Schools to be allowed to offer iGCSE

State schools will be allowed to offer iGCSE qualifications in key subjects – and the results will be published in school league tables.

State schools will be allowed to offer iGCSE qualifications in key subjects - and the results will be published in school league tables.
Previously, only independent schools had taught international GCSEs, but now state schools will be able to offer the qualification from September onwards.
Schools minister Nick Gibb said: ”After years of political control over our exams system, schools must be given greater freedom to offer the qualifications employers and universities demand, and that properly prepare pupils for life, work and further study.
”For too long, children in state-maintained schools have been unfairly denied the right to study for qualifications like the iGCSE, which has only served to widen the already vast divide between state and independent schools in this country.
”By removing the red tape, state school pupils will have the opportunity to leave school with the same set of qualifications as their peers from the top private schools – allowing them to better compete for university places and for the best jobs.” Plans by the Labour Government to introduce Diplomas have now been scrapped by the coalition government.
The new Diplmas had been due to be implement in 2011, but dropping them will save £1.77m.
But Martin Johnson, deputy general of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) criticsed the measures.
He said: ”The appointment of Nick Gibb confirmed that this government would have a deeply conservative, not to say neanderthal, approach to curriculum and assessment.  Education in England remains locked in the nineteenth century and out of step with the rest of the world.
”The minister has abdicated his clear responsibility to sponsor the development of diplomas which were qualifications that met the needs of learners, further and higher education, and employers.”
 

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