Should GCSE resits be scrapped?

GCSE results day has come and gone, and for many, celebrations have begun. But the nearly 40% of students who have not received a passing grade of 4 or higher in their maths or English exams will be required to resit in November.

This "soul-destroying" policy may be well-intended, but "it looks to be utterly demoralising to pupils who find difficulty" with the tests, said Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research (CEER) at the University of Buckingham.

It consigns students to "a remorseless treadmill of resits in post-16 education under rules drawn up by the last government", said Pepe Di'lasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders.

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The data shows, too, that after the first mandatory resit, the treadmill continues: "Demoralisingly, barely one in five of those taking obligatory resits of maths and English GCSEs – a condition of funding for their post-16 education – achieved the necessary pass grade," wrote The Guardian's editorial board.

"The socioeconomic dimension to these unequal outcomes is stark. Young people from less well-off families, in poorer areas, fare comparatively worse and see their future options restricted accordingly."

What did the commentators say?

A "hyper-fixation" on the proportion of pupils achieving the top grades "means we tend to overlook something much more important", said Kristina Murkett for The Spectator: "the long tail of underachievement in England".

The pass rate for resits is historically much lower than the first-time pass rate, and it fell again this year, dipping down to 20.9%. Given that, the "chances of success" for those resitting in November "are likely to be worse than before the pandemic" said The Guardian.

The "dismal" resit pass rate is proof that "you can't just keep testing people to success" said Murkett. "Students should be given the opportunity to retake if they wish," but it is "educational madness" to force struggling pupils to repeat the exam "over and over again and expect different results".

What next?

Labour's recent rise to power has prompted renewed cries for change, especially given the party's pledge to centre working-class children in education reform. The government has put post-16 qualifications under scrutiny, and a curriculum review is underway. According to the Financial Times, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson is considering revising the resit policy. But according to Polly Toynbee in The Guardian, in some ways "it's all about to get much worse".

Starting this September, students who have not passed their exams must spend three hours per week on English and four on maths out of a total 15 hours allotted for post-16 study or their school will lose funding for their education. A marked increase, this doesn't leave much time for other interests, and may put students off education altogether, said Association of Colleges head David Hughes.

One potential solution comes from the AQA, an education charity and exam board who have "assembled experts of all kinds to plan an entirely new approach to exams and educate everyone in essential life skills", said Toynbee.

"The big idea is that everyone should take basic exams covering everyday numeracy, literacy and digital fluency: they just need to pass, no grade, no contest, like passing a driving test."

The exams will have to change drastically, and fast, to appease some experts who say they currently don't reflect life's most important skills or learnings. Smithers, the CEER director, says he "would suggest that they do not necessarily embody the grasp of words and numbers that is necessary to cope with life as it is lived".