DfE urged by subject associations to make radical changes to English GCSE, among host of other recommendations

English associations looking for change which appears to go beyond the curriculum and assessment review's promise of "evolution, not revolution".

Education Uncovered is looking ahead to the publication of the government’s final Curriculum and Assessment Review report, in the autumn, by covering responses from subject associations. Detailed subject-by-subject findings did not appear in the interim report, published in March. So it seems important to document what subject associations have been saying, especially as some of their conclusions appear to contradict the review’s overall pledge of an “evolution, not revolution” approach to reform.
In the second, then, of an ongoing series, I report below on submissions on the subject of English.

English GCSE urgently needs reform as part of a raft of changes to a subject which has seen a huge drop-off in students opting to continue with it beyond the age of 16, two leading subject associations have argued.

Changes to English GCSE specifications under the former education secretary Michael Gove made them “narrower, less relevant and less accessible,” argued one association, while the other stated that “it is widely accepted across the subject” that GCSEs are not “fit for purpose”.

The claims come in submissions by the National Association for the Teaching of English (NATE) and the English Association (EA) to the government’s curriculum and assessment review.

The review has promised an “evolution, not revolution” approach to change. However, NATE and the EA- the latter also citing an influential report by one of England’s big-three exam boards as evidence of the necessity of change for the GCSE- are advocating more thorough-going reform. This includes calling for substantially more emphasis on creativity, throughout the school curriculum.