21/06/2012
OCR wishes to reassure candidates and their parents that the GCSE qualifications they receive this summer are soundly based and enable progression to further study, training and the workplace.
There are challenges associated with a single qualification designed to recognise the achievement of all students – the current tiered system seeks to do that. However proposals for reform should always be taken seriously and OCR will be engaging with the consultation when it has been announced. In particular we note that the Secretary of State explicitly said that any reform requires "careful implementation".
This is not a matter of exam board competition; OCR has always supported attempts to improve its qualifications and the creation of alternative pathways may well help.