Will the arrival of the EBacc boost young people's attainment?

Education Secretary Michael Gove has set out his proposals to reform the school exam system. GCSEs in core subjects of English, maths and sciences will be replaced with a new English Baccalaureate Certificate (EBacc) from September 2015 for examination two years later, with history, geography and languages to follow from 2016.

Gove says new standards are necessary for England’s young people to compete internationally. He believes that employers and academics have lost confidence in the value of GCSEs, blaming their demise on grade inflation, competition between awarding bodies and dumbing down.

He argues that changes to GCSEs including the introduction of modules and the expansion of coursework have “undermined the credibility of exams, leaving young people without the rigorous education they deserved”.

The proposed resolution is a system where all 16-year-olds are assessed through exams at the end of two years of study.

The lowest grade achievable under the system will be the equivalent of a current C. The government recognises that this may be inappropriate for some young people, so these students would be offered a “Statement of Achievement” by their school, which would outline strengths and weaknesses in each subject. They would be encouraged to sit or resit the exams as a later date.

Gove has dismissed claims the EBacc will create a two-tier system. “Some will argue that more rigorous qualifications in these subjects will inevitably lead to more students failing,” he says. “But we believe that fatalism is indicative of a dated mindset; one that believes in a distribution of abilities so fixed that great teaching can do little to change.”

The National Association of Head Teachers believes aspects of the reforms “make perfect sense”, such as “the potential for flexible timing to suit student needs,” says general secretary Russell Hobby. “We are comfortable with a more demanding standard for top grades, as exams should stretch our most able”.

But there are concerns that focusing assessment at the end of the course and rewarding academic success could put some students at a disadvantage. “We are not persuaded that a single end of course examination is the most reliable way of assessing true achievement and ability,” Debbie Jones, president of Association of Directors of Children’s Services, warns.

CYP Now asked three experts for their views on the plans.


Ian Toone, senior professional officer, Voice

Designing a system that only meets the needs of brighter children does a
disservice to those young people who must be provided with a broad and balanced curriculum to have their abilities and aptitudes recognised.

Three-hour exams are not going to help vulnerable students because it’s too long to concentrate. Such an approach seems to devalue all the learning over previous years and it’s a lottery because after the two years of studying, the outcome depends on a day in which pupils could well have two exams.

Taking exams on a modular basis and doing coursework enables you to spread performance over a longer period of time and helps to avoid exam stress , which affects a number of young people.

At the moment, there are special access arrangements for children with special educational needs (SEN), which means they can have extra time or readers and writers to support them. I gather these arrangements will continue, but if you’re given extra time, exams could take four hours. That’s an incredible period of time to concentrate.

Many young people, particularly with SEN, can better show their achievements through practical assessment. Subjects like art and music require practical exams, but there’s no reason why you shouldn’t have them in core subjects.

The EBacc could be socially divisive. If you’re identified as being in the top 50 per cent, what classification is being put on the other half? It will create second-class citizens. Although Michael Gove says he doesn’t want to create a two-tier system, in effect he is, because he recognises there will be children incapable of doing this qualification.

In maths and English, resits are being proposed. Gove thinks he’s being helpful to young people because they will be able to achieve the grade eventually. But that doesn’t necessarily follow. If you’ve failed once, you’re not going to be particularly motivated to do it again and again.

You’d be better focusing attention on where your skills, interests and aptitudes lie. At age 16, young people do specialise. It actually holds them back to make them repeat a qualification, rather than releasing them to pursue other studies or training.


Karin Woodley, chief executive, ContinYou

We want to set high educational standards and increase our expectations and aspirations for all children and young people, particularly those living in poverty that so demonstrably underachieve in comparison to their more privileged peers. 

We know that if we raise the bar for the poorest in our society they will accomplish great things, provided we inspire them and support them properly.

But the government has taken a very heavy-handed and old-fashioned approach, dismissing the fact that there are a variety of educational routes and learning methodologies that help children to achieve academically, all of which can be accurately and fairly assessed through a range of methods, including, but not exclusively, exams.

I find it extraordinary that while prescribing an exam-based EBacc, it has been implied that continuous assessment methods somehow “dumbed” down attainment levels.

Given the state of our economy, and the fact that highly qualified graduates are not getting jobs, neither does it make sense to further reinforce the hierarchy between vocational and academic learning. Our economy needs a diversified workforce that can support economic growth and we therefore need to nurture our young inclusively so that our society can grow and develop fairly. 

When working with deprived communities and families, we should aim to raise young people’s levels of attainment by offering a variety of learning pathways and by investing in more support for them and their families.

We are yet to see whether the pupil premium will provide this support and address the attainment gap between the haves and the have-nots. We have not seen any evidence that children underachieving academically from areas of poverty are being supported sufficiently for them to be able to compete on a level playing field in terms of the EBacc. 

My fear is that the EBacc will reduce access to academic achievement and, therefore, increase barriers to educational attainment for the most vulnerable in our society.

Alison Tumilty, managing director, Rathbone

The desire to drive up standards and establish faith in our qualifications
system has to be applauded. There is a perception (and I use that word carefully) that passing GCSE exams has become too easy – although that really isn’t fair on the hard-working teachers and students who have done so well this year.

We must not to create an elitist system that puts academia ahead of vocational learning. This is what happened with the old system that elevated a grammar-school education above that of the secondary modern.

For some practical young people, academia simply doesn’t suit. They want hands-on learning that prepares them for work, and they want the same respect and attention that the academic pupil receives. Rathbone still meets too many young people who are sinking in the job market because they simply cannot compete against people with years of experience. These young people don’t even have a CV – so clearly there is a case for more employability skills to be taught in schools.

Stress is one of the most common words used by our learners. This is little wonder given the challenges they face. It is also our hope, therefore, that a move away from module-based qualifications to one-off exams doesn’t create more strain.

Life is hard enough when young people are facing personal crises, but to then have to endure a "do-or-die" situation with their exams could be unbearable. One young person told me recently: "I didn’t even sit my GCSEs. It was all too much as my father had been sent to prison."

Rathbone supports many young people to study literacy, numeracy and information and communication technology (ICT), by allowing students to learn flexibly.

Setting the bar higher may well stretch the more academic and give our education system growing international kudos. But we must remember that our economy needs skilled tradespeople and that those who find school a difficult place need support, not additional pressure.


TIMELINE: ENGLISH BACCALAUREATE

NOV 2010 EBacc is introduced as a measure used in league tables to show where pupils achieved grade C or higher in core subjects

SEPT 2011 Survey shows 47 per cent of pupils taking GCSEs in 2013 are following a subject combination that could lead to an EBacc

SEPT 2012 Government consultation into Key Stage 4 qualifications reform is launched by government

SEPT 2015 Teaching of new certificates in English, maths and the sciences begins

SEPT 2017 The first cohort of students sit the new EBacc exams