In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) has been the qualification by which students' attainment at age sixteen has been measured for the last thirty years. Despite the longevity of GCSEs, relatively little research has explored the views and experiences of those undertaking them. Using a…

This paper explores GCSE English re-sits in post-16 education. The re-sit policy was introduced in England and Wales to improve national literacy rates, yet persistently poor pass rates have drawn robust criticism of the policy. This article argues that traditional discourses of literacy predominate and contribute towards antagonisms between…

This article presents findings on students' views and experiences of tiering in Northern Ireland and Wales from a children's rights perspective. It considers the extent to which tiering fulfils the rights to education, best interests, non-discrimination, and participation under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It emphasises that while…

In this report on education systems in Repeatedly High Performing Jurisdictions (RHPJs) the authors present data on the assessment approaches used at the end of basic secondary education. These assessments are conducted at around the age of 16, at approximately the stage when students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland take the General…

Over the past two decades, there has been a wide-ranging debate about the impact of citizenship education on young people's political engagement and participation across Britain. Using data from a survey of 1025 young people aged 18 years at the time of the 2010 General Election, we examined the impact that studying for a formal qualification in…

This paper reports teacher and learner perspectives on how assessment and reform influences pedagogical practices and behaviours. The research was conducted in a context of policy reform, at a time when Wales' revised General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) specifications had been implemented, and learners were preparing for their…

The use of internal assessment within GCSE qualifications has always aroused controversy, primarily because of concerns about the authorship of students' work. This has led to tighter controls and a reduction in its use over the last decade. The paper argues that the focus on the authentication of student work has neglected other aspects of…

High-Stakes exams, such as the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), have significant consequences for students and educators, which affects how teachers communicate to students about these exams. This study aimed to explore communications about exams, in the classroom. Observations were conducted within 30 lessons in a secondary…

This paper uses data from a mixed-methods research project which explored the views and experiences of students in Northern Ireland and Wales on the assessment and reform of GCSEs. The research found that while students were generally supportive of the substance of the reforms in each region, they raised concerns about the rapid pace of reform,…

It is well established that test anxiety is negatively related to examination performance. Based on attentional control theory, the aim of this study was to examine whether increased effort can protect against performance debilitating test anxiety. Four hundred and sixty-six participants (male = 228; 48.9%; White = 346, 74.3%; mean age = 15.7…

In 2011, the Sutton Trust published "Degrees of Success," which looked at university acceptance rates and how they differ by school type and area, finding state school pupils were considerably less likely to go to top universities than independent or grammar school pupils. "Access to Advantage" returns to the issues raised in…

This paper presents data that consider ways in which young people experience the curriculum through the lens of subject examination syllabuses (for GCSEs), their associated assessment techniques and structures, and educational policies at national and school level concerning subject choice. Drawing upon an original qualitative dataset from a…

For a number of reasons, increasing reliance is being placed on teacher assessment in high-stakes contexts in many countries around the world. Simultaneously, countries that have for some time relied to greater or lesser degrees on teacher assessment for high-stakes purposes are in the process of questioning the validity of that reliance. In…

Michael Gove has made examination reform a marked feature of his period as Education Secretary in the coalition government, although he has not always found it easy to bring about the changes he feels so strongly about, in the face of widespread opposition from teachers and educationists. This article seeks to analyse the Education Secretary's…

The Labour government elected in 1997, which lost power in 2010, was the longest serving Labour administration Britain has ever had. This period saw an enormous expansion of further and higher education, and an increase in the proportion of students achieving school-level qualifications. But have inequalities diminished as a result? We examine the…