Jill Duffy, head of OCR, has told MPs that “far too many are being left behind” in GCSE maths and English, as she set out the key priorities needed for curriculum reform at a Parliamentary select committee in Westminster.

Speaking at an oral evidence session of the Education Select Committee, Jill Duffy called for the final report of the Curriculum and Assessment Review to set out priorities for reform.

Jill Duffy said: “The point now is: what are the priorities we need to focus on, and that’s maths, it’s English, and it’s reducing the intensity and volume of exams at 16.”

Maths a priority

On maths, Jill Duffy set out OCR’s proposals for a GCSE Short Course to be taken in Year 10, followed by the full GCSE in Year 11. This would be “very much focused on the fundamental maths skills that you need for life and work.”

Jill spoke about the importance of assessing where the gaps in knowledge are for those children not achieving grade 4 in maths and English.

She said that assessing this knowledge earlier would help “diagnose some of the issues that children are facing so they can be addressed before they take their GCSEs at 16.”

The panel also discussed student wellbeing and engagement, with Jill telling MPs that both curriculum and assessment can contribute to this.

Jill Duffy said: “It’s important that we have a curriculum that everyone can see themselves in, and that they find engaging and motivating,” adding that students in England currently sit more exams at 16 than almost any other country, and calling for this to be reduced.

Leading calls for reform to curriculum and assessment

Jill Duffy was invited by the Education Select Committee to provide her expertise as head of one of the UK’s leading exam boards as part of the Committee’s evidence gathering on the ongoing curriculum and assessment review, chaired by Professor Becky Francis. OCR has been leading calls for reform to curriculum and assessment in England and providing evidence and research to the review team.

Last September OCR published Striking the Balance, an in-depth review of curriculum and assessment from 11-16 in England that has provided important evidence informing the national debate on education reform. A key finding was that England was an international outlier in terms of the number of high stakes exams taken in a short period at age 16, and that the number of exams could be reduced without impacting rigour or performance. The interim report from the curriculum and assessment review team agreed that this imbalance of assessment should be explored.

OCR is the UK exam board of Cambridge University Press & Assessment, and Cambridge was further represented at the session by Tim Oates, Group Director of Assessment Research and Development at Cambridge.

Tim Oates told the panel of MPs about the ongoing impact of the Covid pandemic, affecting different year groups across primary and secondary.

Tim Oates said: “These cohorts are walking through education now, they need attention right now. They need access to the content of the curriculum, and these collateral problems they face, of socialisation, language and so on, is presenting real challenges in accessing the curriculum.”

A report by Tim Oates last year found that the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic were "massive" and "enduring".

Jill and Tim appeared in the session alongside Tom Middlehurst, Deputy Director of Policy at the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) and Darren Northcott, National Official at the NASUWT teachers’ union.

Read the full story on the Cambridge University Press & Assessment website.