In the core academic subjects that make up the English Baccalaureate – English, mathematics, sciences, history, geography and languages – the Government intends to replace current GCSE with new qualifications, called “English Baccalaureate Certificates”.
The Government has announced that it will be moving away from the competition between Awarding Organisations to sell their qualifications in these subjects: instead of schools choosing between a number of competing GCSEs, a competition will be held to identify a single suite of qualifications, offered by a single Awarding Organisation in each subject, for a period of five years. The shake-up of the exam system will take place initially in English, maths and sciences, and it is anticipated that this will be extended later to history, geography and languages – with the possibility of extending this template to a wider range of subjects.
The Department for Education has announced a consultation on reforming Key Stage 4 qualifications on its website.
ALL will be responding as an organisation to this consultation, and will let you know how to contribute to this response in due course. In the mean time, you may wish to respond to the DfE consultation individually using the link below.
More information about the Department for Education consultation