English Language GCSE should be scrapped to ‘end misery’ of third of teens being labelled as failures, report says

Qualification should be geared towards skills needed by employers, heads’ union says

Findings come as pupils across the country start their Sats, GCSE and A-Level exams (PA)

English Language GCSE should be scrapped to “end the misery” of a system which labels more than a third of 16-year-olds as failures, according to an inquiry set up by a headteachers’ union.

The qualification is “not fit for purpose” because it focuses on a restrictive choice of writing tasks with an emphasis on literary analysis, rather than on competency in English, the report states.

Set up by the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), the commission calls for the GCSE to be replaced with a “Passport in English” which would focus on skills sought by employers.

The inquiry was launched to boost the prospects of the “forgotten third” who currently fall short of achieving at least grade 4, the equivalent of a grade C, in both GCSE English and maths.

It has also recommended scrapping the “wasteful” GCSE resit policy for English and maths, and it urges the government to stop describing grade 4 as a “standard” pass.

The report also calls for a new approach to primary assessment to be developed to replace Sats exams in primary school, to readdress the focus on English and maths in these high-stakes tests.

The “Passport in English” qualification would be taken by all students at the point of readiness of the student and could be built on over time at different levels between the ages of 15 and 19.

“It cannot be right or sensible that we continue to operate a system that is designed to ‘fail’ one-third of young people every year in order for two-thirds to succeed,” said Roy Blatchford, chair of the Forgotten Third Commission. “The third who we consign to this fate are left utterly dejected and with reduced chances for progression in education and careers.”

He added: “We must do more to ensure that every young person has good literacy skills and to recognise their achievements through a robust qualification which supports students to develop their level of competency rather than acting as a cliff edge.”

Geoff Barton, general secretary of ASCL, called the qualification recommendation a “groundbreaking proposal” to make the exam system “more humane”.

He added: “The Passport in English would be a rigorous qualification, which builds achievement, and is geared towards the language skills needed by employers instead of examining young people on their ability to analyse historic texts.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Our education system is designed to maximise opportunity for all young people of all backgrounds, giving them the grounding they need to make the most of their lives.

“We have dramatically reformed GCSEs over the past five years to ensure young people are leaving school ready for the world of work, while also adapting functional skills qualifications, including English, to better meet students’ needs post-16 and ensure they have a strong grasp of essential skills like reading, writing and maths.

“The education secretary has made clear that he won’t be changing the national curriculum, allowing teachers the freedom to focus on their teaching.”