Western Mail

The Welsh schools whose pupils sit English GCSEs

- ABBIE WIGHTWICK Education editor abbie.wightwick@walesonlin­e.co.uk

Three private school headteache­rs in Wales have spoken about why they put pupils through England’s GCSEs four years after Wales’ exams were reformed.

They say lack of confidence among some parents in Wales’ new system and competitio­n with private schools across the border mean they have opted for England’s GCSEs, which are now graded by numbers rather than letters.

One claims that a grade 9 at GCSE is a higher standard than Wales’ A*.

England has split the A and A* grades into three – grades 7, 8 and 9. It means that a smaller proportion of children in England get a grade 9 than the percentage of children in Wales who get an A*.

Helen Hier, headteache­r at St Clare’s School, Porthcawl, said pupils there took England’s new GCSEs because “it was very clear that the groundswel­l of opinion was for England’s GCSEs”.

She backed Wales’ GCSE reforms, but said parents wanted their children to take England’s qualificat­ion.

“We consulted all stakeholde­rs and parents came in for an evening. I think parents’ confidence in the Welsh GCSEs was not as high as for the English GCSEs.

“That is not necessaril­y my opinion. I fully support what the Welsh Government is doing with education in Wales and fully respect the Welsh education system. This is not a protest against education in Wales and our pupils took the Welsh A-levels.

“I think parents have seen the statistics produced across Wales in numeracy and literacy and the GCSE results for them are lower. I think the opinion was that the English GCSEs were higher standard.

“I think parents felt England’s GCSE reform was ahead of Welsh GCSE reform. Most independen­t schools in Wales are taking English GCSEs.”

Mrs Hier said she could not say that one GCSE is better than the other, but does believe England’s GCSE grade 9 is higher than Wales’ A*.

“A 9 is designed to be achieved by a very few pupils,” she said. “I would class it as an A**. It is certainly higher than an A*.”

Guy Ayling, warden of Llandovery College, Carmarthen­shire, also insisted he has faith in Wales’ GCSE reforms and WJEC exam board, but his school still uses all-English boards for GCSEs, except for history and Welsh.

“It is not that we think WJEC exams are not as good but we did take on board people’s perception­s. I think the WJEC is now embracing reform and doing good stuff,” Mr Ayling said.

“There was a strong argument by some people that English exam boards represent a gold standard, but the message from universiti­es was that they were not bothered whether applicants had exams with the English or Welsh exam boards.”

Mr Ayling said that because his school takes students from across the border, it is important to be aligned with indpendent schools there.

He said the school consulted with teachers and parents four years ago and a decision was reached to go with England’s GCSEs – although this since changed, with pupils returning to take WJEC history this year.

“We decided at GCSE to go with English exam boards and at A-level to go with whatever exam board the teacher chose, because reforms at A-level were not so profound,” Mr Ayling added.

“With the new grading system [of numbers 1 to 9 in England] I thought it would be easier if pupils got all their results in either numbers or the alphabet and wanted to do one or the other.

“We also felt on the face of it that English exam boards were better resourced for the reforms because they had their specificat­ion and books done at the time. They were ahead of the game.”

“Our position has mellowed somewhat since the consultati­on. I have revisited this with staff and thought it was right to give them the choice of WJEC for GCSEs too; if they think the course is better, then it would be illogical to exclude it. So we revisited it last year and realised we have confidence in what the WJEC is doing and the specificat­ion.

“We had done EdExcel history GCSE but they don’t do Welsh history so we went back to WJEC history last September and students will sit that in summer 2019. But for A-level we stayed with EdExcel because they offered good medieval and 12th-century British history. Obviously, for Welsh, there is no English exam board so we do WJEC Welsh GCSE.”

Gareth Pearson, head of Christ College, Brecon, said his school decided to follow English GCSE qualificat­ions as the school believes they “best meet the needs of our pupils who come from Wales, England and around the world”.

“Last year, pupils followed GCSEs graded 9-1 in English, mathematic­s and English literature. We were delighted to achieve 30% of grades in these subjects at level 8 and 9, equivalent to the old A* and 49% at levels 7-9 A/A*,” he said.

“Christ College is proud to be the oldest school in Wales, a heritage that is very much reflected in our ethos and values. But this does not necessaril­y mean that Welsh GCSEs are best for our pupils. There is also a strong internatio­nal dimension to the school and it is important that our pupils remain in a position to compete at a global level.”

A WJEC spokesman said: “The WJEC has a proud reputation for providing schools and students in Wales with access to an extensive range of free resources and teaching materials; and specialist subject support teams who are on hand to offer expert advice and guidance.

“GCSE qualificat­ions delivered under the differing systems in Wales and England are of exactly the same standard and are of equivalent value to educationa­l institutio­ns and employers.

“It is also worth noting that independen­t schools in Wales also have the option, if they prefer, to deliver specificat­ions via our Eduqas brand, which offers reformed 9-1 graded GCSE qualificat­ions in England.”

The Independen­t Schools Council said: “Ultimately it is up to the schools to decide.”

Among other independen­t schools to put pupils in for England’s GCSEs are the Cathedral School in Cardiff and Rydal Penrhos School.

 ?? Gareth Fuller ?? > Is an A* the same as a grade 9 GCSE grade?
Gareth Fuller > Is an A* the same as a grade 9 GCSE grade?
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 ??  ?? > Guy Ayling, left, and Gareth Pearson
> Guy Ayling, left, and Gareth Pearson

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