The Welsh qualifications watchdog is pushing ahead with new combined GCSEs in four areas - English language and literature, Welsh language and literature, the sciences, and mathematics and numeracy - despite these proposals attracting the “highest levels of disagreement” during consultation.
However, Qualifications Wales - which is today announcing a suite of 26 new “made-for-Wales GCSEs” to replace existing GCSEs - has decided that the combined qualifications in maths and numeracy and English and Welsh language and literature will be offered as double-award GCSEs, with learners receiving two grades, as opposed to being broadly equivalent in size to 1.5 GCSEs, as originally proposed.
A report summarising the changes says: “To be clear, these reforms will not lead to GCSE qualifications that are equivalent in size to 1.5 GCSEs.”
For Welsh language and literature, English language and literature and the sciences, integrated, single-award GCSEs will also be available for learners who would struggle to cope with the double-award course.
Students taking GCSE science (double award) will also have their performance in biology, chemistry and physics reported separately on their transcripts using A* to G grades.
There will be no single-award GCSE to sit alongside the new double-award GCSE in maths and numeracy.
The new GCSEs are an attempt to ensure qualifications reflect how students are being taught under the new Curriculum for Wales (CfW), which started to be rolled out this school year and will be delivered in all schools in 2023-24
Most new GCSEs will be introduced when the first cohort of Curriculum for Wales learners reaches Year 10 in September 2025, with the first new GCSEs being awarded in 2027. However, eight GCSEs, including dance and social studies, will be introduced in 2026 to “give schools more time to develop their capacity”.
Once the new GCSEs are introduced they will be the only publicly funded GCSEs available in Wales in these subjects.
The report says for other subjects such as geology and law, Qualifications Wales is considering “whether...GCSEs designed for learners in England could be offered as publicly funded qualifications in Wales”.
It will confirm the position for these subjects by the end of 2023.
The watchdog also expects that “learners should achieve similar grades to what they would have achieved in the current qualifications”.
Qualifications Wales says the new GCSEs will support the aims of the curriculum by:
- offering more choice to enable schools to design and deliver their curricula
- refreshing content to support CfW
- incorporating a broader range of assessment methods
- making greater use of digital technology
Digital technology and computer science GCSEs will be assessed entirely through on-screen digital assessment.
Other subjects, such as music and drama, will include on-screen assessment, with longer lead-in times for areas such as humanities so schools can increase their “digital capacity”.
Another key feature of the new GCSEs is increased non-exam assessment, sparking concerns about teacher workload.
Today’s report says that Qualifications Wales has “increased where possible the proportion of non-examination assessment that must be marked by the awarding body, to help address concerns about the potential impact on teacher workload”.
It also states that “the awarding body must demonstrate that it has carefully considered the implications of its assessment arrangements on school resources and teacher workload”.
Over 2,100 responses were received during the public consultation on GCSE reform in late 2022.
The report says the proposals for GCSEs in the sciences, Welsh, English, and mathematics and numeracy attracted “the highest number of responses and the highest levels of disagreement”.
The complete qualifications offer for 14- to 16-year-olds will be announced in January 2024.
Qualifications Wales director of qualifications policy and reform, Emyr George, said the new GCSEs had been designed with many partners, including teachers and learners. They would “look and feel different” but provide ”fair, reliable measures of attainment”.
To access all the new reports, click here.
