Supporting Year 11s with the New GCSEs
As we look back on the 2018 summer series of reformed GCSEs, Sarah Hannafin considers how we can best support future cohorts to thrive under the new regime…
This year has seen a turning point in the introduction of reformed GCSEs. The majority of subjects students sat for were the reformed qualifications, and the impact of the changes was more keenly felt.
They are here to stay, and with time they will become the accepted norm, but at this point I have some serious reservations about the new GCSE regime and the scale and pace of the expected change; not just for teachers and schools, but for the students themselves.
The most significant change with the reformed qualifications is their overwhelmingly linear nature, coupled with the massive reduction in the availability of non-exam assessment.
To me, this is a step backwards. As teachers, we recognise the skills and strengths of different learners; the choices we made between the specifications for the legacy GCSEs took that into account.
We could consider the makeup of the assessments and think about the ways that the students in our school would best demonstrate their abilities in different subjects. The reformed GCSEs have left us with pretty much a ‘one size fits all’ approach – summative exams at the end of the course.
But one size doesn’t fit all. Many of our students will struggle to cope with high stakes terminal exams for a variety of reasons. So secondary schools will need to do all they can to help them.
Strengthen skills
In its simplest terms, this means doing more to develop the skills students need to succeed in those final, summative exams. And that means using more of those kinds of tests across all year groups.
As well as the already well used summative challenges and quizzes at the end of topics or units of work, there will likely be an increase in the use of end of year exams for all year groups, which will cover a wide range of material from across the full year of teaching.
Providing the opportunities to practise this type of exam is necessary, but what is even more vital is that we teach students how to prepare and revise for them effectively.
I was guilty for some years of making assumptions about the quality of students’ revision skills. I had a moment of epiphany when a young man taking AS law with me, who showed real ability in class and wrote brilliant essays, absolutely bombed in a mock exam I had set.
Sitting down and talking to him about why things had gone so wrong, I soon realised he had no idea about effective revision strategies; his consisted of reading through a revision guide with a highlighter pen.
From that moment, I started building time into lessons to revise GCSE and A level topics with students. I worked with them using as many different strategies as I, and they, could think of.
These focused on recall, on application, on improving memory. And the young people realised what worked for them. And they did better in their assessments under exam conditions.
With the reformed GCSEs, these revision and memory skills are even more crucial than ever. We need to be developing them from the start of secondary school, so that students have an array of different techniques they can use, and an awareness of what works best for them in different subjects.
Strategies for stress
For me, the most worrying consequences of moving to linear GCSEs are the increased number of exams for students during the summer series and the higher stakes that are attached to those exams.
When you add those together, it is not surprising that increased stress, anxiety and mental health issues are being highlighted as major concerns for our young people.
A rough estimate suggests that students are probably sitting at least a third more exam hours under the reformed GCSEs than before; a learner taking eight subjects might previously have had around 20 hours of exams, now they might have 27; and students taking more subjects will probably be sitting in excess of 30 hours of tests.
And those additional hours are within the same timeframe – this means there is less time in between those exams to rest and recover from one, and to revise and prepare for the next.
Under the old system, the stakes of individual exams varied – some had modular exam options, some had coursework – so often students went into the exam hall confident in the knowledge they had something ‘banked’.
That mixed economy lessened the intensity of the summer series somewhat. Now, the summer series is where students pass or fail their secondary school career; and that is a massive additional pressure for most year 11s.
Learning about mental health and wellbeing is something which is thankfully now on the agenda in all schools. From year 7, and even earlier, students should be talking about this topic, learning strategies to cope in times of difficulty, and knowing where they can go for help when they need it.
With these strong foundations, and support from their family, friends and teachers, most students in Year 11 will get through the stress of the summer series. But there will be others for whom it’s all just too much. They might need a raft of additional strategies and support from home, school, and even specialist services.
Early entry
Schools might also start thinking about other opportunities for reducing the high stakes of that year 11 summer exam period, and so limiting the potential for unacceptably high levels of stress and anxiety.
Although early entry for GCSE was decimated by the change to ‘first entry counts’ for performance measures, I think we may start to see its resurgence. I could see early entry implemented as a strategy to reduce the number of exams taken in year 11 and to give students back some confidence that they are going in to the summer series having already ‘banked’ a subject or two.
We have entered a new era with the reformed GCSEs – and with the scale and pace of change, it feels like we are running to catch students up with the skills they need to be able to succeed in these exams.
But anything new needs time for people to get used to it, and I have no doubt that ultimately, the hard work of schools will soften the worst elements of the new regime, and ways will be found to alleviate the growing pressures on students.
In summary: 5 strategies to support students with reformed GCSEs
- Help students develop the skills they will need to succeed in terminal exams by teaching them how to prepare and revise for them effectively. Build in time to revise with students in lessons, using different strategies and skills.
- Give students opportunities to practise and develop those skills in summative tests and quizzes at the end of topics or units of work, and end of year exams which cover a wide range of material from across the full year of teaching.
- Ensure all students in the school are talking about mental health and wellbeing, learning about strategies to cope in times of difficulty, and knowing where they can go for help and support when they need it.
- Recognise that the summer exam series is a period of increased stress and anxiety. Identify students who may struggle, or are struggling, to cope, and work with parents and other relevant services to implement additional support.
- Consider using early entry in particular subjects as a strategy for reducing the high stakes of the year 11 summer exam period for students.
Sarah Hannafin is a policy advisor at the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), leading the union’s work on curriculum and assessment.
