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For years, the government has insisted that GCSEs are fit for purpose. That rigorous exams are the gold standard. That measuring performance through a single high-stakes test is somehow fair. But now, even Whitehall is quietly admitting what teachers, students, and parents have been saying for decades: the system is broken - and it’s breaking our children.
Behind closed doors, ministers are preparing to overhaul England’s high-stakes exam system after quietly commissioning a major review. The findings? Predictable, and damning. Too many pupils. Too many exams. Too few winners.
The group hit hardest by this crumbling system? White working-class boys. Only a third of those eligible for free school meals passed both English and maths GCSEs last year. That’s not a minor blip. That’s a systemic failure. A system that was never built for them.
The review, led by academic Becky Francis, makes it plain: the current model privileges a narrow band of skills - rote memorisation, exam performance under pressure - while punishing neurodivergent students, children from lower-income households, and those for whom school isn’t a level playing field to begin with.
And it’s not just about grades. Mental health professionals are sounding the alarm about skyrocketing exam anxiety. Teachers report panic attacks in the corridors. Pupils pulling out of school entirely. Education shouldn’t feel like a trauma.
So how did we get here?
Gove’s ghost still haunts our classrooms. The 2014 reforms that introduced the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) and put a premium on end-of-course exams narrowed the curriculum, sidelined the arts, and forced schools to game a system that rewards compliance over creativity.
The result? A generation of pupils taught to jump through hoops, not to think critically. Subjects like music, drama, and design technology - vital for many students' engagement and future careers - have been gutted in the rush to chase EBacc scores.
Even Ofsted is worried. Chief Inspector Amanda Spielman recently warned that the over-reliance on GCSEs may be pushing some young people out of education altogether. Not that the government has been particularly moved by that before.
Whitehall seems ready to admit the truth — or at least hedge its bets. The GCSE reset is coming. But it’s long overdue.
While details remain under wraps, the signs are there: a possible rebalancing away from final exams, more flexibility in the curriculum, and a recognition that the one-size-fits-all model is letting down the very students it claims to serve.
But are tweaks enough. What's needed is a fundamental rethink of how we measure learning, and who the current system is really built for. Education should be about broad opportunity, not narrow gatekeeping.
The UK government had a chance to act a decade ago. It chose ideology over evidence. Will Labour now get it right?
