Our Mission
Fairer examsFairer futures
Our mission is to make English and maths assessment fairer, more accessible and less stressful for the young people whose futures depend on it.
We are not asking to lower standards. We are asking for students to be given a fair chance to show the skills they have already worked hard to learn.
Right now, too many young people are being held back by a system that relies too heavily on one narrow route: high-pressure GCSE exams, repeated resits and a gateway grade that can decide whether a student is allowed to move forward.
Why change is needed
Every year, around one in three young people leave school without passing both English and maths GCSE. These pupils are not random. They are more likely to have SEND, anxiety, slower processing speeds, persistent absence, or come from lower-income families.
Too often, the system treats this as failure by the child. We believe it is also failure by the exam system. Many young people can use English and maths in real life, but struggle to prove it in a high-pressure GCSE exam.
What we are asking for
Fairer Exams is calling for a system where practical English and maths routes are available earlier, recognised properly, and built into a fairer long-term GCSE pathway.
Our manifesto sets out seven calls for change:
- Functional Skills should be available from Year 10.
- Functional Skills Level 2 should be given equal weight in school league tables.
- Grade 3 pupils should be allowed to progress onto suitable Level 3 courses.
- Compulsory GCSE resits for grade 3 pupils should end, with Functional Skills offered as an alternative route.
- Functional Skills-style assessment should be built into GCSE English and maths in the longer term.
- SEND expertise should be built into exam design.
- Every learner who proves the required English and maths skills should receive equal recognition.
This is not about making exams easier.
It is about making them fairer.
Same skills. Different format. Better outcomes.
Challenge the unfair choice
Functional Skills already offers a more practical way to show English and maths ability. But it is not understood or valued equally. In our survey, around 85% of employers had either never heard of Functional Skills or did not know what it meant.
This leaves young people with two unfair options: keep resitting GCSEs in a format that may not work for them, or take a different qualification that many people do not recognise properly. That is not an equal pathway.
Build a fairer route
Fairer Exams is 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 real-world English and maths skills, such as reading information, writing clearly, understanding money, using measurements and solving everyday problems.
Pupils who can show essential English and maths competence should be able to achieve a recognised pass within the GCSE system. Higher GCSE grades can remain as they are.
We are not asking to lower standards. We are asking for fairer ways to prove them.
Fairer exams. Fairer futures.