Exam season is upon us again. As we witness our young clients descend into the now depressingly familiar cycle of anxiety and sleeplessness. We ask the question, why GCSEs?
16 years is a stage in life when young people are exploring their identity, still physically maturing and experiencing self- doubt about their bodies, identities and friendships. The maelstrom of adolescence is something that their parents and teachers remember. And most of us are very glad to have left it behind.
Apart from France with le Brevet, no European countries have public exams at 16 years. Neither do our US friends across the pond. International Baccalaureate (IB) students do not sit GCSEs. This doesn’t preclude their entry into the world’s leading universities, including Oxbridge, Russell Group and Ivy League institutions. Universities generally accept IB students without GCSEs. While some university courses (Business, Medicine) may require GCSEs in English and Maths, most universities recognise the IB diploma as a valid alternative and consider IB scores alongside other factors like personal statement and interview. Some international schools here in London that offer the IB arrange GCSEs in English and Maths. Most do not.
So what are we up against when we move to scrap those GCSEs? The usual suspects of money and vested interests: the exam boards who do quite well from GCSEs; those who get paid to mark them. Plus, parents and students who honestly believe that, without GCSEs, we will somehow be worse off.
Lumos Education’s University Consultant, Liz, had lunch recently with her Oxbridge-educated old school chum. They had a conversation about their O levels (the exam that GCSEs replaced). Which went something like this:
Sophie (laughing): ‘Liz, do you remember when you failed your Maths O-level?’
Liz: ‘Hmmm…, yes. I do. But it was a long time ago
Sophie (laughing harder now): You had to resit. You resat it 3 times! I (sighing smugly) got an A.
Both women are in their mid-60s, but Liz’s perceived humiliation is not forgotten 50 years later. Liz is one of our most experienced consultants, a university lecturer and a successful business woman to boot. She has done very well, despite failing her Maths O-level.
This conversation illustrates how much power GCSE exam results wield in the minds of people who rate them. And how little credence we should give to them.
So, schools, please follow the lead of Latymer Upper and scrap GCSEs. They don’t benefit anyone, least of all your teachers. It is high time that we created an education system that is not based on fear.
