Estelle Morris calls for overhaul to GCSEs

In a speech to the North of England education conference, Estelle Morris, the former Secretary of State for Education and Skills, has argued that GCSEs should be taken at age 14. 

Changes to the education system which require young people to remain in education or training until the age of 18 means that having a 'school-leaving exam' at 18 is a nonsense, argues Morris, who envisages that students could sit progress tests at 14, before choosing whether to pursue an academic or vocational route. She believes that this reform would make the current system of academic and vocational qualifications more coherent: "I think part of the problem is the vocational courses are constructed to be 14-19 and the academic courses are constructed to be 11-16 and 16-19. And that's another mismatch."

She warned however that exams at 14 should not be used as a basis for selection, saying: "If you get five Fs you should still be able to do an academic pathway if that's what you want. It's not about selection, it's about a mark of progress and how far you've gone."

Baroness Morris has joined academics such as Professor Alan Smithers in suggesting that there should be a clearer distinction between lower and upper secondary school, and that pupils should be allowed to specialise at a younger age.