Literacy news
'Harsh' GCSE English marking row
23 Aug 2012
English teachers have complained that exam boards have substantially increased GCSE grade boundaries, leaving pupils with lower results than expected. Exam chiefs have admitted that grade boundaries have changed but insist that this often happens and that standards have been maintained in line with previous years.
This year's national results show that in the English GCSE, 63.9% of entries got at least a grade C, compared to 65.4% last summer, while 15% were awarded an A or A*, down from 16.8% in 2011.
Under new targets, which apply to today's results, schools will be considered failing if they do not ensure that at least 40% of their pupils get at least five Cs at GCSE, including English and maths (up from a 35% target last year).
Most read
Related content
- Poetry’s the pill: the experiences of a spoken word educator in Blogs by Guest blogger
- Buzzing about books - using talk and peer recommendation to hook pupils into reading in Blogs by Susie Musgrove
- Young people and literacy have changed their relationship status to ‘it’s complicated’ in Blogs by Guest blogger
- Can teaching speaking and listening change behaviour in secondary classes? in Blogs by Sally Melvin
- How to use the new football season to get your kids reading for pleasure in Blogs by Jim Sells
