Nearly half of school leaders believe the government’s huge overhaul of GCSE and A levels has made “no difference” to pupils’ understanding and knowledge, Tes can reveal.
Headteachers also warn that the exam reforms are creating an “inordinate amount of stress” this summer for pupils, parents and staff, a poll by Tes and the Association of School and College Leaders found.
This is the second year in the government’s rollout of reformed exams, with pupils sitting 20 new GCSEs and 11 new A levels in the coming weeks.
GCSEs have been reformed to be “tougher”, with a numerical 9 to 1 grade system introduced to allow greater differentiation between pupils.
At A level, students are now assessed at the end of two years - AS levels have been “decoupled” from the qualification, meaning that AS results no longer count towards A-level grades.
Coursework and modules have largely been swept away for both GCSEs and A levels.
Asked whether the government’s reform of GCSEs had improved students’ understanding and knowledge of subjects affected by the changes, 45 per cent said that it had “made no difference”.
Thirty-four per cent said that the reforms had “slightly” or “much improved” their understanding, while 22 per cent said it had made it “slightly” or “much worse”.
Asked the same question about A levels, 51 per cent said the revised qualifications had made no difference. Thirty-four percent of school leaders said the A-level reforms had “slightly” or “much improved” their students’ understanding, while 15 per cent said it had made it “slightly” or “much worse”.
Asked what impact the decoupling of AS and A levels had had on the breadth of post-16 subjects offered to students, 89 per cent of school leaders said it had narrowed it “significantly” or “slightly”.
The survey also flagged up concerns about the impact of GCSEs on middle or lower-ability students.
Asked what the overall impact of the GCSE reforms had been on mid-ability pupils, 74 per cent of school leaders answered “negative”. Asked the same question about lower-ability pupils, 93 per cent said that they believed the reforms had been negative.
For high-ability pupils, 27 per cent said the changes had been “positive”, 41 per cent said they had been “neutral” and 32 per cent said they had been “negative”.
The Tes-ASCL survey was answered by 433 ASCL members from schools and colleges in England. Questions relating to A levels were answered by 299 respondents in schools and colleges with post-16 provision.
A Department for Education spokeswoman said: “Thanks to our reforms and the hard work of teachers academic standards are rising - with 1.9 million more children in good or outstanding schools than in 2010.
“The new GCSEs and A levels are the culmination of a programme of curriculum and qualifications reform over the last 6 years to make sure that standards keep pace with the needs and demands of the best employers and universities.”
This is an edited article from the 25 March edition of Tes. Subscribers can read the full article here. This week’s Tes magazine is available in all good newsagents. To download the digital edition, Android users can click here and iOS users can click here
