GCSE English should be “redesigned as a matter of urgency”, an exam board’s review of secondary education in England has found.
This needs to happen before the separate national review of the whole curriculum reports back next year, OCR warns.
Former education secretary Charles Clarke, who chaired the review of 11-16 education for OCR, told Tes he was “shocked” by the “extent of rejection of GCSE English” by teachers consulted as part of the report and added that it is “a very high priority” for reform.
He added that the current GCSE English does not develop the English language and literature skills children need to have.
The findings echo those of experts who said GCSE English literature and language are “not fit for purpose” earlier this year.
Along with English, OCR’s review has called for an overhaul of GCSEs in general, including reducing the length and number of exams and the amount of content.
The Association of School and College Leaders general secretary Pepe Di’Iasio said he hopes OCR’s recommendations will be reflected in the DfE’s curriculum and assessment review, due to publish next year.
“Previous reforms to GCSEs have led to a qualification system which emphasises short-term knowledge retention and high-stakes final exams, and which does not meet the needs of all students or all subjects,” added Sarah Hannafin, head of policy at the NAHT school leaders’ union.
“The potentially harmful impact on students’ wellbeing of this approach must also be addressed.”
OCR’s review makes seven recommendations for GCSEs:
1. Reduce number and length of exams
The report states that the number of hours currently spent sitting GCSEs is “unnecessarily high” and needs to be reduced, as discussed by Mr Clarke at a Westminster Education Forum earlier this summer.
OCR’s research found that this would be possible without impacting the validity of exams.
For example, OCR found a pupil’s grade in GCSE maths after three papers can be predicted to within one grade in just one paper.
Mr Clarke emphasised that this would need to be looked at on a subject-by-subject basis.
This could be done by increased usage of non-exam assessment or more modular exams so not all content is assessed at once.
OCR further recommended that exam boards and Ofqual conduct an “urgent review” of existing non exam models to make them more reliable and manageable for teachers, as well as less easy to use artificial intelligence for malpractice.
2. Reduce GCSE content
The current GCSE curriculum is “overloaded with content”, OCR found. This was particularly the case in maths, the sciences and history.
The authors said reducing assessments could be done without reducing the curriculum, but it is better for these two things to happen in parallel.
Changes should take place in stages, OCR said, with subjects approached differently. ”Changes can be progressively implemented in different groups of schools or different parts of the country. There does not need to be a moment of cataclysmic change at one time,” it added.
“Teachers must be involved in the creation of any changes and those changes must be implemented sustainably, all of which must not add to teachers’ already overburdened workload. Put simply, time and resources have to be made available,” said Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU teaching union.
3. Introduce assessment at age 14 and reform KS3
Two of OCR’s key recommendations are developing maths and English qualifications to be taken at 14 that provide a more structured focus to key stage 3.
These new qualifications should benchmark the knowledge needed by 16 in both English and maths, and be on-screen to be taken when pupils are ready.
Mr Clarke told Tes this new qualification could potentially look like existing music grades, where pupils demonstrate their developing competencies over a series of tests when they are ready for each one.
There should also be a more “coherent” approach to KS3, OCR said, including building on the mastery approach used at KS2, with more integrated formative tests and an expansion of the maths hubs programme.
While the review did not look at the existing GCSE resit policy specifically, Mr Clarke said we need “to be starting much earlier” to help pupils overcome weaknesses in maths and English, and strengthening KS3 could help with reducing the number of pupils getting stuck in resit cycles.
“It’s no good doing it on a remedial basis,” he added.
4. Create an independent curriculum body
Mechanisms should be put in place so the curriculum can be reviewed on an ongoing basis, OCR added.
The exam board advocated for the creation of an independent curriculum body that takes the lead on this, working with Ofqual.
Mr Clarke said the curriculum review announced by the government should “absolutely” be a regular event.
“We need a much more evolutionary approach,” he said. “Hence the idea of a curriculum body that could look at the curriculum in particular subjects and introduce issues like climate change and AI in a gradual way.”
5. Develop new accountability measure
The English Baccalaureate (EBacc) should be reviewed so it encourages schools to offer a wider range of subjects, OCR also recommended.
Before a review is complete, immediate changes could be made by introducing additional subjects to the subject pillars - particularly creative and vocational ones.
In the longer term, however, a new accountability should be developed that reflects a broader view of the curriculum, the authors added.
6. Develop strategy for digital exams and learning
“The vast potential of the transformative use of digital assessment in schools is not being harnessed by government and there is no national strategy for coordinating the use of digital learning,” OCR states.
Several exam boards announced a roadmap to launching digital assessments in late 2023 and earlier this year - though there has not yet been any confirmation of these receiving regulatory approval. AQA delayed the rollout of its digital exams back in March.
The government must influence the development of policy to take advantage of technology and develop a digital infrastructure and resources strategy so schools have the technology they need, the report argues.
Ofqual must work with exam boards, schools and the government to develop a framework for trialling digital exams, it adds.
”Britain has the potential to be a global leader in digital learning and assessment, if a focused and confident approach is taken,” said Jill Duffy, chief executive of OCR.
7. Make the curriculum more contemporary
And finally, several changes should be made to the curriculum to make it more “forward-looking”, Mr Clarke said.
These include making climate change and sustainability more explicit throughout subjects.
OCR recommended trialling the assessment of speaking and listening, and making oracy a greater focus of school inspection.
It also recommends changes to curriculum and assessment materials, such as texts studied in English, to make them more relevant to modern Britain and more diverse.
A Department for Education spokesperson said its curriculum and assessment review will consider how to make sure pupils access a “broad and balanced curriculum”, and work to deliver a system that “balances different assessment methods.”
It will also consider how to embed digital skills in learning, and how to improve the quality of maths teaching in nurseries and primary schools, the spokesperson added.
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