UK leaders criticise 'demotivating' plan to keep making GCSE resit failures retake maths and English
After GCSE maths and English resit pass rates fell sharply this year, education experts and school leaders have criticised the UK government's plan to keep requiring students who fail to keep retaking these subjects.
In England this year, only around one in seven students retaking GCSE maths after a previous failure achieved at least a grade 4, while just one in six passed English. As a result, most of these students will have to retake the exams again next year if they remain in education or training.
By contrast, year 11 students aged 16 achieved record-high GCSE results this year, with seven in ten passing both maths and English. Still, roughly 620,000 students in this age group who did not reach grade 4 will face resits next year.
The government's plan
UK Education Secretary Lucy Powell confirmed the government will proceed with a new "stepping stone" qualification for students who scored very poorly on their first GCSE attempt. Powell described the current resit system as a "hamster wheel" and said a better approach is needed to give young people skills and confidence rather than simply labelling them failures.
Criticism from the sector
School leaders' associations argued that repeatedly forcing post-16 students through maths and English resits isn't working, and called for deeper reform of how these subjects are assessed rather than minor adjustments. Experts also warned the new qualification could create a two-tier system, disproportionately steering students from disadvantaged backgrounds onto lower-level pathways. It was also noted that the Department for Education's proposed new qualification is still designed to lead toward a later GCSE resit, meaning students would still face multiple exams.
Separately, this year's results showed boys in England reaching a record share of top maths grades, while girls maintained their overall lead in top grades across all subjects.
