GCSE Pass Grade Confusion

If you want to be cynical about it:

A grade 4 is counted as a standard pass because the government provide funds for GCSE resits and setting a simple 'grade 5 is the new pass' would mean a huge jump in how many students need post16 resits (and that means more money, which they don't want to spend).

They've also said a 4 is fine for entry to FE (not HE) as again, they don't want a drop in numbers on level 3 courses because if those students had to do level 2 courses, they'd be in funded college longer (and that costs more).

So SCHOOLS are judged on grade 5 pass (and will get slated and inspected within an inch of their lives if they don't get x% 9-5). It will probably be the preferred standard by employers and top universities too.
But, in order to save money (and save face) they came up with this notion of a 'standard pass'.

This is the education reform the people who told us all schools had to be above average remember. 😂

Schools will just have to wait and see what the numbers are like at different levels. They can't say they need students to have got, for example. a 6 or above in a particular subject if there aren't the number of bums on seats that they need.

The whole thing is such a shambles it really is.

My ds is hoping to go to a very highly regarded 6th form that in,y requires 4s in maths and English. Unless they are your A level subjects, of course.

Different schools and colleagues require different grades. If you're staying on at Sixth Form, I know a couple that require A in your chosen subject. DD's present school require B and from this year they want an A in Maths or a language. Other school locally require a B in chosen subjects. I know these are the old grades and for Sixth Form, but it shows how it varies.

If I were Marine, I'd print out the DfE page that talks about grade4 avoids compulsory resit, write at top of page the URL, then take it to the head of the 6th form. Sweetly say "Gee, this is odd. Do you think it only applies to some schools in England but not all? Do you know why it would be different elsewhere?" Leave the papercopy with Hof6thF.

I have had to do exactly that kind of thing before with schools, they can indeed be misinformed!!

Marine the head of sixth form is wrong. If they really don't understand this I'd worry about what else they don't understand!
The school can set a 5 as their entry if they want to but a 4 is sufficient to avoid a compulsory result. For goodness sake, they only need to google to see the announcement from Greening or look on the DfE website. If they want to make 5 their entry level they should be honest about it and not pretend this is a legal requirement. Level 3 means you have to resit, not level 4.

This is all so ridiculous.

noble can you please explain what the "school pass rate" is?

Why will it only effect schools but not pupils?? Surely if a school is concerned about its pass rate dropping, that concern will trickle out to the pupils eventually...? (I really don't know, sorry.)

Thank you for the advice.

The Head of Sixth Form is adamant that legally she can't take him if he doesn't achieve the five. I am awaiting a phone call about a meeting to do with my sons future at the school so will challenge her then. It's so frustrating as it's caused him so much stress.

Marine a 4 was always the grade that would mean students wouldn't have to resit maths/English in sixth form for current Y10 and 11. This hasn't changed. The change is that now it will never require students to resit, for all year groups, not just 10 and 11.

It's very odd that the sixth form doesn't know this. Your DS should never have been told he'd need to resit if he got a 4, because this was never the case for his year group.

Marine- the school concerned is wrong. A 4 is now officially a pass. Someone linked to Justine Greebing's letter downthread- I suggest you send it to the Head of 6th........

I am really confused. One of the places that my son is considering for sixth form has told me that he has to get a grade 5 in his maths gcse or he won't be able to be admitted. I have been told that this is because legally if they are not able to facilitate him resitting (which they say they are not because they don't have access to a maths gcse teacher as they are a sixth form 'college' although realistically they are just a separate building on the school site) to get the pass grade they are not allowed to take him on. The head of sixth form has said that the government have currently set the pass rate as a five for schools and although there has been some whispers about it moving to a four that has yet to happen. My son is bright but dyslexic/dyscalculic/dyspraxic; he has sat the foundation paper and should be able to get a five but he suffered some very distressing circumstances during his exam period (for which the school have applied for extenuating circumstances for him) and so his grade may be lower. Justine Greenings letter seems to indicate that a four will be a pass at which resits won't be deemed necessary so are school right and will they in these circumstances not be allowed to take him on? Any help gratefully received.

Noble's explanation is spot on. Just to add, Greening said schools will have to publish both the number of students getting 4 and above as well as the number getting 5 and above but only the latter carries weight in league tables. This is a bit nightmarish for those of us in FE where students are basically just trying to pass so they can get on with their fashion design/digital media/ childcare etc qualification! Also to achieve a 4 you need to tackle more difficult content than was included for a C.
Universities can set their entry levels where they want, however, so the benchmark will vary and they may adjust a 5 down to a 4 on a case-by-case basis.

Add to that the fact that you get more "points" for getting someone from A to A* than you do for getting someone from D to C......

Still confusion here too. I spoke to someone at a 'post-16' event last night from our local BTEC college. She was saying that for current y10s they would need 5s for Maths & English ... I'm hoping she was just behind the times.

Dc's school will be too Bertrand

"School pass rates will be set by the 5 grade not the 4,"

Shit-I didn't realize that. Our school is screwed.

Ah - that makes sense!
Thanks noble!

trout

Noble explained it perfectly
Steppe... A promise from this government ... mmmmm🤔

It was previously that a 5 was the only pass and a 4 would be acceptable only for 6th form maths and English resit purposes, and for the first two years only.

5 weeks before the kids started sitting the actual GCSEs, the government bottled it. They realised that it would be a disaster in the summer when the pass rate for English and maths plummeted by 23% as it is set to do for the 5. Gove said years ago that this would happen and people would just have to live with it.

They botched it and said now a 4 was a pass too, a 'standard pass'. That this would count for resit requirements, university entry, jobs, forever. Now in August the pass rate will be the same as last year, saving the government embarrassment.

They announced this in the evening of the day before the Article 50 notification in order to bury the news, even though they knew weeks before they were going to do it.

We will still have a results shambles, but that has been postponed to January. School pass rates will be set by the 5 grade not the 4, so we will see the 23% pass rate reduction then. Crucially this will only affect schools and not pupils so voters will care less.

The message has yet to get out to employers, universities and so on because the whole thing has been a shitshow from start to finish.

trout - so as I understand it then they are promising not to raise the pass from 4 to 5 at the moment?

I'm so angry at this mess
If they want HE colleges/ unis to recognise a 4 then why create a bloody grading system with 2 numbers as an equivalent letter grade.

My understanding is that a 4 is definitely a "pass" -i.e.an old "C"