DfE publishes data on Early Entry at GCSE Mathematics
18 November 2011
The Department for Education has published a report presenting
data on the difference in final grades between those that do and do
not enter GCSE mathematics and English early.
Key headlines from the
report include:
-In both English and mathematics, early entrants overall perform
worse than pupils who do not enter early.
-The statistical evidence so far indicates that for lower
achieving pupils, there is little discernable benefit in early
entry other than increasing opportunities to re-take before the end
of KS4 which still does not improve the overall comparative result.
For pupils who achieve level 4 or above at KS2 (and would therefore
be expected to achieve grade A*-C at GCSE) the average final grade
is lower for early entrants. Higher attaining pupils are therefore
being disadvantaged by entering early and not achieving their full
potential.
In May, ACME published a
position paper on Early and Multiple Entry at GCSE
Mathematics.