GCSEs should not return to their pre-Covid form for at least another year, school leaders have warned, with students still having to deal with the disruptive effects of the pandemic and concerns over the widening gap between North and South over top grades.
Hundreds of thousands of pupils found out their marks on Thursday in the first year involving exams since Covid hit – with overall results down on last year after a crackdown on grade inflation.
Grades dropped from record highs the year before, with the overall pass rate down to 73 per cent from 77 per cent and the proportion of top grades dropping to around 26 per cent from 29 per cent.
Marks were still higher than before the pandemic, following the same pattern as A-levels last week as exam boards took a staggered approach to bringing down grades.
Unions stepped up calls on results day for the next cohort to have disruption taken into account when they take GCSEs in 2023.
Exams returned after being cancelled for two years in a row due to the pandemic. They contained some adaptations that aimed to ease pressure on pupils, which included advanced information of what would be included on papers.
Ofqual, the regulator in England, has already said some changes – including a choice in topics for some GCSE subjects – will be scrapped next year. It is yet to rule on others but said it wanted to return to pre-pandemic exams “as quickly as possible”.
On Thursday, Geoff Barton, from the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said there was a strong feeling among school leaders that next year’s exam students should face exams that take into account the impact of the Covid pandemic, as they have also been “heavily impacted”.
“This is particularly important given the likelihood of more waves of infections during the autumn and winter,” the union boss said.
Sarah Hannafin from another school leader’s union, NAHT, said: “We must turn our attention to next year’s cohort who have also suffered significant disruption to their learning throughout the pandemic.”
She said her members believe these students should also “have the benefit of additional support” – including advanced information of what would be on exams to support pupils with revision.
Jon Andrews, from the Education Policy Institute (EPI), said more evidence came out on Thursday that suggested the “impact of the pandemic is not yet over”. He said the National Reference Test, which assesses year 11s performance, showed a “downward change” in maths compared to before the pandemic.
His think-tank has also found “a considerable learning loss” remains among younger pupils two years after the Covid pandemic first hit, he said.
“The government should therefore consult closely with the sector to consider whether further, proportionate mitigations are necessary to support the 2023 cohort,” its head of analysis told The Independent.
Unions stressed the lower GCSE results were a result of the government and regulator’s decision to clamp down on grade inflation rather than the performance of students.
Pupils hugged and congratulated each other on Thursday as they found out results, while others – including a 92-year-old believed to be the oldest GCSE candidate ever – opened them live on air.
London had the highest past rate in England at 76.7 per cent, while others – including the West Midlands and Yorkshire – lagged behind below 70 per cent.
Top grades were also more likely to be handed out in London, with 32.6 per cent awarded a 7/A or above compared to around 22 per cent in areas in the North and Midlands.
“While it’s unclear the extent to which this is a continuation of long-term trends of regional disparities, our research has previously highlighted education in the North and the Midlands to have been, on average, more severely impacted by the pandemic than in other parts of the country,” Mr Andrews said.
Analysis shows the regional divide has grown compared to before the pandemic in 2019 – which was also the latest time students sat exams.
Back then, London was still the best-performing region in terms of top grades, sitting 9.3 percentage points above the worst-performing North East. This year, it was 10.2 percentage points above the lowest-scoring regions.
Henri Murison from the Northern Powerhouse Partnerhship, said: “Once again, we’re seeing evidence of gaping regional disparities in today’s GCSE results, particularly between the North and London in Grade 7 and above results.“
He said this was not a surprise considering a “triple whammy of factors”, which he described as “existing long-term disadvantage”, learning loss during the Covid pandemic and the government’s “failures” in their education catch-up plans.
Northern Ireland was the best-performing area of the UK, with 37 per cent of GCSE results making the top grades and a pass rate of 90 per cent.
Private schools still tended to get higher results than state comprehensive schools: 53 per cent compared to 23.3 per cent this year. This gap was narrower compared to the last two years, but slightly larger than before the Covid pandemic.
Fears have also been sparked this year that students may be forced to quit full-time education to work after their GCSEs due to the cost of living crisis.
Jennifer Coupland from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education said apprenticeships “will appeal to people more than ever in the current tough economic climate” as she congratulated students on their GCSE results on Thursday.
Mr Barton from ASCL said it was also important to keep an eye on the impact of the rising cost of living on students – but warned exam mitigations may be helpful in dealing with Covid disruption, but not the economic crisis.
“We might end up in an endless cycle of attempting to mitigate for varying levels of poverty every year,” he told The Independent.
James Cleverly, the education secretary, congratulated students on their GCSE results and wished them luck in their next steps. “We have the most exciting range of post-16 options for students to choose from now, whether that’s one of our exciting new T Levels, an apprenticeship or A levels,” he said.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We put in place adaptations to support students sitting exams this summer in recognition of the unprecedented disruption they faced during the pandemic.
“Working with Ofqual the exams regulator, we will evaluate the delivery of arrangements this year before finalising 2023 plans in the autumn.”
They added: “Our intention is to return to the carefully designed and well-established pre-pandemic assessment arrangements as quickly as possible, given they are the best and fairest way of assessing what students know and can do.”
