The number of state schools substituting GCSEs for O-levels has grown significantly in 2013. According to the statistics presented by Cambridge International Examinations, the percentage of educational institutions whose students prefer English exams has increased almost threefold, from nearly 35,000 to more than 93,000, within a period of one year. Moreover, the amount of requests for IGCSEs has doubled and reached 115,000.
The growth has been determined by the 2012 flop, when Ofqual forced the U.K. examination boards to raise grade limits in English. The general secretary of the Association of College and School Leaders, Brian Lightman, said that instructors felt as if they were deprived of their power. Their main goal is to protect pupils’ interests and eliminate any confusion over the grade boundaries. The process of replacing the GCSE exam with IGCSEs started at independent schools.
Michael Gove is currently considering an option of improving GCSE standards in order to make them correspond to the international ones. Teachers are sure that IGCSEs provide students with a better opportunity to receive higher grades. Mr. Lightman added that children would have to pass both GCSEs and IGCSEs at some institutions. In total, kids from 1,300 schools have submitted a request for the latter form of assessment. Head teachers believe it will deprive pupils of worrying about all the political manipulations with their test results. Neither Ofqual nor the coalition government should influence this aspect.
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