​Challenges and opportunities of the new academic curriculum

Teachers at Pangbourne College discuss reforms to GCSEs and A Levels...

Demanding new GCSEs and A Levels are being introduced to help raise academic standards in UK schools.

Senior staff and teachers at Pangbourne College, an independent school for 11 to 18-year-olds in West Berkshire, have already been working hard for more than a year to prepare pupils to meet the challenge.

The bulk of new GCSE courses start in September 2016 for Form 4 (Year 10) pupils, whilst new A Level courses are first being taught in two waves: in September 2015 and September 2016.

Most visibly, new GCSEs will drop A* to G grades and now be graded from 9 (the highest mark) down to 1 (the lowest). A Levels will continue to be graded from A* to E, but will become fully linear, two-year courses – and separate from AS Levels.

Additionally, A Level syllabuses will become more demanding in preparation for the academic rigours of university degrees.

Head of Key Stage 4 (Form 4 and 5 or Year 10 and 11) at Pangbourne College, Mrs Sam Greenwood said: “This is a national shift to separate top GCSE students more.

“They first did it by introducing the A* grade and now we’re seeing this. A ‘good pass’ at GCSE is going to be a grade 5, but that will be harder to achieve than an old C.”

Head of Science at Pangbourne, Dr Ian Hart said: “The overarching aim of the Government in introducing these changes appears to be to make GCSEs and A Levels more rigorous.

“Universities want greater differentiation amongst top grades and to really know that students are well equipped for degree courses. It’s laudable that people aspire to go onto university, but they have to be doing courses that will benefit them and that they can cope with.”

New GCSE grades 9 to 7 will be commensurate to existing A* and A grades, whilst new grades 6 to 4 will correspond to current B and C grades.

Mrs Greenwood said: “New GCSEs are designed to better prepare students for A Levels. Only practical subjects, like Music, Drama and Art, will still contain significant coursework.”

Dr Hart said: “In A Level Physics, for example, one big change will be the style of exam questions set and the difficulty of those questions. Certainly in Physics, exam questions will give students less scaffolding and encourage them to become independent learners and work through an answer themselves.

“Practical ability in A Level Sciences will also now be assessed separately, leading to a ‘practical endorsement’ as well as forming part of written exam papers. Universities want to know that students can complete practical work fluently.”

In answer to inevitable and understandable anxiety amongst Pangbourne’s pupil and parent community, intelligent preparation, careful planning and clear communication by the College have allayed fears.

Exam board officials, also, have busily visited schools this last year to conscientiously check that changes to A Level practical assessment are being implemented successfully.

Dr Hart said: “We were visited earlier this year. They talked to Science staff here about what policies we have in place and about what we’re doing procedurally to implement and monitor changes.

“Teachers were assessed themselves, whilst they assessed students doing practical work in class in line with these changes. We passed the inspection with flying colours and had good feedback from the exam board.”

Pangbourne’s decision to already teach, what are regarded as, more rigorous International GCSEs (IGCSEs) in core subjects English and Mathematics has helped. New IGCSEs too will be first taught from September 2016.

Mrs Greenwood explained: “We have been able to delay the impact of this and reduce upheaval for pupils, because we teach the IGCSE (International GCSE) in English and Mathematics. In state schools next summer, pupils will do new GCSEs and receive a 9 to 1 grade in English and Mathematics, but do existing GCSEs and receive an A* to G grade in everything else.”

When Form 3 pupils at Pangbourne come to decide GCSE options in early 2017, they will receive close support every step of the way.

Mrs Greenwood said: “We interview every pupil one-to-one in the middle of Form 3. We have information about their academic potential and where their strengths lie. We use that to guide pupils on what GCSEs they should choose. We have also been working closely with our parent body - and that’s something we do very well as a College. We are very approachable. Parents of pupils here feel that.”

Mrs Greenwood added: “Rather than carrying on what we’ve always done, we’ve used this as an opportunity to find out what is best for our students. Teachers care here. They really want to prepare pupils well.”

For more information about Pangbourne College, see their profile on School Search.