There's a lot of bollocks on this thread about GCSEs being easier than O Levels. As a teacher I know that the pupils who attain As and A*s have worked bloody hard for them. There's an older generation of people who seem to think their exam results are in some way superior. Madness.
However, the current system IS tiered already. Teachers are under so much pressure to get pupils attaining C grades in GCSEs that these pupils receive most of their time and energy. I have spent many an hour beating myself up about the pupils who are only ever going to achieve an E or F. They're completely 'lost' in the work and the teachers are forced to spend their energies on the C/D border line pupils because of the targets they and their school are required to meet.
In some ways Gove is right. I believe it's be better for the pupils at the bottom end of the GCSE scale to spend their time studying something more useful. I'm a firm believer that a good experience at school (and then a love of learning for life) comes from a feeling of success. If you're constantly at the bottom of the pile for English or Maths it doesn't do much for your self esteem. If I were constantly getting Es and Fs at school I reckon I'd end up being one of the millions of disillusioned, unemployed youths in the country at the moment! Surely time could be better spent at school rather than spending 5 hours a day studying subjects where they're only going to achieve the lowest grades?
My biggest worry about Gove's plans is what happens to the pupils 'in the middle'? If there has to be a judgement made early on as to which route pupils take it could be very dangerous. Imagine being one of the pupils who has 'just missed' the academic route (or worse still their ability being misjudged and then put in the wrong 'half'. This is probably the biggest challenge IMO.