DfE to get softer on English and maths resit entries but tougher on results

Colleges face lighter sanctions and greater freedom over when students resit English and maths, under new government proposals, but risk tougher penalties if results slip.

Published as part of a consultation today, fresh accountability plans follow commitments made in last year’s post-16 education and skills white paper to better recognise the progress students make towards achieving level 2 in English and maths.

Around 40 per cent of students begin post-16 study without a GCSE grade 4 in English and/or maths. The current condition of funding policy forces 16 to 19 year olds without a grade 4 in English and maths to continue studying the subjects. It is often criticised by colleges for driving endless resits.

Ministers accept that progress towards level 2 in the core subjects happens in a “complex environment” and is not always captured by blunt exam outcomes. The government is now proposing changes designed to make greater “fair representation” of student progress while “reinforcing high standards” to sharpen accountability.

Here’s what you need to know.

Relief on exam entry penalties

The most immediately welcomed proposal is likely to be a softening of the penalty applied when students are not entered for English or maths exams.

Currently, any resit student who is not entered into an exam for an approved qualification contributes a score of -1 to a provider’s progress measure – regardless of how long they have been enrolled, even if it is one year. This has been criticised for incentivising premature resit exam entry.

The DfE said it wants to “recognise there may be valid reasons to enter a student for an exam after only one year but want to ensure providers who delay entry in a student’s best interests are not penalised in the progress measures for doing so”.

Under the new proposal, that penalty would only apply after a student has spent at least two consecutive years at a provider. Those who leave or complete a one-year programme without sitting an exam would no longer count against performance scores.

Officials said they envisage this change will support providers to enter students into exams “when they are ready to make progress” and do not anticipate the change will drive behaviours around off-rolling or restricting entry to exams.

Tougher scoring for declining performance

But this flexibility is paired with a tougher shift elsewhere. The consultation proposes lowering the floor on negative progress scores from -1 to -2.

At present, students who achieve a lower grade post-16 than they did at GCSE are capped at contributing -1 to a provider’s score, even if their performance drops by more than one grade. Under the proposed system, that cap would move to -2 where a student achieves two grades lower.

The DfE argues this will “more accurately reflect” student progress and discourage inappropriate exam entry. In tandem, the penalty for not entering a student for an exam if they have been at a provider for two or more consecutive years would also be set at -2.

Winners and losers

Officials plan to make these methodological changes to the English and maths progress measures published for students completing 16 to 19 study in the 2027-28 academic year, which is the data due to be published at provider level in spring 2029.

Government modelling suggests around a quarter of providers would have seen an overall improvement in their progress scores if the new methodology had been applied previously, because “for some providers” the removal of penalties for one-year students outweighs the stricter grading cap.

Prior attainment fairness

A third proposal aims to offer fairer representation of the progress students make based on their prior attainment.

Alongside headline progress scores, the DfE plans to publish additional breakdowns by prior attainment – specifically for students entering with GCSE grade 3, and those with grade 2 or below. Data on exam entry rates and the proportion improving their grade would also be included.

This will provide a “more rounded and transparent picture” of provider performance, the DfE argued, particularly for lower-attaining students who are often hardest to support.

Questioning qualification achievement rates

Alongside progress measures, ministers are also mulling changes to English and maths qualification achievement rates (QARs).

The measure currently credits providers for achievement even when students repeat a qualification and secure the same or lower grade.

The consultation seeks views on whether QARs should better reflect genuine progress, particularly in light of concerns about the negative impact of repeated resits on student morale, highlighted in Becky Francis’ curriculum and assessment review.

Latest available data shows that 16.1 per cent of young people have not achieved level 2 English by age 19, rising to 20.3 per cent for maths in 2023-24.

Of those who had not achieved by age 16, 74.7 per cent of students did not reach level 2 in English between ages 17 and 19 and 83.5 per cent did not reach level 2 in maths.

The consultation asks providers how they think QARs could be made clearer to show a student achieves a higher grade than they did previously, as well as how the current English and maths measures “influence provider decisions about qualification pathways, curriculum planning, and exam entry for students subject to the maths and English condition of funding”.

The consultation closes 21 July.