GCSE Resits: Why resilience is more important than ever

Posted on 11 September 2024

Students that do not gain a grade 4 in both English and Maths are more likely to have tougher lives. That is the unfortunate finding documented in the recent article from The Guardian: ‘Ministers urged to act over numbers failing English and maths GCSEs.’

Why are resit results remaining ‘stubbornly low?’

From my experience as a secondary school teacher in a city school, young people are easily affected by positive and negative reinforcement. The framing of both success and failure, in their school lives and at home, greatly influences their reaction.

It is my duty as a teacher to provide constant encouragement and motivation for students. Some students lack the confidence to see failure as just a setback. So simply ‘bouncing back’ several months later and resitting the same exam that decimated their confidence is a big ask.

In 2023, 26% of those resitting English passed and only 16% of those passed Maths the second time around. These numbers are disappointing but not entirely surprising.

1 in 4 people that resit English pass it on the second try. I would speculate that these numbers are even less with the next attempt. As with anything, failing it more than once makes it that much harder to try again and refuse to give up.

Why is confidence so low and how can we combat this?

The explosion of social media, coupled with a global pandemic, has led to a group of students far less comfortable in real-life social settings than any that has come before them.

Without important years spent developing their social abilities we are seeing more students avoiding school than ever. 65% of teachers reported that they knew of students not attending school due to exam anxiety. This creates an unfortunate paradox: High absence results in low attainment. Attendance is one of the biggest factors in a students’ success. The DfE published data in 2019 that proves exactly this. Only 35.6% of persistently absent (10%+ absence) students passed English and Maths.

That same fear of failure may well result in avoiding school, and thus increases the likelihood of underachieving. We must work with these students who think removing themselves from the pressure of school is the answer. All evidence suggests that it is not.

So, what can schools do to alleviate pressure and promote self-efficacy?

Firstly, a strategy teachers can implement in lessons: Small, low-stakes quizzes. Evidence that revision (and hard work) pays off is the solution. Students should be encouraged to celebrate. It is healthy. We want students to seek out that dopamine rush they get from those little wins. This can be a real motivator.

Everyone knows they ought to revise for exams. But not everyone does. They need irrefutable proof that they can succeed as long as they work hard. Once they see this on a smaller scale, the big exam seems far less daunting.

The big picture is that many students that fail expected to do exactly that. Those students that have a negative perception of themselves and tell themselves “I can’t do maths” or “I don’t understand poetry” are not aware of the impact that those affirmations can have. The more they think it, the more they believe it. A simple trick is to add ‘yet’ onto their statement about themselves. It turns what we would call a fixed mindset into a growth mindset.

“I haven’t passed yet.”

It is important to recognise how much attitude affects overall performance. In conversation with other colleagues on results day, we agreed it is very rare that a student does not get the grade they deserve. Be it hard work or lack of work, they get out what they put in.

Why is English and Maths so important?

Of course, passing English and Maths isn’t always about English and Maths. Hear me out. The confidence from passing and lack of confidence from failing can mould a young person into who they are. The right mindset is so important. Not all teenagers will shrug off a grade that they immediately translate in their head to a ‘fail.’ These resits occur after an enormous knock to their self-efficacy.

College is often a big reality check to a lot of students. Much more freedom. Far less supervision (and ultimately motivation). The students that pass their resits are likely intrinsically motivated. The effort it takes to pass comes from a desire to better their last result. Some students, for whatever reason, are extrinsically motivated. They count on reward or fear of consequences. Without any intrinsic motivation, at college it will be tricky to find that determination and resilience needed to pass their resit.

Parents can influence their children this way. Of course, they can offer extrinsic motivation. Every parent is different but the biggest impact a parent can have on their child is by adding value to their education. Parents, teachers and students should work collaboratively as a team working towards a shared goal. A child’s home life is just as important as their time in school. Active encouragement, praise and engagement in their progress is the difference.

Several parents have engaged in contact with me about their child in my teaching career. In all of those cases, where they have sought me out and expressed concerns about their child’s progress, that student has responded positively. They often show the same diligence and determination as their parents, emulating them. Your child will respond if you actively engage with their school-life. I have seen passive students become engaged and ambitious overnight because of it.

How can students overcome failure?

I don’t know about you, but at 16 years old I wouldn’t have tidied my room unless asked to. Accepting failure was hard for me, and I would give up easily. Learning to drive was a burden, but only because I wasn’t good at it straight away. Failing my test once made it worse and the second time I was ready to give up.

Lots of young people suffer from a similar fixed mindset. It goes something like this: “I failed once so I know I’m not good at that. I’m not going to try again because it hurt so much the first time.” In my classes, I like to advocate a growth mindset, which looks like this: “I failed this time, but that doesn’t mean that I will next time. It means I need to work harder. I want to be better and giving up will not make that happen.”

On my 3rd attempt, I passed my driving test. I was proud that I kept at it when my head was filled with thoughts of giving up. For a time, simply passing seemed like an insurmountable task. The relief and satisfaction made all of the hard work worth it. I felt foolish for ever considering packing it in. It also made me recognise the value of accepting failure, instead of letting it overcome you.

Students can adopt a fixed mindset from an early age. If they have decided they aren’t good at something, then it is possible they won’t try to get better out of fear of embarrassment or more hurtful disappointment. It’s easier to not try, and be seen not trying, than to fail.

After a disappointing result at GCSE level, a growth mindset is the right way forward.

The Reality

In an ideal world, we do not leave any student behind, and every student must receive our full efforts. However, if a student cannot read at the level of a 16-year-old when they sit their exam – our efforts are redundant.

As the reading lead at my school, I see first-hand the urgent need for improved literacy among students. We see new students arrive at the school at 11 years old reading at the level of a 6-year-old. If they make progress as expected (1 year reading age every chronological year) then when they do sit their exam, they are effectively an 11-year-old sitting a GCSE exam.

Unfortunately, if even the most diligent English teacher is teaching a low-ability class in which some of the students cannot access the texts in which they are assessed on, the sad fact is they will not pass. Literacy affects all other subjects and thus is a crucial factor.

If a student fails their exam, and their response is negative or defeatist, they will likely stagnate and make no further progress in that subject. Then when the resit comes around again it is another confidence knock, albeit an unsurprising one. Then the thoughts of giving up become even more tempting.

To combat this, I feel that far more attention needs to be paid to those falling behind. Just like learning a new language, where you must master the basics before progressing, we cannot teach GCSE content to a student who has never mastered KS2 content. So, what can we do about that?

Intervention, at all levels of education, would be a big step in the right direction. This is an idealistic view. Without proper funding this is not possible. The students that require intervention deserve attentive care from educators.

The current state of education is this: Schools need more teachers. There is a recruitment and a retention crisis. The government has pledged to recruit 6,500 more teachers. With enough staff, intervention becomes a possibility. Freeing up staff to work closely with small groups of students would make all the difference.

The Impact

“In a new working paper, academics from Exeter and University College London tracked 11,500 pupils in England who first sat GCSEs in 2016-17. It found that those who failed were more likely to have longstanding illnesses, behaviour problems or to have attempted suicide, compared with others their own age.”

Of course, students do not simply get ill, go to jail, or develop mental health problems directly from the lack of English or Maths GCSE. Once they leave school, the person they listen to most is themselves. It is essential that when their brain is still developing it is not flooded with pessimistic thoughts.

Our role as educators is more important than just imparting knowledge. Students must leave school with the self-belief that will support their adult lives, their work and their relationships beyond school. We can’t magic self-belief into being but as teachers, we can steer them in the right direction.

Neil O’Rourke, Tik Tok: @revisingwithorourke

I am a Secondary School English Teacher and Literacy Coordinator. I post revision videos for year 11 students on TikTok to help them with their GCSEs. I love that when I teach I can promote my own passions of reading and writing. I love witnessing great creativity and thoughtful discussions in my lessons!