English Lang / Lit GCSE teacher opinions

[Englishgcseresults]

Are there any English Lang / Lit teachers on here? I would really love to hear your opinions and thoughts on the GCSE syllabuses and exams.
Why do the proportion of highest grades seems so much lower than other subjects?
Originally I was looking at the outcomes of the top ‘performing’ schools in the country (I don’t want this question to be a debate about my value add etc vs selection). English Lang / Lit across the board seemed to be a far tougher subject in which to achieve the 7-9 grades.
Are students coming up from primary school not being prepared effectively, or are the exams themselves the problem? Or maybe it’s not a problem and you feel the exams should be this tough and the other subjects should follow suit!

Can you start by providing some data from exam boards to back up your assertion.

Could it be that English is mandatory whereas most other subjects aren't so poorer students self select out?

I agree with @TeenToTwenties. A quick google suggests about 20% achieving 7+ in Eng lit/lang and maths last year, compared somewhat at random to French where the figure was about 28%. So not a massive difference anyway.

It’s not really surprising that proportionally fewer students gain grades 7+ in subjects which all have to take. By definition, the students taking optional subjects are self-selecting of those who are interested and thus more likely to gain a higher grade. Indeed some schools filter out students themselves, suggesting other options to those who will not do so well. I have certainly seen that.

I have my views on the current GCSE spec for Eng lit and lang; for example, I think there should be (while we insist all take it) a F level esp for Eng lit to make it more accessible; and I know a lot of English teachers agree with me that the list of texts is poor. Most schools end up doing the same few texts anyway for various reasons (R&J/MacB; ACC; AIC) which is a shame IMHO.

That’s a good point re it being a mandatory subject.
Here’s some overall national data:
https://schoolsweek.co.uk/gcse-results-2024-which-subjects-saw-biggest-rises-in-top-grades/
I’m intrigued by the difference in the ‘top performing’ schools compared to maths, science etc.
https://www.qebarnet.co.uk/about-us/school-performance/gcse-results-2024/

Could that be on how they initially select?
Does 11+ test maths skills but not so much English lit, only comprehension and writing??

Just speculating.

I taught English at QE and one of the things I would say is that, aside from the boys being miles ahead of the kids in most other schools in year 7, it was much more fun and interesting, far less proscriptive. Until GCSE we could teach whatever we liked as long as it was a text. This meant that the boys usually studied 5 texts a year and the teachers were much more enthusiastic. They had all the skills required by year 10 and really good background knowledge

Why can't the books go into the exam? Or at least remove the requirement to quote bits of the book? Surely this isn't a skill that is required in the days of web enabled phones in everyone's pocket - you'd just search "King Richard horse quote" or similar.

Memorizing vast sections of books and poems is, to my mind, antiquated. Just like I'd look up the formula to calculate the volume of a sphere if required.

You don't need to 'memorize vast sections' though, just have words or short phrases to hand to back up your points. Such as 'unsex me', 'too full of the milk of human kindness' 'tomorrow, or so he plans'. Things that often stick in the mind anyway.

Yeh @TimeForSprings what teen says – no need to memorise “vast sections of books and poems”. Far more important is to link the quote to your point. Examiners are interested in a textual reference that shows the important of the supernatural in Macbeth rather than the ability to quote speeches at length.

Taking books into the exam just leads to students spending ages flicking through looking for a quote which wastes time and ultimately doesn't show your skills and knowledge. For some reason people always focus on this aspect of the GCSE Eng lit but it's not really a major aspect.

Oh, and 'four over three pi r cubed'

My DD1 did GCSEs last year. She had a string of grade 9s but not for English. She hated everything about the English syllabus, and many of her friends were the same. 3 miserable books/plays (ACC, WIB, Macbeth) 12 miserable poems, and unseen poetry to top it off! There wasn’t much to like.

I used pi D recently in the supermarket to work out which bin bags I needed (I had measured the diameter of the bin but the bins were sold by circumference) :)

Well it's a shame that she didn't enjoy Macbeth (my favourite play as it goes) but not everyone enjoys English literature. Sounds as tho it wasn’t very well taught which is also a shame

I use knowing the area of a triangle is half base times height when cutting a cake slice in half. (Too thin to cut from centre to circumference but the cross section approximates to a triangle.)

I find that predicting grades accurately is tougher in English. We know ballpark grade range, eg 7-9, 5-6, 3-4 ish but often have surprises which doesn't seem to happen so often in more objective subjects!

I think maths and science attract higher grades because there are very specific correct answers whereas English can be much more subjective - particularly with the complexity of answers needed for the higher grades in Lit and the skills needed for the narrative and creative writing elements in Language.

It also looks like there may have been a particular issue last year: www.theguardian.com/education/2024/sep/13/unreliable-marking-gcse-english?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Actually if you look at the link posted above, results in single sciences are higher but in combined science, much lower. My DCs' school split ppl into triple (more able) or combined (less able) so there's your answer to that.

The figures for maths that I looked up were about the same as English. It's just as possible to get a grade 9 in English as maths. The fact that an answer is right or wrong in maths makes no difference. It's more than possible to get 30/30 for an Eng lit GCSE exam essay.

Because Gove said no open book exams.

But they don't have to memorise great chunks.

Wanted some advice for Q5 On GCSE English Language paper.
If you opt to write a description rather than write a story, can this be written in the first person by putting yourself in the picture or does it have to be 3rd person?
Also, could you take the stance of personifying a feature of the description and write as an observer eg for a windmill, describe what it can see, feel etc?
Hope someone can help. Many thanks 🙏

@SammyD1234 it's best if you start a new thread for your question, mentioning Q5 GCSE English (and the exam board) in the title.

Otherwise, people will reply to the original question on this thread, which dates back to March 2025.

Thank you

I think there are an awful lot of miserable or scary texts being taught and our school started straight into GCSE texts in year 7 with no flexibility for the kids to read things that actually give them pleasure.

The CIE exam board, I think, has decided to allow kids to take texts into the exams. I do think that is a good idea.

That's IGCSE I think so only available to private schools or for students educated out of school.

i'm not a fan of open book actually. IME it leads to students spending far too much time in the exam searching for a specific quote – and there will be a higher expectation of relevant quotes if the student has the book in the exam. Not sure that's helpful.

Open book is not good at all. It's just a time sink.