As someone who has lived and breathed English and maths delivery in Further Education for over a decade, I know how much effort young people put into retaking their GCSEs and how hard colleges work to support them. This is why I welcome the government’s announcement in the post-16 White Paper of a new level 1 GCSE stepping-stone qualification to support young people retaking these subjects.
When we were planning our response to the curriculum and assessment review back in September last year, a team of us at Get Further sat down to review learning from years of work within the FE sector, and to answer one question: what would really shift the dial for young people struggling to secure the English and maths GCSE qualifications vital to accessing so many opportunities?
We wanted to propose an idea that would help give every young person a real chance to achieve these essential qualifications. Right now, that chance isn’t equal. Young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are much less likely to achieve a grade 4 in English and maths than their peers, and those who struggle most – including those with SEND and those who achieve grade 1 or 2 at 16 – are much less likely to achieve their GCSE by the age of 19.
Like almost everyone we speak to in the sector, we have always held the unwavering belief that every young person who falls behind at school deserves the chance to catch up on English and maths as part of their post-16 education. We also shared concerns that too many young people are still missing out on essential GCSE grades. We saw potential within the condition of funding policy for powerful changes to be made to unlock achievement.
For us, it was clear that the answer was a true stepping-stone to GCSE – a qualification offering young people facing the steepest barriers the chance to plug gaps in knowledge, embed new learning, gain a sense of achievement, develop their confidence, and rebuild their motivation – all while working towards, and ultimately achieving, the qualification that is most highly valued by employers and the wider education system.
As part of our thinking for the curriculum and assessment review, I spoke to some of the young people who have undertaken resit tuition with us to get their views on a stepping-stone qualification to a full GCSE and on how they would have felt about having two planned years of study before their first full retake. What they told me confirms that this week’s announcement is the right one.
They talked about a stepping stone being “a substantially good idea” as it would “help students cover specific topics that they struggle with” and “help improve the students’ confidence, willpower and determination”. They said it would “remove the pressure of taking the exam within the first nine months” of being in college. And they felt spending more time on something is “good just for yourself, to prove that you’re worth it and you can do it”. Securing an initial grade in a less high-stakes exam is “like a sign that you don’t need to stop, you just have to keep going”.
I’m really pleased for future young people that the benefits of longer study and an intermediate qualification are now going to be realised.
Through our discussions at Get Further, we were also clear that a qualification change alone would not be enough to drive the changes in English and maths attainment that everyone within the sector wants to see. So it’s great to see the suite of plans laid out to accompany this change, including enhanced support for English and maths teacher development, strengthened delivery guidance, the ongoing building of the evidence-base via the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), and the revision of accountability measures.
Qualification development isn’t quick. As a sector we now have a significant task ahead of us as this work gets underway and we prepare to support young people to undertake these new courses. But as one of the young people I spoke to said: “I think taking your time is better, though, because if you really focus and work hard, then you can get it […] Patience is key. Trust in the process”.
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