The Education Policy Institute (EPI), which is led by former education minister David Laws, has asserted that 16-year-olds in England need to score higher in English and Maths to match top-performing countries such as Canada and Singapore. In the report, the EPI recommendation refers to the government’s "standard pass" mark, which must be exceeded if the UK is to compete with the league’s best academically developed countries. According to the EPI’s calculations, around 96,000 students achieving top grades in Maths and 60,000 low-performing students achieving a good pass would be required to elevate England into the top category of international academic performers.
This summer, the new harder GCSE exams in Maths and English were implemented for the first time. Results using a new 9-1 grading system, where 9 is the highest possible score, will be released on Thursday. The Department for Education (DfE) has stated that a pass at grade 4 would equate to a C under the old system. The 5 grade has been defined as a “strong pass”, which means that pupils who achieve a grade 4 will not be required to resit Math and English GCSEs as mandated by the government. Meanwhile, those who score below a D will have to retake the exams while they remain in education.
EPI, however, has argued that grade 4 is a rate too low to match Ireland, Hong Kong and Finland in reading, and Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan in maths. Furthermore, according to EPI analysis, the top five UK rivals would have a GCSE score of 5.4 in Maths compared with 4.7 in England. In a statement, Laws asserted: “Our analysis suggests that the DfE is right to be refocusing our education system on students achieving the new ‘strong pass’ of a grade 5. The old C grade is not an adequate national aspiration if England wants to compete with top education nations.”
The new GCSEs offered no or minimal coursework in an attempt to create a clear break from the prior exams; as a result, students will be mainly graded based on their final exams. GCSE Maths students are required to recall key formulae and provide clear mathematical arguments in their answers, while English language pupils need to read a more extensive range of texts and show good use of spelling, punctuation, and grammar. The new scores structure contains three top grades: 7, 8 and 9, replacing A and A*, with only a few pupils expected to achieve the highest possible grade of 9, approximately 2%. A student’s grade on their English results is double-weighted if they complete language and literature tests; hence, there has been an increase in the number of English literature entries. Next year, several other subjects, including sciences, history, and foreign languages, will feature the new-style exams.
