Extra teacher training to boost GCSE maths and English resit pass rates is being considered by ministers.
An engagement notice was published by the Department for Education to gather market interest and capacity to deliver fresh CPD (continuing professional development) to the resit workforce.
Officials want “innovative provision to achieve the best outcomes for learners” that could be rolled out nationally but with a particular focus on regions with higher resit levels.
Students must resit GCSE English and maths in post-16 education as a condition of their places being funded if they fail to achieve a grade 4 pass at school.
However, FE Week understands the future of the forced GCSE resits policy is being considered by the government’s independent curriculum and assessment review, led by Becky Francis.
Results out in August revealed 17.4 per cent of the 185,727 post-16 learners taking GCSE maths in 2024 achieved a grade 4 or above – a 1 percentage point rise on last year but almost 4 percentage points lower than the pre-pandemic level of 21.2 per cent.
In English, 148,569 students re-sat the GCSE in post-16 education this year with 20.9 per cent gaining at least a grade 4 pass. This was 5 percentage points lower than 2023 and almost 10 percentage points down on 2019.
The DfE has funded multiple resit CPD programmes in the past, including through the Education and Training Foundation, White Rose Education, Lexonik and Mathematics Education Innovation.
Milton Keynes College Group won a government contract in 2022 to run a professional development programme for post-16 English and maths teachers that it called the Greater Than Network. Funding was meant to run until March next year but the DfE ditched the contract early and the network ended in February.
Revealing its intention to revive resit CPD training, the DfE’s latest market engagement notice said: “The DfE is seeking feedback from the market so it can understand market interest and capacity to deliver CPD to the 16-to-19 level 2 English and maths workforce in further education settings, on a national or regional basis, before defining its next steps for any competitive procurement process.
“The quality of the English and maths workforce across the FE sector is paramount and the department continues to work with the sector to ensure that providers can recruit, retain, and develop the teaching and governance staff they need to deliver the best possible education to students.”
A 90-minute early supplier engagement webinar will take place on October 15.
If the DfE goes ahead with a tender it expects to launch the competition in mid-December. The amount of funding on offer is not known.
Your thoughts