During Michael Gove's tenure as Secretary of State, he introduced major changes to the year-11 examination system and the way that performance tables are compiled.
To say that these changes have been hugely rushed is an understatement, as several of the key changes have been introduced during the last two years, that is, after schools had started teaching the examination courses!
This summer sees a perfect storm of changes and it is impossible properly to draw any conclusions from this year's results– though no doubt politicians and the media will, in varying degrees, attempt to do so.
The changes include removing so-called “low-value vocational equivalents” from performance tables, ending modular examinations (perhaps the biggest single change, as teachers have had to revise their entire teaching approach to years 10 and 11), and making performance tables rely on a pupil's first result and not as previously their best result from more than one entry. In addition, the continuing pressure to implement the EBacc has resulted in continuing revisions to patterns of entry.
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