Anger at GCSE ‘guinea pigs’ as top grades slide
PARENTS yesterday accused the Government of using their children as “guinea pigs” as GCSE pass rates fell amid the biggest shake-up of exams in a generation.
The fall saw the number of top grades plummeting to the lowest level since 2007.
Some claimed the new system – graded 9 to 1 instead of A* to G and so far only for English, English literature and mathematics – was too complicated.
In England, about 18,600 pupils scored a 9 in maths, the new highest grade. Almost 31,000 achieved the top mark in the two English GCSEs combined.
English, English literature and maths are the first subjects to move across to the new system, with other subjects moving over in the next two years.
Yesterday’s figures showed that across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the proportion of entries scoring at least an A grade – 7 or higher under the new system – fell by 0.5 per cent to 20 per cent when compared to last summer.
Frustration
And the percentage of pupils gaining a C or above – 4 or higher under the new system – was down 0.6 to 66.3 per cent.
Some parents took to social media to complain. One wrote: “They change the GCSEs a few months before the exams. Are we people or guinea pigs?”
Education experts also shared some parents’ frustration.
Suzanne Terrasse, commissioning editor of the Maths – No Problem! series, said: “This year’s GCSE maths students have been used as guinea pigs.
“It is a misguided experiment that has left them underprepared for the new-style, harder exams which, for the higher tier, contain elements previously only seen on the A-level syllabus.”
Research also showed that three-quarters of the students found the new grade system difficult to understand.
However, among thousands of proud parents yesterday were TV presenter Zoe Ball and her former partner Norman Cook, better known as DJ Fatboy Slim, as they watched their son Woody collect his results.
The pair split in 2016 after almost 18 years together but they put on a united front for their son, who picked up his results at Brighton College.
Woody achieved an 8 in English language, a 7 in English literature, a 6 in maths, a B in computer science and As in drama, design and technology, science and additional science.
Zoe said his grandad Johnny Ball, 79, who hosted TV science shows, would “be very proud because he got A for science”.
She added: “I’m so proud of him. Norman and I have had a little cry in the car waiting for him to come out.”
Minister for School Standards Nick Gibb said last night: “The Government’s new gold-standard GCSEs in English and maths have been benchmarked against the best in the world, raising academic standards for pupils.
“As we saw with last week’s new A-levels, we are beginning to see our reforms translating into higher standards.
“These will improve the opportunities and life chances of millions of young people and help fulfil the voracious demand for knowledgeable and skilled young people from Britain’s dynamic and growing economy.”
The grading switch is part of reforms to make GCSEs more challenging. In English and maths there has been a move away from coursework and pupils now sit all exams at the end of their two-year courses.