Response to Qualifications Wales Consultation on new GCSEs

Qualification Wales is reimagining the qualifications for 14 to 16 year olds, to support the Curriculum for Wales. A major part of this work is to create new ‘Made-for-Wales GCSEs’. Among the new GCSEs proposed by Qualification Wales is a GCSE Engineering, which would be offered for the first time. Qualification Wales consulted on whether the proposed design of GSCE Engineering supported the Curriculum for Wales.  

Enginuity provided a response to the consultation on 12 December 2022 making the several key points: 

• The new GCSE Engineering are welcome and support the Curriculum for Wales, 
• GCSE Engineering as proposed will provide learners between the ages of 14 and 16 with the foundation skills and understanding to help realise their educational and career ambitions in our sector. Importantly, introducing GCSE Engineering will increase the prestige of the subject area and increase the likelihood of attracting learners with an interest in Engineering to study the subject,   
• Qualification Wales will need to consider how the pipeline from 3-11 will support GCSE Engineering, and how it will work with current and future post-16 qualifications,  
• Qualification Wales should reconsider the proposal to delay the introduction of GCSE Engineering beyond the September 2025 date for the other new GCSEs, and  
• Qualification Wales also needs to consider barriers to participation by under-represented groups through-out the education and skills pipeline.

Response to Qualifications Wales Consultation on new GCSEs for Wales PDF

The outcome of the consultation was to implement the design proposal for GCSE Engineering with some minor amendments.