Your say / Bristol
‘New GCSEs will serve no use to middle-of-the-road students’
Opening the email reply from my French teacher, I feel frustrated even skim-reading through. She and I both know the GCSEs I’m sitting next year emphasise spontaneity and improvisation, so frankly I’m bewildered as to why she wants me to write out and memorise 60 answers to the questions I will be asked in my French speaking exam next summer.
Colossal changes to the GCSE grading system were brought in by former education secretary Michael Gove and the first set of results have just been issued.
The ‘reforms’ included scrapping A*-G grades and replacing them with numbers ranking from nine to one, with nine being the highest and one the lowest, as well as a focus on exams rather than coursework. They sparked controversy among teachers and students across the county.
is needed now More than ever
The reason Gove introduced these changes? To distinguish between the best and very best achieving students in the country. To me, this is an inadequate reason for uprooting the specifications of all the main subjects and bewildering every student due to sit these exams.
So forgive me if I laughed when my friend Isabelle, who had just finished year 11, texted me her GCSE results: “I got one 7, nine A*s and two 8s!” the text read.
As the second year to sit these new exams, I knew what she meant and how incredible her results were, but I know for a fact my Grandparents’ generation would have been utterly befuddled, not knowing whether to be celebrating or commiserating.
To add to the confusion, there are more changes. For example, November resits are now only available in Maths and English Language, iGCSEs are to be phased out, and for my year group, some more uncommon subjects like Psychology and Textiles are still under the old grading system.
Despite not agreeing with it, I can see the benefits of the new system, in that the Government want to stay on the international employment scene by allowing more distinction between the brightest students. But I think that only reforming some of the GCSE subjects for mine and Isabelle’s year group is purely ridiculous; it is chaotic and does not give students nearly enough time to get to grips with the new content and style of the exams.
But this new exam style will serve absolutely no use to the ‘Average Joes’, the middle-of-the-road, averagely bright students, for whom grades aren’t a reflection of their talents and gifts outside the academic area. It’s a slap in the face: all it says is “Oh yeah, we only changed the system to benefit the clever kids so they can over-achieve – it’ll serve no use to you”.
Overall, I see little point in the overwhelming changes, apart from for the tiny per cent who will get straight nines on their results days. I wish the best of luck to everyone in my year and below who have to sit these exams, and remember, you can always write an article to rant about it. Just tell them it’s your Modern Text for English Literature…
Emilie Spence is just starting year 11 at Redland Green School.
Read more: 12 stories by young people in Bristol
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