2nd May 2013 9:00
By Blue Tutors
England’s exams regulator Ofqual have announced that the speaking and listening element of GCSE English will no longer be examined. This element of the GCSE was assessed by teachers, and Ofqual has said that it cannot trust teachers not to give over-generous marks to their students.
The union of head teachers has responded with alarm, pointing out that removing this element means that profoundly important skills will no longer be covered in the GCSE. Teachers describe the new GCSE as seriously flawed, and point out that, due to ofqual’s harsh regulating practices, it isn’t in their interests to artificially inflate grades.
The changes will mean that the majority of the GCSE is now assessed through written exam, and will seriously penalise students whose strengths lie in the speaking and listening element. Further, head teachers have pointed out that the plan to introduce these changes mid-way through a course means that students will have been preparing for one kind of GCSE, and will have to take a different one. Head teachers’ and teachers’ unions have called the plans flawed and deeply unfair on students.