New GCSE gradings in maths and English exams to be awarded from August 2017

by My Kent Family reporter

mykentfamily@thekmgroup.co.uk

A radical overhaul in the grading of GCSEs means students will soon no longer get results in the same way.

From the start of the next August, pupils sitting maths and English exams will receive a mark of 9-1 rather than the previous A* to G.

Other subjects will follow from 2018 and 2019, with grade 9 as the equivalent of a new pass for high performing students above the current A*.

The lowest grade of 1 will be equivalent to the bottom of a grade G and pupils who fail will be awarded a U for an unclassified result.

Ofqual claims the new approach will mean that broadly the same proportion of students will achieve a grade 4 or above as currently achieve a grade C or above

For each examination, the top 20% of those who get grade 7 or above will get a grade 9 – the very highest performers.

Dame Glenys Stacey of exam watchdog Ofqual said the first year of the new grades will draw heavily on statistics from previous years to give “anchor points from the old system to the new”.

She said: “This will make sure that the year group of students are not disadvantaged, or advantaged, because of the introduction of the new qualifications, and will provide some certainty about what to expect at this time of significant change.”

Ofqual claims the new approach will mean that broadly the same proportion of students will achieve a grade 4 or above as currently achieve a grade C or above.

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New GCSEs in English language, English literature and maths were launched in September 2015 in schools in England, with the first qualifications due to be awarded in August 2017. Courses will be taken over the full two years, rather than by modular assessment.

This means that next August, students collecting their results will received a mixture of the old style grades and the new numerical system. By 2019, all pupils will be graded with a 1-9 in all subjects.

However, not everyone is in favour of the change.

A statement from the largest teaching union, the NUT, said it considers the move a “retrograde step” and “a return to system similar to the O-level which existed before 1986 where grades were capped against student numbers”.