Young People Who Do Not Pass GCSE English and Maths Face ‘Blockage’, Powell Says
Ms Powell said new preparatory qualifications could help more than 350,000 16-year-olds avoid repeated GCSE resits and improve pathways to work or training.
- Education Secretary Lucy Powell announced a new stepping stone qualification on Tuesday to end the 'treadmill of failure' for students struggling with English and maths GCSEs.
- Current Government policy requires pupils who fail to achieve a grade 4 in English or maths to retake the subjects during post-16 education, creating what Powell called a 'blockage' to further study and apprenticeships.
- Press Association analysis suggests more than 350,000 current 16-year-olds will need to take resits next year, while only one in five students who resit English and maths pass their exams.
- Pepe Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, criticized the policy as 'simply not working,' arguing the 'relentless diet' of GCSE resits damages students' future prospects.
- The Government plans reforms shifting focus toward vocational skills, aiming to value 'the hard hat as much as the graduation cap' alongside academic pathways.
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Evening Standard
Young people who do not pass GCSE English and maths face ‘blockage’, Powell says
The proportion of GCSE entries awarded top grades rose on last year, figures show.
Over 350,000 Teens Prepare for GCSE Resits as Labour Plans Major...
MORE than 350,000 teens face having to resit English or maths GCSEs next year — as Labour moves to overhaul the system. emerged as exam results also showed mor... #news, #uknews, #thesunnewspaper, #lucypowell, #ofqual, #suellabraverman, #flyingeze
Rise in top GCSE grades awarded to pupils in Salford
The number of A-level entries awarded the top grades in Salford rose compared with last year. Some 18.1 per cent of exam entries in the city were awarded a grade 7 or above, up from 16.5 per cent in 2025. The 1.6 percentage-point improvement leaves Salford ranked 171st out of 295 local areas for which figures have been published, placing the city among the lower-performing areas in the country. However, Salford was the fifth-highest ranked borou…
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