Half of pupils do not achieve ‘strong pass’ in key GCSES

MORE than half of pupils are failing to achieve a “strong pass” in their English and maths GCSES, figures show, three years after reforms were introduced.

At state schools in England, 57 per cent of pupils were not able to get a grade 5 or above in the two core subjects, according to provisional data published by the Department for Education (DFE).

A grade 5 is considered a strong pass by the Government and is used to hold schools to account for their performance, while teenagers who score below a grade 4 in maths and English have to re-sit the exams.

This summer was the third year that students took the reformed GCSES, which were created by Michael Gove, the former education secretary, as part of an attempt to inject rigour into the qualifications and bring the UK in line with top-performing countries.

The reformed exams, which are marked in grades of nine down to one rather than A* to G, are designed to separate the very highest achievers with an A* now split between grades 8 and 9.

School leaders warned that students could be left feeling demoralised if they do not achieve a grade 5 and said there are alternatives to “the annual rite of consigning large numbers of young people to a sense of failure”.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “The Government has raised the bar another notch by describing a grade five as a ‘strong pass’.

“Well over half of young people do not attain this benchmark in GCSE English and maths despite all the effort they have put into their studies.

“It is a measure designed to raise standards but in fact risks leaving students feeling demoralised even though they have done really well.”