The number of GCSE English and maths resits in colleges has topped 200,000 for the first time this summer, with entries rocketing up by 40 per cent from last year.
Figures compiled for TES by the Association of Colleges reveal that there were 235,400 entries for GCSE English and maths in colleges, up from 166,570 last year.
This is the first year that it has been a condition of funding that students who have not yet achieved a D grade in English or maths should retake the subject.
And the AoC has warned that the move to new, tougher GCSEs - for which teaching began in 2015, with the first cohort due to sit exams in 2017 - could lead to resit numbers rising by another fifth.
The new figures come just weeks after TES reported that the government’s requirement for young people without a good GCSE pass to retake the qualification alongside their main programme of study had led to a recruitment crisis in English and maths at colleges (“Surge in GCSE retakes sparks recruitment crisis”, 27 May, bit.ly/RetakeRecruit).
An exclusive AoC and TES survey also found that two-thirds of colleges had been forced to take on additional short-term staff, and one in five planned to hire external venues to cope with the increased pressures of the exams.
Figures from Ofqual published in April showed that the number of all post-Year 11 entries in GCSE maths , including those at colleges, increased by 35 per cent from 130,000 in 2015 to 175,000 in 2016, while entries for English and English language increased by a third to 123,000 in 2016.
And the new AoC figures suggest that the rise in entries in FE colleges has been even more pronounced.
Recruitment ‘challenge’
Catherine Sezen, AoC’s senior policy manager for 14-19 and curriculum, said that there had been “a dramatic increase” in resits. Colleges had tried their best to prepare for the surge in numbers, she said, but challenges remained around the recruitment of qualified staff.
Last summer, the Policy Exchange thinktank proposed creating a resit levy, which would involve secondary schools covering the costs of students who fail to get a C in GCSE English or maths and transfer to an FE college.
Jonathan Simons, Policy Exchange’s head of education, told TES that the new figures demonstrated the growing burden being placed on colleges. “While the policy goal is the right one, it is unsustainable to expect colleges to continue to bear the whole load - especially as there will be some occasions where these students’ schools have not played their part,” he said. “There needs to also be some mechanism to compensate colleges for this increasing pressure on their second-chances agenda.”
The number of resits is expected to increase following the introduction of the new GCSEs, which will be graded from 9 to 1. While grade 4 will be linked to the grade C standards, a grade 5 will be the new benchmark for a “good” pass.
However, for 2017 and 2018, students who achieve a grade 4 will not be required to retake their GCSE. Ms Sezen said that some colleges may choose to offer resits to these students even though it will not be obligatory to do so. Modelling by the AoC suggests that entries in English and maths could rise by between 15 and 20 per cent once those resits become compulsory.
Corrienne Peasgood, the principal of City College Norwich, told TES that she believed it would be “morally wrong” for colleges not to offer learners the opportunity to obtain a good pass in the new GCSEs, even though her college expected its resit numbers would increase by as much as 60 per cent under the new exams. “A lot of our students currently get Cs. When it converts to the number grading system, about half of those would end up getting a 4. For two years, as a condition of funding, we don’t have to offer them resits, but it would be morally wrong not to. In 10 years’ time, when an employer sees you only got a 4, they’re not going to remember that in that year it was OK.”
A spokeswoman for the Department for Education said: “Numeracy and literacy are non-negotiable for success in later life - by requiring students who don’t master the basics to continue studying towards GCSE English and maths qualifications, young people are given another chance to succeed.”
She added that the government had provided an extra £480 funding per student, per subject for all those with GCSE English or maths below grade C, and had protected the base rate of 16-19 funding.
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‘This isn’t good pedagogy’
Exeter College principal John Laramy said that the impact of compulsory GCSE resits has been “immense”.
“We have seen GCSE English numbers jump by 45 per cent in one year and GCSE maths numbers jump by a staggering 75 per cent in the same year,” he said.
“The concept of improving maths and English is absolutely right; [but] the current GCSE and retaking a qualification that a student has already failed, in some cases more than twice, is not good pedagogy.
“Professionals need to be able to identify the right level of study, for the right student at the right time.”
This is an article from the 24 June edition of TES. 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
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