Ebac confusion and concern
The publication of the new secondary tables including the controversial English Baccalaureate (or EBac) has highlighted concerns over which languages 'count'. For example, 12 languages are now spoken by more than 10,000 pupils in London yet only a few examinations in these languages are recognised as an EBac qualifying language.
The DFE statement of intent notes that the following languages count for the English Bac - GCSEs in Modern Foreign Languages including Welsh and Welsh as a 2nd Language; GCSE in Latin, Classical Greek and Biblical Hebrew; Cambridge International Certificate in French, Greek and Hindi as a 2nd Language; and the legacy iGCSE in French, Greek and Hindi as a 2nd Language.
Amidst growing concerns the DFE have recently confirmed that Urdu GCSE does count towards the EBac as well as other accedited community language GCSEs. What do not count is the Asset Language qualifications, even though they have the same points value as GCSE, which many colleagues have worked so hard to develop to ensure that community language learning skills are fully recognised.
The iGCSE legacy and Cambridge International Certificate in English as a second language does not count for the English component of the EBac although iGCSE legacy and Cambridge International Certificate in English as a first language do.
It seems likely that one impact of the EBac will be to reduce choice for bilingual pupils as schools concentrate teaching provision on those examinations which count towards this new performance measure.
