At last, something Michael Gove and Stephen Twigg agree on. Both the Education Secretary and his opposite number agree that efforts need to be made to tackle pupils entering the same exams multiple times, sometimes even through multiple exam boards. There are often legitimate reasons but the practice has become more c used to boost grades. In light of today’s GCSEs results, the shadow Education Secretary has urged Gove to target schools that are gaming the system; to ensure ‘the system is robust, so students only need to take the exam once.’
Good idea, except the Education Secretary has already recognised the issue and taken steps to address it. In March 2012, Gove publicly encouraged Ofsted to tackle this ‘discouraging trend’, while his curriculum reforms are destined to end unnecessary multiple exam entries. As schools minister Elizabeth Truss points out over at the Telegraph, the EBacc has added more rigour while addressing the fragmented exam system inherited from Labour.
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