The Problem with Compulsory GCSE Resits

In 2014, the government introduced the English and maths “condition of funding”.

It means that young people who do not achieve a grade 4 in GCSE English or maths must continue studying those subjects after Year 11.

On paper, the aim sounds reasonable.

Every young person deserves strong literacy and numeracy skills.

But in practice, the policy has created a system where thousands of young people are forced to repeat the same exam format that has already failed to let them show what they can do.

For many, this does not build confidence.

It destroys it.

Under the current funding rules, a full-time student who gets a grade 3 in GCSE English or maths is normally expected to study GCSE again.

That means they are usually not offered Functional Skills Level 2 as their main funded route.

Students with a grade 2 or below may be offered Functional Skills or another approved stepping-stone qualification.

But grade 3 students are treated differently.

They are seen as close enough to the GCSE pass line to try again.

The problem is that “close” does not always mean “the same exam format will work next time”.

A young person may be one mark, five marks or one grade boundary away from a pass, but still be struggling with the structure, pressure, wording, timing or accessibility of GCSE papers.

Functional Skills may be a better way for them to demonstrate essential English and maths skills.

But the funding system pushes them back towards GCSE.

Supporters of compulsory resits will say the policy has helped more young people gain GCSE English and maths after 16.

And that is partly true.

Some young people do pass after a resit.

For those students, the policy may have opened doors.

But that cannot be the whole measure of success.

The real question is not only:

How many more young people eventually pass GCSE?

The real question is:

At what cost, and to whom?

Many young people do not pass after one resit.

Or two.

Or three.

Instead, they spend their post-16 education being reminded of what they failed at school.

They may be trying to start college, an apprenticeship or vocational training, but are pulled back again and again into the same high-stakes exam cycle.

For some students, especially those with SEND, dyslexia, autism, ADHD, anxiety, slow processing speed or years of school disengagement, this becomes deeply demoralising.

They are not experiencing education as a place of progress.

They are experiencing it as a place where they fail repeatedly.

It is also important to be careful with the claim that compulsory resits “raised attainment”.

Some young people improve between 16 and 19 because they mature, receive better teaching, move into a different environment, gain confidence or get more targeted support.

That improvement should not automatically be credited to compulsion.

A young person passing later does not prove that forcing every grade 3 student back into GCSE was the best route.

It may simply show that young people can improve when they are supported.

The question is whether compulsory GCSE resits are the most effective, humane and motivating way to support them.

For many, they are not.

At the same time as policymakers celebrate more post-16 GCSE passes, England is facing a serious problem with young people not in education, employment or training.

Too many young people are disengaging from education altogether.

Of course GCSE resits are not the only reason.

But repeated failure matters.

When a young person spends years being told they are not good enough, when every route forward seems blocked by the same exam, and when college feels like more of the same humiliation, disengagement becomes more likely.

Education should pull young people in.

Repeated failure pushes them out.

Fairer Exams is not arguing that young people should stop learning English and maths.

The opposite is true.

We believe every young person should leave education with literacy and numeracy skills they can use in real life.

But there is more than one way to prove those skills.

Functional Skills already exists. It tests practical English and maths in applied, real-world contexts.

For many young people, it may be a better route than repeating GCSE.

The problem is that the current system often treats Functional Skills as a fallback for those further from the pass line, rather than a legitimate route for students who need a different assessment format.

Fairer Exams believes young people should not have to fail repeatedly before being offered a format that works.

We are calling for Functional Skills-style assessment to be built into GCSE Foundation English and maths.

For pupils working towards grades 1 to 4, there should be a practical route that tests essential English and maths skills in a clear, applied and accessible way.

This should happen before pupils fail, not after.

We are not asking to lower standards.

We are asking for fairer ways to prove them.

Compulsory resits may help some young people.

But a system designed around compulsion, repetition and failure cannot be the best we can do.

Fairer exams. Fairer futures.

Sign up to our newsletter so you can hear when the Fairer Exams petition goes live and support our call for Functional Skills-style assessment to be built into GCSE Foundation English and maths.

You can also watch the TEDx talk to hear the story behind the campaign.