Fewer than one in three headteachers think GCSEs prepare students for work, survey finds

Government’s reforms favour 'memorising facts' rather than skills, heads' union says

GCSEs were cancelled when schools closed last month (PA)

The proportion of headteachers who think GCSEs prepare pupils for employment has fallen to less than a third following significant government reforms, a survey from the exams regulator has found.

Only 31 per cent of heads last year agreed that the qualification for 16-year-olds is good preparation for students for work, compared to 42 per cent in 2017, according to research from Ofqual.

The decline in confidence among headteachers comes in the wake of tough new GCSEs in England – where A* to G grades have been replaced with a 9 to 1 scale to create a gold standard qualification.

But Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, argues that fewer heads are likely to have faith in the qualification as the government’s reforms favour academic subjects and “memorising and recalling facts”, rather than skills-based learning that employers seek.

He told The Independent: “We have to ask whether such a high-stakes system, which judges pupils and schools very harshly, is necessary for a qualification that is effectively a stepping stone to higher qualifications and training that is more career specific, or whether in the long term we need a more humane approach which is better tailored to the aspirations of individual students.”

The findings come after a number of high-profile figures in the sector called for GCSEs to be scrapped and replaced with a qualification which recognises academic and technical skills.

Former education secretary Lord Baker, who introduced the GCSE exams and who now wants them to be ditched, argued that businesses do not value “rote learning of facts and figures”.

Meanwhile, Conservative MP Rob Halfon, chair of the education select committee, said young people need to develop skills in order to thrive in an increasingly automated and digital age.

More than two in three stakeholders (69 per cent) say GCSEs are good preparation for further study and more than half (57 per cent) say GCSEs develop a broad range of skills, the Ofqual data finds.

Nick Gibb, school standards minister, admitted that there is still “work to be done” on the government’s reforms but he added that most people say GCSEs help to prepare for further study.

He said: “Over the last eight years we’ve embarked on a huge programme of reform which has driven up academic standards.

“Teachers and pupils have responded well to our more rigorous, gold-standard qualifications, which are equipping young people with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in the future, and our new GCSE grading system that better illustrates pupils’ achievements.”

Mr Gibb added: “We’ve worked with Ofqual to make sure the reforms are understood well and, while there is work to be done in some areas, the fact that 85 per cent of people surveyed understand the new grading system and most people agree that GCSEs and A-levels are good preparation for further study shows this work is having an effect.”