GCSE grades still rising

The percentage of pupils gaining five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C has climbed 1.3 per cent to 52.9 per cent, David Miliband, schools minister, said this week. In specialist schools 56.7 per cent of pupils achieved five good grades, compared with 49.2 per cent at non-specialist schools. But Mr Miliband said: "There is still more to be done to encourage young people to continue in education after GCSE/GNVQ level, to address the fact that by age 17 we have the fourth-highest dropout rate of any Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development country." Meanwhile, Ron McLone, chief executive of the OCR exam board, has been appointed group director-general of assessment for the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate.