Michael Gove’s new English Baccalaureate Certificates to focus on one-off exam ‘to end dumbing down’

September 17th, 2012

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

600,000 pupils will start EBaccs in English, maths and science from 2015
Exams could take three hours to finish compared with 90 minutes for GCSEs
Marks will also be awarded for spelling, grammar and punctuation
Gove insists exams will remove ‘bite-sized, spoon feeding’

By
Matt Chorley and Kirsty Walker

PUBLISHED:

17:03 EST, 16 September 2012

|

UPDATED:

12:06 EST, 17 September 2012

Reforms: Michael Gove announced changes to GCSE exams aiming to put the focus back on academic rigour and one-off exams

GCSEs are to be scrapped and replaced with tougher new exams called English Baccalaureate Certificates, known as ‘EBaccs’, Michael Gove has announced.

The Education Secretary today revealed details of the reforms for schools in England designed to restore academic rigour and end an era of ‘dumbing down’.

He told the Commons that the GCSE was ‘conceived and designed for a different age and a different world’ and needed to be replaced.

‘We believe it is time for the race to the bottom to end,’ he said. ‘We believe it is time to raise aspirations and restore rigour.

‘After years of drift, decline and dumbing down, at last we are reforming our exam system.’

From September 2015, up to 600,000 15-year-olds will start studying EBaccs in English, maths and science, only sitting exams after two years in 2017.

EBaccs in the sciences, history, geography and languages will follow and will include marks for spelling, grammar and punctuation.

Exam watchdog Ofqual will be asked to consider how all other GCSEs can be replaced.

Modules, where exams are taken every few months, will be banned, Mr Gove told MPs, ending the ‘bite-sized, spoon-feeding’ which means pupils only study what will achieve marks. Coursework will not be allowed in ‘core subjects’.

‘Children need to have a deeper understanding of a subject, rather than sitting an exam where they know exactly how many marks they need to get from each question,’ a source said.

Mr Gove said: ‘More students will be operating at a higher level. We are explicitly ambitious for all our children.’

When the plans were first revealed by the Daily Mail in June, they triggered a furious coalition row between Mr Gove and Nick Clegg.

In an effort to counter claims of a split, the two men today both backed the policy.

In a joint article today Mr Gove and Mr
Clegg said: ‘We believe that if we remove modules and reduce coursework,
get rid of the factors that encourage teaching to the test and, above
all, ensure there is just one exam board for each subject, we can
restore faith in our exams and equip children for the challenges of the
21st century.

HOW THE NEW EBACCs WILL BE DIFFERENT TO GCSEs

GCSEs Tens of thousands of pupils can bump up grades by re-sitting parts of the GCSE exams until they get a pass.
EBaccs Partial resits will end. Pupils will be forced to resit the entire exam.

GCSEs The final exam can be as short as 90 minutes
EBaccs Exams will be much longer, possibly three hours

GCSEs Maths exams have little algebra, English exams include ‘bite sized’ replies and rigorous English-to-foreign-language translations are rare.
EBaccs More algebra in maths exams, more full length essays in English and a return to full English-to-foreign-language translation tests.

GCSEs Up to 50 per cent of exams are studied via modules and continual assessment.
EBaccs Replaced by one or two tougher exams at end of two-year course.

GCSEs Technically, everyone who gets a grade from A to G grade is deemed to have achieved a ‘pass’.
EBaccs New 1 to 6 pass grade, 7 onwards will be fail.

GCSEs 22 per cent get A or A* grade. Around seven per cent of all candidates gain an A*.
EBaccs As few as five per cent may get the top Grade 1.

‘We will ask exam boards to prepare new tests in English, maths, the sciences, history, geography and languages, drawing on the example of other countries with the best education systems,’ they wrote in a joint letter to the Evening Standard.

Deputy Prime Minister Mr Clegg has forced Mr Gove to delay the new system until September 2015, which means Labour could scrap it if they win the next general election, due by May 2015.

However, most schools will start preparing for the new exams from 2014, meaning any attempt to unpick the system could cause further chaos and uncertainty for pupils and teachers.

Nick Gibb, who was schools minister until this month’s reshuffle, insisted the plans could not be reversed even if Labour won the general election expected in May 2015, months before the new courses start.

‘It will be too late for the Government to change the policy, schools will be already ready to teach these exams,’ he told BBC News.

The Liberal Democrat leader also blocked Mr Gove’s aim of reverting to a two-tier system.

This would have seen brighter pupils taking a new version of the O-level while others would have taken an updated version of the CSE (Certificate of Secondary Education).

The CSE was not so academic and taken by less able youngsters. Both O-levels and CSEs were replaced by GCSEs in 1988.

All pupils will sit EBaccs, though some less able youngsters may not take them until they are 17 or 18 years old.

Mr Gove did, however, win his battle to ensure the new exams are more rigorous and that top grades go to only the brightest children.

The shake-up will end the system whereby nearly three in ten pupils get A or A* grades.

In 2010, 22.6 per cent of students achieved an A8 or A grade, compared to 14 per cent in 1997 and 8.6 per cent in 1988.

Instead, as few as one in ten will get the top mark, Grade 1.

Marks will depend on traditional ‘all or nothing’ exams at the end of the two-year course.

Some exams could be as long as three hours, though the exact form will be decided by the exam boards.

Catch up: The new exams are more rigorous and top grades will only go to the brightest children in an attempt to help English schools catch up with other countries as we trail in school standards

It will replace the current system in
which up to half the grading is based on modules and continual
assessment, followed by a 90-minute exam at the end.

Exam boards will compete to offer
papers for each subject area, which means every pupil will sit the same
test, ending the practice of teachers being able to pick whichever board
is considered most likely to offer highest marks.

Pupils will no longer be able to bump up their grades with endless re-sits of each exam module.

In future they will have to re-sit the entire exam, which is expected to deter most.

There
will be more complex algebra questions in maths and a return to essays
in English literature instead of trendy GCSE ‘bite-sized’ answers. In a
controversial move designed to counter claims that GCSEs are too easy
for bright pupils, questions will be graded.

Nick Gibb, a schools minister until this month’s reshuffle, insisted the plans couldn’t be reversed even if Labour won the next general election

They will start at an easy standard and build up to difficult to stretch the cleverest.

It means that less able pupils may be unable to complete the paper.

In
addition, the new tests will be run by a single exam board following
complaints that competition between rival boards has been driving down
standards.

A source close to Mr Clegg said the proposals would ‘raise the bar without shutting the door’ on aspiration.

On a visit to Burlington Danes Academy school in White City, west London today, Mr Clegg said the new system would be fairer.

‘There are many people who think that if you want to make the system more rigorous, you have to leave some behind, but I disagree.

‘I think you can have greater rigour in the exam system, that’s a good thing, but also ensure we can cater for all children, the same way the present exam does.’

The Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference, which represents independent schools, will this week warn that plans to overhaul GCSEs and A-levels are ‘built on sand’ because the marking system is so poor.

Stephen Twigg, Labour’s shadow education secretary, said: ‘Schools do need to change as all children stay on in education to 18 and we face up to the challenges of the 21st century. We won’t achieve that with a return to the 1980s. Instead, we need a system that promotes rigour and breadth, and prepares young people for the challenges of the modern economy.’

Ahead of the statement, Sir Mike Tomlinson, former chief inspector of schools, said he was generally ‘positive’ about the changes but raised concerns that not all subjects can be tested with a long sit-down exam.

‘I think the other question for me is that there are some subjects now available to students at GCSE which cannot… be tested simply by a three-hour examination; for example, art, for example, dance or music,’ he told BBC Radio 4.

VIDEO: Michael Gove announces the move to EBaccs

The comments below have not been moderated.

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I am training to be an English teacher at the moment and though I agree that there are many problems with GCSEs, I really don’t think a return to O-levels is the answer. We have had explicit focus in our training so far of students with learning difficulties (dyslexia, dyspraxia) – how will they fit into this scheme and do well in anything at all if their spelling, grammar and punctuation are formally assessed in all individual exams? How can you monitor progress and improvement effectively without controlled assessments during the school year? How can it be so all or nothing? Life has changed. Many careers are fast-paced, rooted in technology and innovation; practical skills are surely imperative. These old fashioned and elite values are exactly that – old fashioned. From what I have read so far, these exams surely can’t successfully assess the cognitive development or abilities fairly for every pupil. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t love GCSEs either – just not sure this is the answer!

–

around
,

UK,
17/9/2012 20:15

ps. The problem this country has is that it is run by academics and theorists who think you are only worthy or clever if you are like them with their A stars, and First class degrees. Practical people (who are infact the backbone of a nation`s economy) are considered low class and dumb just because they can`t work out xy = z. Maybe we do need to improve things to select the elite few in the future, but I can see more and more people being classed as failures with this new system, when all it is is that they are not academic. Let`s focus on some practical education and make our kids employable.

–

Mom
,

West Mids,
17/9/2012 20:14

Is it just me or will they become the EBAY qualifications – Whilst a change may be needed we need to focus on good basics first – reading and maths

–

SallyAnn
,

Burton on Trent,
17/9/2012 20:14

How does Grove justify telling children who are currently taking GCSE’s that the qualifications that they are working hard for are virtually worthless – in his words “a race to the bottom”?

–

imustbeoldiwearacap
,

inthesewer,
17/9/2012 20:12

Hope you are all ready for your non academic inclined children and grandchildren to repeatedly fail and be labelled as layabouts!

–

no hope left
,

Wales,
17/9/2012 20:12

IRONIC that they’re changing the exams as it was the tories who brought in GCSE’s in the late eighties. I remember because I was in the school fifth year in 1988 that first sat GCSE’s. Will help improves standards, only time will tell?

–

David
,

Herts,
17/9/2012 20:09

Last year i completed my GCSE’s achieving 3 A*’s, 5 A’s and 2 B’s. I did not find the exams particularly ‘easy’ and i along with at least a hundred students spent Monday to Friday in school till 6pm preparing for these exams and also had Easter and Saturday school along with these extra long days. As for the just a ’90 Minute exam’ per subject, i’m pretty sure over the sixth week exam season i sat 14 exams. All of these averaged out around 1 hour and a Half. Also, the mathematics unit 3 i set this year, around forty percent of the exam was Algebra, and not simple of that!

–

xphoebeaurora
,

blackpool,
17/9/2012 20:08

Nell, Bedford … I hate to burst your knowledgeable bubble but IGCSE English Language with Edexcel is NOT 50% coursework!! I have just had a student take it this summer, and it was a one-off three hour paper split into three sections. I think perhaps YOU ought to check your facts first before making such sweeping statements.

–

Mel
,

france,
17/9/2012 20:07

It’s odd that a philosophy (conservatism) that usually argues against quotas and argues for ‘merit’ in all other walks of life, wants quotas. So if a student performs well in a year of excellence they get a ‘b’ but if a student performs less well in a poor year, they get an ‘a’. How about a 1% cap on Eton Old Boys in the cabinet! That would still leave a massive over representation of one school.

–

Richard
,

Norwich,
17/9/2012 20:07

Having a one-off exam and no coursework really won’t work.

– Batch, Southampton, United Kingdom, 17/9/2012 16:33………………………………….Of course it will, it worked perfectly well for 80 years. To pass an exam does not just involve memory but also to put into practice what you’ve actually learned in order to answer the questions. Course work only shows how diligent or otherwise the teacher is, how much the parents help with homework and how good the pupil is at copy and pasting from the Internet.

–

sedge
,

London,
17/9/2012 20:05

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