17th October 2013 9:00
By Blue Tutors
The government is proposing to introduce changes mid-year would prevent schools from entering students for GCSEs multiple times to give them the best chance of obtaining a high grade. The plans have been lambasted by schools who say that introducing the changes in mid-year would be unfair to pupils. Independent Academies Associations head Nick Weller has written to education secretary Michael Gove to ask him to delay the changes in order to prevent the plans from backfiring on pupils. The government has introduced the changes to prevent schools from entering exams early so that they can achieve at least a C grade and have the opportunity to retake if they fail to achieve this.
The government has backed the changes, saying that students are more likely to do better if they are only entered for the exams at the end of the two year course when they have had a chance to complete the course. Critics of the plan have said that they share concerns about schools’ ‘game’ playing, but emphasise that that changing the rules mid-year would damages students’ prospects unfairly. The government has also been criticised for their motivation in bringing in the changes immediately in order to ensure that the summer league tables are not affected by multiple entries. Appeals have been made to the department for education to delay on the basis that they have not understood the unintended consequences of bringing in their changes early.
If the changes go ahead, many schools will have to cancel thousands of GCSE entries, preventing students from having the chance to take exams which they had planned to take early. There are also concerns that these changes will further undermine confidence in the government to act in the best interests of students, rather than focusing on league tables. Referencing the fiasco last year when the government changed grade boundaries half way through the year, the Independent Academies Association said that it would be very unwise to repeat a situation where the rules were changed for students mid-year. The association urged the government to wait and conduct a proper consultation before making further changes to the exam system.