Today, Qualifications Wales have published the design requirements of the new GCSEs, for first teaching from 2025. The result of extensive engagement with the sector over the last three years, this represents an important next step in both their Qualified for the Future reform programme and in the roll-out of the Curriculum for Wales.
The announcement provides certainty to practitioners, learners and parents alike, on the GCSEs that will be on offer from 2025 under Curriculum for Wales. Learners and parents, in particular, should be reassured these new GCSEs will retain the same currency as their predecessors.
They will continue to be portable, so that learners’ achievements are fairly rewarded and that they can use these qualifications to progress further in education or employment, wherever they choose to do so: this has always been a key aim of Qualifications Wales’s reforms. For areas like science, learners and parents should feel reassured that the significant majority of learners in Wales will still be taking the same route to a double award which will provide a strong platform for progress to science careers.
As with the current Applied Science (Single Award) GCSE (which will be discontinued), the new single award is intended to provide access for a very small proportion of learners who may not be able to enjoy the full double award. The next step is WJEC’s work, which they have committed to undertake in an engaged and transparent way, as they develop qualifications which reflect the expectations of the new curriculum.
