Curbs on early GCSE entries in Wales revealed
NEW rules to cut the number of pupils entered early for GCSE exams in Wales have been announced. From summer 2019, only a pupil’s first entry to a GCSE exam will count in their school’s performance measures, said Education Secretary Kirsty Williams, pictured left. Current policy allows schools to count the best grade from multiple sittings. The change brings Wales in line with England where the measure was introduced four years ago.
The change is likely to divide teachers and head teachers in Wales who have described the “extreme pressure” they are under to achieve results in a system in a state of flux which some describe as “a lottery.” Their damning comments come in a
report from independent exam regulator Qualifications Wales which spent 10 months gauging opinions on early entry.
The regulator concluded the practice could mean some pupils banking early Cs rather than going on to get higher grades at the end of the course.
Some schools told the regulator they enter pupils early for GCSEs because they do not trust the marking by exam boards, including the WJEC, and study materials for Wales’ new GCSEs were insufficient.
Many teachers insist early entry benefits pupils and schools in an exam-orientated system.
But the profession is divided, with others warning some schools play the system to hit their target performance measure of pupils gaining five A* to C GCSEs, including maths, English or Welsh language GCSE. Once a pupil has the all-important C, there is no incentive to re-sit for a higher grade, some fear.
Early entry was blamed in part for Wales recording its lowest GCSE results for 10 years this summer.
Qualifications Wales, which spoke to 59 head teachers, teachers and others working in education over 10 months to gauge views, said opinions were strong and divided.
It estimated schools spent more than £3.3m during the 2016-17 academic year with more than 43,000 Year 10 entries for GCSE English language, GCSE Welsh language or the new GCSE Maths, 12 months before the end of the two-year courses and representing 18% of all entries.
Some schools told the regulator they “game the system” to bank Cs early because of pressure to hit targets and uncertainty over Wales’ new GCSEs.
One teacher told Qualifications Wales: “At the moment, we are in a very uncertain time... Uncertainty and gambling and lottery, that’s how education is at the moment in secondary schools with a lot of subjects, because we don’t know.
“We don’t have enough information about how they are going to come out at the other end, so there has to be that early entry to give them a go.”
Another said: “Unfamiliarity forces us to do early entry, because entering early is the only way that we can get reliable papers.”
The 95-page document adds that some schools worried about consistency in marking by the WJEC for English language from past experiences with the old GCSE.
This, combined with the new specification, left them uncertain about which grade students might get.
“There is a general lack of confidence in the systems within the exam board to provide consistent marking and results,” one teacher told the regulator.
“So, a lot of subject leaders – who I think have been very surprised by some of the practices they have seen in some of the marking – have thought, ‘right, I need to basically go through as many chances as we can because we are not necessarily confident with how it is at the moment’ in terms of marking and boundaries in English’.”
Schools admitted pupils’ best interests could come second to performance data, with one teacher commenting: “You lose sight of individual students when you have a spreadsheet in front of you and you are trying to work out how you are going to meet this A* to C target set.”
Another said: “We are in a period of flux, in the last five years or so, where exams are becoming increasingly important and schools are increasingly being forced to game the system.”
Among comments from teachers opposed to early entry, one said: “With early entry there could easily be groups of pupils who get Cs and Bs and cash those, whereas, actually, if they had been taking those exams a year or 18 months later, could they have got an A?.
“Some students are missing reaching their potential. Lots of kids, if they had had two years’ worth of teaching, probably would have starred their A, but
haven’t.”
Qualifications Wales concluded it was “concerned about the extensive and growing use of early and multiple entry.”
Its chief executive Philip Blaker said: “Although early entry can be in the best interests of individual students, in some cases the continued large-scale use of the practice poses risks to students.”
Kirsty Williams said the changes, based on Qualification Wales’ findings, will ensure “the interests of pupils are always put first”.
She said: “I am concerned that pupils who had the potential to get an A*, A or a B at the end of a twoyear course end up having to settle for a C.
“Too often this is because they take their exam early and are not reentered again.
“I want every child to reach their full potential in school. Early entry must only be for the minority of pupils who will benefit.
“GCSEs are designed to be sat after two years of teaching, not one.
“These changes will ensure our young people access a broad and balanced curriculum, and focus in on what’s best for our children and young people.”
Rob Williams, director of the National Association of Head Teachers Cymru, said: “In implementing a system from summer 2019 which dictates that only a pupil’s first entry to a GCSE examination will count in their school’s performance measures, the Welsh Government also needs to be sure that such an approach keeps the best interests of every student paramount.
“NAHT Cymru recognises that accountability measures can be a constructive influence in shaping positive approaches at school-level, but only if those whose job it is to monitor them understand that individual pupil needs must come first.
“There appears to be a strong degree of consensus that whatever influences the decision to enter students into GCSEs early or multiple times, the best interests of the individual young person should be kept front and centre at all times.”