Over the past few days as sorry tale has unfolded. The new GCSE English literature specifications have been announced, full of sound and fury, signifying… nothing.
The current GCSE lacks rigour and breadth and challenge. You’re welcome to argue with this, but I think it’s broadly true. Exam boards compete for business by positioning themselves as the ‘easiest to get a C in’ and schools, unsurprisingly considering the stakes, select the least challenging texts in the altogether understandable aim of getting as many students as possible to pass so that Ofsted will leave them alone. This is reality.
It’s all very well the DfE claiming, “The new GCSEs in English Literature will be broader and more challenging for pupils than those available at the moment. They will give pupils the chance to study some of this country’s fantastic literary heritage” but consider the exam boards’ responses.
Read more on The Learning Spy…
The Echo Chamber 