General Certificate of Secondary Education

For other meanings of GCSE, see GCSE (disambiguation).

History

GCSE was introduced for teaching in September 1986, and replaced both the O-level GCE (Ordinary level General Certificate of Education) and the CSE (Certificate of Secondary Education) qualifications, which suffered problems due to the two-tieredness of the system. Grade C of the GCSE was set at the level where the O Level and CSE overlapped (making grades A*-C equilalent to O Level and C-G equivalent to CSE).

Related Topics:
1986 - O-level - General Certificate of Education - Certificate of Secondary Education

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Some commentators feel that the GCSE system is a dumbing down from the old GCE / O Level system (as it took the focus away from the theoretical side of many subjects and taught students about real-world implications and issues relating to ICT and Citizenship), joking that it stands for Get Crampin Sylvia Examined or General Certificate for Sitting an Exam. Some public schools, (private schools), have even gone as far as removing GCSEs from their curricula and instead encourage their pupils to progress straight to A-level or the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme studies.

Related Topics:
Dumbing down - ICT - Citizenship - Public schools - A-level - International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

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On the other hand, it could be said to be better because it takes into account the ability of the student in the duration of the course, through coursework.

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Introduced in 2000 was the Vocational GCSE, which encouraged students to take the work-related route and included courses such as engineering, applied business, ICT and leisure and tourism. From September 2004, the word Vocational was dropped and a Vocational GCSE is now known simply as a GCSE. This is to show that the vocational side is "on par" with the traditional academic side.

Related Topics:
2000 - ICT - 2004

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There are many GCSEs to choose from, with subjects ranging from music to media studies to history.

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