GCSEs are outdated. It's time to ditch them

The Guardian

5 hours ago

Sally Weale cogently questions why we need to continue with the outdated GCSE examination, being the only country in Europe to have such an assessment ('They are making young people ill': is it time to scrap GCSEs?, 11 June). There are two additional reasons that support the case for abolition.
First, the cost. GCSEs are a billion-pound-plus industry. Few people realise that, per student, we spend more on the exam entry than on providing resources to study the subject.
Second, most importantly, GCSE results are standardised as a bell curve of results. A third or more of young people receive below-average results because the statistical model so determines.
The government wants to improve technical and vocational education, but this will not happen while hundreds of thousands of young people are told that they 'didn't do very well at school'.Bob MoonEmeritus professor of education, Open University
Re Sally Weale's article on the effect of GCSEs on young people, I attended a traditional grammar school in Colchester in the 1970s. We had a forward-thinking headteacher who believed that seven GCE O-levels were enough. One of these, English language, was taken in year 10, which left only six at the end of year 11.
No formal English literature exam was taken, but pupils spent year 11 writing an extended essay on a literary subject of their choosing. This was marked by the school, and a grade, though not recognised externally, was given. It made for a more leisurely year 11.
Ironically, my brother, who was in the top stream at his secondary modern school, had far more exams, with a mixture of both GCE O-levels and CSEs.
At the time, most students left school at 16, whereas now they are in full-time education or training until 18. So it would seem that the GCSE is an outmoded exam that needs to be scrapped.Paul KilvertHull
GCSEs were intended to recognise what pupils know, understand and can do – they do not. They were supposed to be assessed fairly – they are not, as grades are based on norm referencing. They were designed as a rite of passage at 16 for pupils at the end of their statutory education – but 90% of pupils stay in education until they are 18.
We need school-based diagnostic and formative assessment systems from 11 to 18, which can guide young people on to their next best stage of learning, not expensive and stressful GCSEs. Age 18 is the time for the summation of a young person's schooling, not 16. And at 18 we need proper recognition of where young people really are as they continue their learning journey into and through adult life.Frank NewhoferOxford
The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, which argues for the scrapping of GCSEs, is named after the man who rejected a golden opportunity to do so and replace them with a diploma-based system when he was prime minister, based on the 2004 Tomlinson report. If it is 'a decade's work' to come up with a new qualification framework, we might now have been a decade into one if New Labour had made the change when it had the chance.Derrick CameronStoke-on-Trent
In the current round of exams, my grandson had to sit three in one day. How is that fair? How can it be justified? Where's the sense in it? Yes, it's time to scrap GCSEs.Prof Colin RichardsFormer HM inspector of schools
Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.