Private schools are now offering GCSE alternatives to their students. St. Edward’s School in Oxford has become the latest to join the movement calling for the abolishment of this exam. Their warden said that the exam is outdated and should be replaced.
Stephen Jones, the Warden of St. Edward’s School in Oxford, has indicated that the school will be replacing GCSE. He said that he no longer believed that GCSE was good preparation for the sixth form or degree level work.
The school will be the latest to implement a GCSE alternative, with many private schools now openly speaking against the exam body. Jones indicated that he believes that as a school, they ought to be doing better. He also saw GCSE exams as too “tick boxy.” He said that the exams are outdated and the changes he was making were necessary.
Students at St. Edward’s, a £39,480-a-year boarding school in Oxford, will start taking the GCSE alternative exams from September 2020. The students will be required to take one ‘pathways’ course such as art, design, music, science or sport and also perspectives courses in humanity such as philosophy, geography or the classical world. The students will also be able to take 8 of the 11 GCSE exams on offer if they wish.
The need for a GCSE alternative
Mr. Jones’s reasoning was that GCSE was created as a school leaving certificate. However, times have changed and no one leaves the school at 16 now. This kind of reasoning is now outdated and he argued that using the same type of reasoning is outdated and therefore, GCSE should be done away with.
Students will now be assessed based on their skills rather than using a set of exams. The school argues that assessing skills such as their communication, presentations, research projects, and teamwork is more current and optimizes students’ abilities.
Mr. Jones views about GCSE are widely shared among many education shareholders including Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders who said,
GCSE exams are looking increasingly irrelevant since their exams are designed in and for a different era.
The trend of students from private schools is taking fewer GCSE exams. The schools are providing the GCSE alternatives paths where they can pursue other academic interests they might be interested in.
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