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We know that in the FE sector, students have fewer English and maths contact hours than in school and are more focused on their chosen areas of study. They often come to English and maths with low confidence and a lack of engagement following their first experience of GCSE.

On top of this, FE colleges can face challenges such as:

• recruitment difficulties
• shortage of funds
• a large, very varied cohort of learners.
  

We believe that in the short term it is possible to make changes within the existing GCSE subject content to provide post-16 qualifications that are more appropriate to the specific context of FE learners and would pave the way for a wider reform. What could this look like? We are exploring a range of options with FE college leadership, teachers, lecturers, tutors and learners:

• Reducing the amount of assessment in maths. This would lessen exam anxiety for learners, improve exam attendance, and also decrease costs for centres.
• Streamlined English content and assessment, combining all Assessment Objectives into a single examination and reducing the text and time period coverage. This would remove repetition, increase relevance, and recognise the FE specific teaching context.
• Allowing students to build up credit across multiple exam series. This would enable teaching focus on content not yet mastered and increase motivation by recognising where students have been successful.