National Curriculum Review_ What might change for GCSEs

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00:00Hello my name's Amber Allitt and I'm a journalist specialising in education.

00:04Last year the government launched a full review of the National Curriculum and

00:09the assessment system. This maps out what schools should be teaching young people

00:13as well as what standards they should be achieving at. This week the expert

00:18leading the review released its initial preliminary report after receiving

00:22around 7,000 submissions from the public about what needs to change. Now this

00:27doesn't mean that the curriculum review is over nor does it contain the panel's

00:31final recommendations to the Department for Education but it does shape how the

00:36rest of the process is going to go as well as outlining what some of the main

00:39areas of focus are going to be. There has been some concern raised by experts,

00:44educators, young people and families alike about exams. The panel has so far

00:50found that the system is working pretty well but there are a few key issues that

00:54may end up recommending that the government change for learners going

00:57forward. Here are three that might impact GCSEs. The report did say that the

01:04intensive high-stakes assessment system can have an impact on well-being. Its own

01:10polling of young people found that half of those who completed the GCSEs last

01:14summer found it either difficult or very difficult to cope with stress during the

01:18exam period. In Glensier 11 pupils sit between 24 and 31 hours of exams on

01:24average, on par with Singapore but much much higher than other high achieving

01:29countries like New Zealand, Ireland and Canada. In its next phase of work the

01:35review says it will carefully consider whether there are opportunities to

01:38reduce the overall volume of assessments at Key Stage 4 for students without

01:43compromising the importance of the qualification or the results. This may

01:47mean it recommends fewer GCSE exams overall. Maths and English are required

01:53subjects for GCSE level students and if they fail their exam they do have to do

01:58a re-sit currently but the panel noted that there were often repeated failures

02:03and the quality of provision appeared to be uneven. It will also be considering

02:08other pathways for these students. Finally the English baccalaureate, a

02:12performance measure for schools based on students who take a selected series of

02:16GCSE subjects. There has been some concern that this measure may

02:21unnecessarily constrain young people's choices in time to study other subjects

02:25they might be interested in. Going forward the review will look at whether

02:29it still has a place among the measures used to evaluate skill performance.