no longer be the case.

It is important that able students are stretched and that less academically gifted children are not given false hopes by overly generous marks. We know there is a problem because international comparisons suggest that the performance of English schools has stagnated in recent years.

In order to obtain the world-class standards that Government ministers are seeking, the average pupil will need to achieve 5 – a “strong” pass – on the new system, an ambitious target and rightly so.

Pushing up standards across the board will be a huge challenge for schools and one that they should welcome, not least by ensuring the best practitioners get the highest rewards. If the bar is to be raised we need to be sure teachers are fully equipped to help their classes to jump higher.

The new system will take time to bed in. The children receiving results in the more demanding subjects today should be judged by the new measure, not by past, inflated, achievements.

Doubtless there will be teething problems as schools and parents try to work out what the new grades mean. But the goal is clear. This is about having the highest possible expectations for our children and for the country’s future.