Government should 'not interfere' with exams

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Voice: the union for education professionals has called on the government to put power over examinations "back into the hands of the experts."

This year's GCSE results sees a further rise in the A*-C pass rate for the 23rd successive year, although the rate of increase appears to have slowed down, as the number of awards at A*-C has increased by only 0.8 per cent this year (from 64.7 per cent in 2010 to 65.4 per cent in 2011), compared with last year's increase of two per cent. There has also been a slight increase in the proportion of top grades at A* and A, up by 0.6 per cent (from 22.6 per cent in 2010 to 23.2 per cent in 2011).

The fact that these increases are so marginal does not support the government's panic that GCSEs are becoming easier and easier and need to be tightened up and made more rigorous. This is the first year in which GCSEs have been fully unitised, meaning that examinations are sat progressively in bite-sized units throughout the course (with students having the opportunity to resit modules) rather than the traditional linear approach, where all examinations are taken at the end of the course. The government has decided to scrap this system so that students starting their GCSEs from September will have to revert to the linear model.

This year's results, however, indicate that the unitised approach has had little effect on performance. This is not really so surprising as it usually takes time for teachers to adjust to new developments in curriculum and assessment. What really frustrates teachers is the repeated interference from government ministers, resulting in constant flux and moving of goalposts, as if education were a game of football rather than a preparation for life.

In spite of promises made by government that autonomy is being handed back to teachers and schools, it seems that there is still an appetite among ministers to control everything rigidly from the centre. Rather than continuing to interfere with a stable examinations system, which is widely respected and regarded throughout the world, the government should heed its own calls to put power back into the hands of the people who are the experts in this – the teachers, awarding bodies and other education professionals.

Therefore, it is right to praise all the young people, and their teachers, who have, today, reaped the benefits of their hard work and dedication over the past two years. Congratulations are also due to the many mature students who have returned to study, often juggling attendance at college or learning at home with their many other responsibilities, in order to further their own personal development and improve their employment prospects and life chances.

At the other end of the spectrum, it is evident that many young people are sitting GCSEs at an earlier age. This is especially apparent in maths, English and some foreign languages, which are increasingly being awarded at age 15 or younger. This year's results show that there are now 18 per cent of pupils taking maths GCSE at age 15 (of whom an impressive 13.4 per cent achieved the top grade of A*-A). With English, it is more common for early entrants to sit the exam towards the beginning of Year 11 (in the winter rather than the summer), and this year's winter awards for GCSE English shows an astonishing increase of 34.5 per cent.

Alongside this trend, there has also been a significant shift in entries from combined science GCSEs to students studying the separate sciences of biology, chemistry and physics, although this trend is only evident in England (rather than in Wales and Northern Ireland, where the pattern of entries for different science options remains stable). This is largely due to political pressure and the fact that schools which have been granted specialist science college status are bound, by their funding agreement, to offer separate sciences at GCSE and receive additional funding for doing so.

This is all good news for the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) initiative, for which English, maths and sciences are compulsory. However, in humanities (history and geography) and languages, the two other arms of the EBacc, there continues to be a decline in entries, which does not bode well for this initiative. Geography awards are down this year by 7.1 per cent and show a 15.2 per cent decline over the last five years.

Entries in history are down by 1.7 per cent this year and have shown a 4.1 per cent decline over the past five years. Modern languages, however, show the most severe decline, being down by 10.9 per cent this year, compared with last year, and showing a 22.3 per cent decline in entries over the past five years.

To be fair to schools, though, most of this year's students would have chosen their GCSE options long before Michael Gove introduced the EBacc as a performance measure, which just goes to show how misleading performance league tables can be, especially when odd measures are introduced on an ad hoc basis at the whim of ministers.

By choosing to emphasise the importance of that which is easily measured, the government seems to have lost its way. The increasing obsession with tests, tables and targets risks forcing teachers to 'teach to the test' rather than provide pupils with a rounded education. In order for education to be a preparation for life (including working life), pupils need a range of skills, some of which – for example, self-confidence, initiative, flexibility, emotional intelligence, communication skills and problem-solving ability – are difficult to assess on a formal basis.

An alarming feature of this year's results is the widening gender gap, with girls outperforming boys at grades A*-A by 6.7 per cent. With 26.5 per cent of girls achieving these top grades this year, compared with only 19.8 per cent of boys, this gender gap is the widest it has ever been since the A* grade was introduced in 1994. This is contrary to the trend shown in this year's A-level results and may be partly due to the unitised nature of GCSEs nowadays, as research has generally shown that girls fare better in courses which require continuous dedication, whereas boys are more likely to have a last-minute burst of effort.

Ian Toone, Senior Professional Officer (Education) for Voice: the union for education professionals