Changes to GCSEs are 'deeply unsettling', says man who introduced them

The changes to GCSEs are “deeply unsettling” and will leave people “puzzled”, according to the man who introduced them.

Lord Kenneth Baker, who was education secretary under Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, has criticised the new numerical grading system, saying that “schools won't understand it, and certainly employers don’t at all”.

He warned that the exam regulator, Ofqual, should be “very wary of making such fundamental changes as this”.

Students will receive their GCSE results for the first time this Thursday under a system which uses grades nine to one, rather than from A* to G.

The grades were designed as part of a package of reforms to toughen up syllabuses and to cut down on the number of students getting A*s, which has now been split between two grades, eight and nine.

Pupils will be marked under the new system for English Literature, English Language and Maths, while the rest of their subjects will be marked under the old A* to G grades.

Lord Baker told The Telegraph: “I think it is going to leave many people many puzzled to understand the new system and how it relates to the old one.

“The real test is what will industry think of this. They see GCSE performance as very important. This is a new standard and it will take some time for people to understand it."

Lord Baker, who served as Education Secretary from 1986 to 1989, went on: “Companies up and down the land are familiar with the old system, they have confidence that it is a satisfactory measure.

"To bring in a whole new measure is deeply unsettling. Several schools won't understand it, and certainly employers don’t at all. You should be very wary of making such fundamental changes as this.”

Lord Baker introduced the General Certificate of Education (GCSE) over two years, between 1986 and 1988, to replace the O-level and the Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE) exams.

His comments come after a series of experts spoke of the “alarming” consequences of the numerical system, as they predicted that thousands of students are set to receive the wrong GCSE mark this week.

Lord Kenneth Baker

A technical report published by Ofqual last year told of the “profound effect” that introducing more grade boundaries will have on students being awarded the correct mark.

Lord Baker that the Department for Education has a “huge job” of explaining the changes to students, teachers and employers and “trying to win their confidence that this is a better way and I'm not so sure it is”.

He added: “It is a very fundamental change and I don’t see the purpose of it, quite frankly.

“I think people will be very puzzled for a time. I think they will say well, what does it mean, how does this compare to what the past was? They will say it is very strange.”

Lord Baker said that since teenagers must now stay in full-time education until age 18, he expects "more and more people to question the necessity of GCSEs".

"There are bound to be questioned now that education goes on until age 18," he said.

"When I took the school certificate in 1950, the whole point was that you had to show your employer. Most people went on to work so they needed a certificate. Now the age of 16 is much less important."

Lord Baker's comments about employers chime with the Institute of Directors, which last week warned that the new GCSE grading system is “gibberish” and will cost students jobs.

Seamus Nevin, head of employment and skills policy at the Institute of Directors, which represents leaders of British business, said that many employers will only discover that the GCSEs have changed once they begin receiving CVs from pupils.

An Ofqual spokesperson said that the exam reforms were designed to raise standards in schools and keep up with universities’ and employers’ demands.

“GCSE content has been reformed and will allow the most able students to better demonstrate the full range of their ability and better prepare them for A levels,” the spokesman said.

“The GCSE grading system has been changed to signal that more challenging content has been studied, and to better differentiate between students’ achievements.”

Ofqual said it has been working with the DfE "for several years" to raise awareness about the new grading system.