Review calls for overhaul of GCSE system and the scrapping of ‘arbitrary’ exams at 16

THE GCSE system should be overhauled, and pupils should have opportunities to demonstrate their skills up to the age of 19 rather than at a fixed point in time at the age of 16, a new report argues.

A review of the GCSE system by the Independent Assessment Commission (IAC) argues that testing of pupils “should not be based around a fixed age of 16”.

“Students should have opportunities to demonstrate achievements when ready”, throughout their schooling from age 14 to 19, the review adds.

It says that “fundamental changes” are needed to England’s exam system. While GCSEs could remain part of the system, it argues that “arbitrary” assessment at age 16 should be scrapped.

The report says that the IAC undertook its review “in the context of major, unanticipated changes in the approach taken to the assessment and grading of qualifications” during the pandemic, when full public exams were cancelled for two years in a row in 2020 and 2021.

It says that the review followed the “sudden, dramatic and contentious changes” to exams that became necessary as a response to the pandemic, and that this revealed how the system in England “was not sufficiently robust to cope with a crisis such as that related to Covid”.

It adds that it is “important to differentiate between the experiences in schools and colleges of changes to qualifications over the past two years” and plans for long-term changes to the future of exams, as the teacher assessment brought in 2020 and 2021 “were changes that were responses to a pandemic”.

Professor Louise Hayward, chairman of the IAC, said that it was “beyond doubt” that the current exams system was “failing its own test” to provide an assessment system that served pupils, society and the economy “sufficiently”.

“The IAC report identifies inequalities deeply ingrained in a system and which has to change if there is to be greater educational equality,” she added.

“We need a system that helps every young person to progress to college, employment or university with qualifications that recognise their achievements and the capabilities they need to succeed in the challenging times that lie ahead.”