MORE than 350,000 teens face having to resit English or maths GCSEs next year — as Labour moves to overhaul the system.
The scale of the resit crisis emerged as exam results also showed more older pupils are taking the subjects again, but a smaller proportion are passing.
Proud pupils at King’s Academy Bay House school in Gosport, Hants Credit: Paul Jacobs/pictureexclusive.com
Education Secretary Lucy Powell said not getting grade 4 was creating a ‘blockage’ for teens trying to get jobs, apprenticeships or further study Credit: PA
Some 178,270 16-year-olds in England missed the crucial grade 4 GCSE in maths this summer, while about 180,570 fell short in English, according to analysis of Ofqual data.
Post-16 entries — mostly those who have already failed previous years’ resits — soared by 6.5 per cent in English and 5.8 per cent in maths compared with last year. But the pass rates fell by 1.4 percentage points in English and 1.7 points in maths.
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Education Secretary Lucy Powell said not getting grade 4 was creating a “blockage” for teens trying to get jobs, apprenticeships or further study.
More than a million 16 to 24-year-olds are not in employment, education or training (Neets).
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She wants new Level 1 qualifications in English and maths to help struggling teens build up to resits.
She said: “There’s got to be a better way to give young people the skills and confidence they need to succeed, not just branding them a failure, and also allowing them to gain other qualifications that show they have a strong foundation in English and maths.”
But former Education Secretary Lord Gove blasted a “culture of low expectations” and insisted schools must “consistently raise the bar”.
He told Times Radio: “It is a moral imperative for this country to demand that we end illiteracy and innumeracy, and it is absolutely vital that the Education Secretary should be leading a crusade to get more children to pass examinations.”
Overall, 22 per cent of GCSE entries bagged top grades of 7 or above, up slightly from last year.
But the standard pass rate slipped to 67.3 per cent — back to pre-Covid levels. Girls’ lead over boys in GCSE grades has narrowed to its smallest level on record. For top grades it fell to a 4.8 percentage point lead from 5.1 last year. Girls’ standard pass lead dropped to 5.8 from 6.2.
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