28th September 2012 9:00
By Blue Tutors
Amidst controversy surrounding the marking and standards of GCSE papers this summer, Education Secretary Michael Gove has announced that the GCSE exams are going to be replaced by a qualification called the English Baccalaureate Certificate. The new qualification will mean that students are examined in a singled end of course exam, which will be administrated by the same exam board. The exam is set to come in by 2017, and will initially cover English, Maths and Science.
The plans have been met with widespread criticism, with Welsh Education minister accusing Gove of jumping ahead to new exams when he should be addressing the problems that still surround the publication of the results a few weeks ago. BBC Education correspondent Sean Coughlan points out that the new system will be confusing for parents and students alike, because there will be one system for English Science and Maths, and another for their other subjects. Students will find it difficult to value GCSEs which they know will eventually be scrapped, and the upheaval is set to be maintained over a period of several years.
Teachers welcome the promise of greater clarity offered by the use of just one exam board, but emphasised that structuring an exam in the same way as the old O’levels was a miserable step backwards that would put many students at an unfair disadvantage. Shadow education secretary Stephen Twigg said that the plans were hopelessly out of touch, modelled on exams which were suited to a small part of the population.