Agencies/London


Plans to scrap GCSEs in key subjects in England and replace them with English Baccalaureate Certificates are being abandoned by the government.
Education Secretary Michael Gove confirmed the embarrassing U-turn in a statement to the Commons as Labour accused him of presiding over a “fiasco”.
Gove’s plans to replace GCSEs with a new English Baccalaureate Certificate in core academic subjects were unveiled last September and billed as the biggest overhaul in a generation.
But they have been shelved after opposition within the coalition from the Liberal Democrats, and more widely from regulators and teachers.
A move to hand each core subject to a single exam board - something Gove previously claimed was vital to prevent “dumbing down” - has also been ditched.
The reverse comes days after the cross-party Commons Education Committee said the government had “not proved its case” that GCSEs should be abolished in key academic subjects.
The education secretary told MPs GCSEs would now be reformed rather than scrapped, with the focus on end-of-course exams, longer questions and less internal assessment.
He insisted there was still a consensus that the system has to change and tried to downplay the U-turn by saying: “One of the proposals I put forward was a bridge too far.”
“My idea that we end the competition between exam boards to offer GCSEs in core academic qualifications and have just one - wholly new - exam in each subject was just one reform too many at this time.
“The exam regulator Ofqual ... was clear that there were significant risks in trying to both strengthen qualifications and end competition in a large part of the exams market.
“So, I have decided not to make the best the enemy of the good.
“And I will not proceed with plans to have a single exam board offering a new exam in each academic subject - instead we will concentrate on reforming existing GCSEs along the lines we put forward in September.”
Gove had wanted to introduce the new EBacc certificate in England in the five core academic areas of English, maths, science, languages and humanities - history or geography.
Each of the core subjects would have been handed to a single examination board but officials had warned the plan could fall foul of EU procurement rules.