WHAT will replace GCSE exams in the future?

From 2015, Mr Gove wants 16-year-olds to begin taking a completely new examination to be known as the English Baccalaureate Certificate.

The new EBacc exams will begin with English, maths and science and will be gradually extended to cover other subjects if the first wave of exams is deemed to be a success. The idea is that anyone who gains a pass in English, maths, a science, an arts subject, geography and a modern language would be awarded an EBacc.

Will everybody sit this exam?

Mr Gove intends that everyone who currently sits a GCSE examination should be able to sit the new EBacc exams. However, because he accepts that the new exam will be tougher than GCSEs, he acknowledges that some young people will fail the EBacc at 16. The Education Secretary suggests that schools should ensure these pupils are given detailed records of their achievements and are given the opportunity to resit their EBacc at 17 and 18.

Why is it called the English Baccalaureate Certificate?

The term baccalaureate is inspired by the French approach to secondary education.

Everyone who passes a selection of core subjects in France is awarded a baccalaureate and is entitled to a place at university. The French bacc, as it is known, is regarded as an international benchmark for excellent education.

There is already an international bacc version of the GCSE, which is proving increasingly popular with private UK schools. The word baccalaureate is derived from a 17th Century French term for bachelor.

Why does Mr Gove want to abolish GCSEs?

As he explained in his speech in the House of Commons yesterday, the Education Secretary believes that the mainly continuous assessment basis of the GCSEs has undermined the high standards of the old O-level exam, where everything was decided on a final, three-hour examination. He has also criticised the tendency for schools to choose examination boards that are perceived as having easier versions of the GCSE exam. He told MPs that his reforms should “stop dumbing down and end grade inflation”. Mr Gove criticised the old system as encouraging the narrowing of the curriculum and “teaching to the test”, in other words encouraging teachers to teach youngsters to pass exams rather than giving them a broader education.

What does the Education Secretary have in mind for the exam boards and why?

Mr Gove believes the competition between different exam boards in England has encouraged what he described as “a race to the bottom”, with schools wishing to enhance their place in the league tables opting to put their children through easier exams. He is to invite rival exam boards to provide new courses in English, maths, sciences, humanities, geography and modern languages and the Government will select “the most ambitious” courses. The successful exam board will then offer the same curriculum to every school in the country, ending variations in the curriculum caused by different schools using different exam boards.

Critics of the reforms suggest we are heading back into the two-tier days when the brighter pupils sat O-levels and the rest sat CSEs. How does Mr Gove respond to that accusation?

The Education Secretary maintains that the new, “more rigorous” courses will encourage more students to operate at a higher level. Indeed, he argues that improvements in our school system in recent years – including the promotion of more academies and more free schools – will make more students equipped to clear the new EBacc hurdle. Despite the hostility of many teachers’ unions, Mr Gove also praised the contribution of what he described as “the best generation of heads and teachers we have ever had.”

Why couldn’t the GCSE system be upgraded?

Mr Gove has argued that the GCSE is no longer a general certificate of secondary education as he understands it. He contrasts the increasing number of private schools that are putting their students through the International GCSE because they are perceived as more rigorous, harder exams leading to more worthwhile qualifications. He contrasts this with the large number of pupils in state schools who sit lower-level GCSEs known as Foundation Tier Papers. Anyone sitting a foundation paper cannot be awarded a higher grade than a C pass and most colleges will only allow student with a B or higher grade to go on to study A-level.

Mr Gove wants to see most students sitting the new EBacc exam – and eventually passing, even if it is at the age of 18.

Is there an international dimension to these proposed changes?

Very much so. Mr Gove told MPs that the most recent assessment by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) showed that Britain is failing to keep up with the top nations in the world in terms of education.

He believes the new exam system will encourage what he describes as “deep learning”

in more students. He rejects allegations from opponents that it will cut less-able youngsters adrift as a “fatalistic” and “dated” mindset which must be challenged.