What Wales Needs Beyond GCSEs

Written by Geraint Turner, Business Development Manager for Wales.  

For generations, GCSEs have been one of the main ways we measure achievement at 16. They are familiar to learners, parents, schools, colleges and employers, and they will continue to have an important place in Welsh education. 

But as Wales changes the way young people learn between 14 and 16, we should ask a bigger question. 

Do GCSEs alone recognise everything we want a young person to know, do and become? 

I don’t think they can. 

The reforms taking place alongside Curriculum for Wales give us an opportunity to move beyond the idea that there is one measure of success or one route towards it. Wales can retain strong academic pathways while creating equally meaningful opportunities for learners whose strengths, interests and ambitions take them in different directions. 

The destination can be the same. The journey does not have to be. 

Different routes, equally ambitious outcomes 

There is still a tendency to think about education as a hierarchy of routes. Academic qualifications lead one way, while vocational or skills-based learning leads to another. Too often, one is perceived as more ambitious than the other. 

But consider where those routes can ultimately lead. 

One young person interested in engineering might study GCSEs, progress to A Levels, and then study engineering at university. Another might combine GCSEs with vocational and skills-based qualifications, progress to college, and then complete an engineering apprenticeship. Their educational journeys are different, but both can build successful careers in engineering. 

Accountancy provides another example. One learner might progress through GCSEs, A Levels, and university before working towards a professional accountancy qualification. Another could enter further education or an apprenticeship and work towards professional qualifications while employed. 

The same applies to digital careers. One learner could study computer science at university. Another might develop technical skills through vocational learning and progress to a digital apprenticeship. Both routes can ultimately lead to similar professional opportunities. 

We should not assume that everyone will take the same journey.  

The right route is the one that gives an individual learner the strongest opportunity to succeed. 

That principle is increasingly reflected in the direction of Welsh education policy. 

Different learners need different ways to succeed 

Anyone working with schools, colleges or training providers will recognise a simple truth: young people do not all learn in the same way. 

Some thrive in academic programmes and examinations. Others demonstrate their abilities more effectively through practical activities, projects, problem solving, or applying their knowledge to real situations. 

One is not inherently more valuable than the other.  

If we are serious about creating an inclusive education system, we need qualifications that allow different learners to succeed without lowering expectations. 

Flexibility should never mean making qualifications easier. It should mean providing meaningful and rigorous opportunities for learners to demonstrate achievement in different ways. 

Wales is already moving in this direction 

The new National 14–16 Qualifications support this broader definition of achievement. 

Alongside Made-for-Wales GCSEs, learners will have access to vocational, foundation and skills-based qualifications. The Skills Suite, for example, provides opportunities to develop Skills for Life and Skills for Work, with flexibility to create pathways reflecting different strengths, interests and progression aspirations. 

That word, ‘alongside’, is important. 

We should not create an alternative system for learners who do not take GCSEs. We should create one coherent system in which different types of qualifications complement each other. 

A learner’s 14–16 programme might look very different from that of the person sitting next to them. That should not cause concern.  

If both programmes are rigorous, purposeful, and support meaningful progression, that is precisely what a learner-centred qualification system should allow. 

Preparing young people for what comes next 

At 14, very few young people know exactly where their education or career will take them. 

By 16, they may progress to sixth form, further education, an apprenticeship, training or employment. Their pathway may change again at 18, 21 or much later in their working life. 

Education therefore needs to do more than prepare young people for their next assessment. 

Communication, teamwork, problem solving, independence and the ability to apply knowledge are not ‘extra’ skills sitting outside academic achievement. They are capabilities young people will draw upon throughout further learning and employment. 

Qualifications can provide opportunities to develop and demonstrate them. 

Done well, this does not compete with academic learning. It complements it. 

A qualification at 16 should tell us what a learner has achieved while helping them take their next step. 

Choice has to be meaningful 

There is a danger in talking about choice without considering what meaningful choice actually looks like. 

A long list of qualifications is not necessarily a broad curriculum. 

Schools need options that fit their learners, curriculum, and local context. Learners need qualifications with a clear purpose and progression route. Parents and carers need to understand their value. Colleges, training providers, and employers need confidence in what those qualifications represent. 

That requires awarding organisations to listen. 

In my role, working for Open Awards with schools, colleges and training providers across Wales, some of the most valuable conversations I have are not about individual qualifications; they are about learners. 

What do these learners need to progress? Where are the gaps in the current curriculum? What would give them the best opportunity to demonstrate what they are capable of? 

Teachers and curriculum leaders understand their learners and know where existing provision works and where gaps remain. Qualification reform cannot simply be designed for education providers; it has to be shaped with them. 

As awarding organisations, our job is to listen and respond. 

Made-for-Wales must mean more than a label 

‘Made-for-Wales’ should mean more than adapting an existing qualification or changing its title. 

Qualifications should reflect the ambitions of Curriculum for Wales and the needs of Welsh learners, schools, colleges and communities. 

That means creating credible, rigorous qualifications while ensuring they work in real classrooms and provide meaningful opportunities for progression. 

For awarding organisations involved in developing this new landscape, including Open Awards, that creates both an opportunity and a responsibility. 

We should be ambitious about what achievement can look like. 

Academic knowledge matters. So does being able to apply it. Examinations can demonstrate achievement, but so can projects, practical work and other forms of assessment when they are designed and quality assured effectively. 

The strongest 14–16 offer will not ask Wales to choose between those things. 

Beyond GCSEs 

Perhaps the biggest opportunity presented by qualification reform is not simply the introduction of new qualifications. It is the opportunity to change our perception of what constitutes a successful pathway. 

A learner who progresses through GCSEs, A Levels, and university should be rightly proud of that achievement. 

And so should a learner who combines academic, vocational and skills-based qualifications, progresses to college or an apprenticeship and ultimately reaches the same professional destination. 

Neither learner took a shortcut. They took the route that worked for them. 

GCSEs remain an important part of the picture, but they do not need to be the whole picture. 

What Wales needs beyond GCSEs is a broader definition of achievement and a qualification system that gives every young person the opportunity to find the right route towards their ambitions. 

If we get that right, the success of qualification reform will not ultimately be measured by how many new qualifications Wales creates. 

It will be measured by where those qualifications allow our young people to go.