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Headteachers unconvinced by education secretary, Michael Gove’s GCSE ‘shake up’ but do admit exams need to adapt
Mandeville School headteacher, Peter Patchett
Headteachers across the Vale have reacted cautiously after the Government announced plans to shake up the GCSE exams.
The new system, set to be introduced in 2015, will see core subject exams replaced by a qualification called the English Baccalaureate Certificate.
Students will then sit the first exams in the new system in 2017, with subjects such as history and geography adopting the new policy at a later date.
Headteacher at Aylesbury High School, Alan Rosen, said he agreed that a number of elements of the current exam system were not working particularly well.
However, Mr Rosen added: “I think the exam system needs flexibility, it needs variety. The exam you have in maths should not be the same as you have in another particular subject.”
Among the changes will be the introduction of single exam boards for subjects and single exams.
The latter was a move Mr Rosen approved of.
He said: “I would welcome a reduction in the overall exams students have.
“I think exams should continually adapt just because society is.”
Education secretary Michael Gove said at the unveiling of the new system GCSEs were designed “for a different age and a different world”.
Mr Gove added the changes would modernise the exam system “so we can have truly rigorous exams, competitive with the best in the world”.
In the past the GCSE system has come under attack for being too easy. However, Mr Rosen and his counterpart at the Mandeville School, Peter Patchett, said this was untrue.
Mr Patchett said: “There is no evidence to suggest that is the case. Students have worked very hard to challenging criteria.”
Mr Rosen agreed, saying: “I think it does a disservice to students and teachers who work very hard.
“When you look at the breadth of what they are achieving now, they are getting a good number of qualifications in a whole range of fields.”
Both headteachers said they were cautious about how the new system would be implemented.
The overhaul of the exam system comes after a difficult summer for the Department for Education, when the markings of English GCSEs were called into question, after the grade boundaries were shifted without schools being informed.
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Weather for Aylesbury
Thursday 23 May 2013
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