Following consultation, Qualifications Wales is re-imagining the full qualifications offer for 14-16 year olds in Wales, starting with all of its GCSEs, to support the new Curriculum for Wales.

The new bi-lingual Made-for-Wales GCSEs have been redesigned to reflect the new curriculum with more opportunity for learners to engage with themes such as diversity, local, national and international contexts, sustainability, and work-related education.  There will be a focus on digital skills as well as literacy and numeracy, and a range of assessment methods will be adopted.

The new GCSEs aim to support positive mental health and well-being and promote positive teaching and learning experiences whilst preparing learners for the challenges of modern society.

Separate Sciences will be scrapped in favour of a Sciences double award, and English Literature and Language will be merged into a single, double-award qualification.  Separate maths qualifications will be combined into GCSE Mathematics and Numeracy.

The suite of new Made-for-Wales GCSEs will include a mixture of linear and unitised assessment depending on the subject, and digital assessment has been included for some subjects. All GCSEs will be graded A* to G.

Most of the new Made-for-Wales GCSEs will be available for teaching from September 2025.  A smaller number, consisting mainly of brand-new subjects such as Digital Media and Film, Dance, and Engineering, will be taught a year later.

Decisions on the consultation around re-shaping other 14-16 qualifications in Wales will be published in January 2024.