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GCSEs should be scrapped, says former education secretary

Posted on 9th March 2010

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Children should no longer be expected to take GCSEs at the age of 16, the former education secretary Baroness Morris has suggested.

The tests should instead be taken two years earlier as they are currently useless, the Daily Telegraph reports her as saying.

Under Labour plans, it has been proposed that every child needs to remain in school until they are 18, which Baroness Morris believes should be reflected in the exams system.

"As long as we have got this system where the National Curriculum finishes at 16, and yet we talk about a cohesive 14-to-19 strategy, it will never work," she told the Commons Schools Select Committee.

The expert highlighted that at present, there is no reason for exams to be taken at the age of 16 because pupils choose their subjects two years earlier anyway.

In private schools governed by the Independent Schools Council, 59.8 per cent of all GCSE exam entries last year were awarded an A* or A. ADNFCR-921-ID-19658831-ADNFCR