Written question asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated) on Monday, 16 March 2015, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Monday, 30 March 2015. It was answered by Lord Nash (Conservative) on Tuesday, 24 March 2015 on behalf of the Department for Education.

GCSE

Question: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the finding by the Open Public Services Network that pupils in some parts of England are not offered certain GCSEs, and the impact that this may have on their job prospects.

Answer

As a result of our education reforms thousands more pupils are taking the core academic GCSEs. We want all young people to have access to these rigorous subjects regardless of where they live. Recent GCSE performance tables showed that 90,000 more pupils took the challenging EBacc compared to 2010, an increase of 71% in four years. These are the core subjects most valued by employers and universities.

From 2016, we are replacing the existing 5 A*-C including English and mathematics headline secondary accountability measure with Progress 8. Focusing on performance across eight qualifications rather than five will incentivise schools to offer a broad and balanced curriculum, and ensure that the progress made by pupils is fully recognised.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: HL5757
Session: 2014-15
Subjects: GCSE
Link: View this Written question on www.parliament.uk

GCSE

Secondary information

Librarians' tools