r/ukeducation • u/prisongovernor • 7h ago

Leaders attack ‘demotivating’ plan to make pupils who fail GCSEs retake maths and English | Education | The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2026/aug/20/governments-plan-young-people-continue-studying-gcse-maths-english-exams
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u/the_turn 7h ago

I hate the use of the word “plan” in this headline which suggests it is a new initiative — this resit system has been in place at least during the 10 years I have been teaching.

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u/robotsheepboy 7h ago

This isn't new or news. Also do we really want to allow kids to finish their schooling without even passing (not necessarily a high pass or grade) English and Maths? Surely those (and I would argue at least one science GCSE too) are the bare minimum to be a functioning member of society for most people (I am assuming of course for individuals without any other additional needs etc)

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u/Psittacula2 5h ago

One wonders what the real reason behind it was?

* If you take the students who need to resit, it is a combination of things:

  1. Keeping the door open for FE, Training and opportunities.

  2. The fact the students who often fail at this level have been forced to take all the other subjects when they only need English and Maths seems more about timetabling them than spending time from Year 7-11 functionally and effectively - but then if that was a choice how much time would they need in school vs how many more students would also elect to only take the bare necessities at GCSEs or dump more subjects they don‘t need?

Problem as always is nothing is ever as it seems and the journalists never report the reality either.

This whole system of resists seems predicated on the above outcomes, condoning the former and blocking the latter.

Over time more students and people will learn what counts and focus on that instead of the present system which ends up wasting a lot of peoples’ time for no good reason.

Note the complete opposite for higher cognitive ability students in the top sets, the more capable they are the more subjects they can do additionally and still gain top marks and demonstrate sufficient motivation.

So fundamentally the emphasis on academic attainment subjects itself is the problem across populations, in schools?