in memoriam: the little exams
- 15 hours ago
- 9 min read
There was good news from the Classical Association on Tuesday that OCR would hold off the withdrawal of AS Latin and AS Ancient Greek exams until final entries in 2028. That gives teachers more time to work out what to do and the community to figure out if there are any alternatives they want to pursue developing. Who knows, in the meantime, the present Secretary of State might reveal their thinking about examinations and surprise us all with a return to modular exams again….?
One of the things about having been in this business for so long (I started my teaching career in 1988) is the realisation that (a) in teaching, there is nothing new under the sun (pace GenAI) and (b) fads come and go – including examinations fads. Some fads are worth persevering with, though – so I thought I’d dig into the archives and see what exams there have been in the past and are now safely buried away never to be brought out again…or maybe their time will come again?
In 2021 I wrote an article for Classics for All called ‘Where have all the exams gone?’ – a call for the restoration of smaller exams than the usual GCSE and A-level qualifications, in response to the then Minister for Education’s cancelling of what I considered helpful in attracting more students to Classics. I was thinking about these "little exams" when I was writing my paper for the Classics for All CPD event on pre-GCSE Classical Qualifications which I gave a couple of weeks ago. on 6th May (a report can be found here). This is an update of the original article and includes some comparable ideas from the modern language community which are also under consideration.
OCR Entry Level Greek
OCR’s Entry Level qualification in Classical Greek was withdrawn for broadly the same reasons as several other small Classics qualifications: very low national entry numbers, qualification reform, and the difficulty of sustaining niche specifications.
OCR has explained that it was concentrating resources on its main GCSE and A-level specifications after the reforms to English qualifications in the mid-2010s. For example, when OCR withdrew GCSE short courses in Latin and Greek, it said it would focus support on the redeveloped full GCSEs instead.
The Entry Level Greek qualification was mainly intended for beginners, younger pupils, or students not taking a full GCSE. But once OCR had reformed GCSE Classical Greek, introduced new 9–1 qualifications, and schools increasingly focused on qualifications that counted strongly in accountability measures, there was much less incentive for centres to enter candidates for small Entry Level awards.
The withdrawal was probably driven by a combination of very small candidate numbers, an overlap with GCSE Greek, qualification simplification after reform, and the cost of maintaining specialist assessments for a tiny national cohort.
The qualification was first assessed in 2014 and ended in 2018. At its peak, 152 candidates were entered, declining to just 109 in its final year.
Note that OCR Entry Level Certificates are still offered.
WJEC Level 2 Certificates in Latin
The WJEC Level 2 Certificates in Latin were withdrawn mainly because they were overtaken by the reformed GCSE system and became redundant once the new GCSE (9–1) in Latin was introduced. These qualifications were unusual. They were not technically GCSEs, but Ofqual-recognised “Level 2 Certificates”, broadly equivalent in standard to a GCSE. WJEC designed them to be flexible, allowing schools to combine Latin language, Roman civilisation and literature elements in different proportions. Teachers initially liked them because they were more adaptable than traditional GCSE Latin, especially for small state-school Latin programmes.
However, after the GCSE reforms in England from 2015 onward, WJEC introduced a standard reformed qualification: the WJEC Eduqas GCSE (9–1) in Latin. WJEC then formally announced that it would withdraw the Level 2 Certificates and replace them with the new GCSE.
The underlying reasons were the government’s move toward standardised linear GCSEs and pressure to simplify overlapping qualifications, reduced demand for alternative certificate structures, performance-table and funding systems increasingly favouring official GCSEs and the administrative cost of maintaining parallel qualifications with small entries
The official replacement was explicitly stated to be the Eduqas GCSE in Latin.
There was also a political background. Earlier, Classics teachers had defended the WJEC certificates because they feared they might not count properly in the English Baccalaureate (EBacc), despite being recognised as GCSE-equivalent by regulators. That uncertainty weakened the long-term position of the certificates. WJEC did not abandon Latin altogether: the Level 1 Certificates remain available and the Eduqas GCSE in Latin continued.
The Level 2 Certificates ran from 2014-2021. there were 3 versions:
The Latin Language + Roman Civilisation combination was entered by 1370 candidates at its peak, reducing to 144 just before its withdrawal.
The Latin Language (only) certificate had 1210 candidates at its peak, reducing to 100 as it was phased out.
There was a Latin Literature (only) certificate. It ran between 2015-2017. At its peak it had 1286 candidates. Many of those also may have taken one of the other Latin level 2 Certificates – it was possible to gain two Certificates at the same time.
Note that WJEC Level 1 Certificates are still offered.
Short-course or Half GCSEs
Short Course GCSEs were mostly withdrawn because governments and regulators concluded that they were creating confusion, lowering comparability between qualifications, and sometimes being used strategically in school league tables rather than as substantial standalone courses.
A “Short Course GCSE” was typically worth half a full GCSE. Students studied roughly 50% of the content and received a separate qualification graded on the same scale as ordinary GCSEs. They existed in all subjects, not just Classical ones. The most common surviving example for many years was GCSE Religious Studies Short Course. The decline happened gradually from the late 2000s into the 2010s.
Several overlapping reasons drove it:
School performance measures changed. Schools had sometimes entered pupils for multiple short courses because two short courses counted as one full GCSE in league tables. Critics argued this encouraged “qualification stacking” rather than deep study. When the government reformed performance measures (especially under Education Secretary Michael Gove) short courses stopped counting as strongly (or at all) in key measures such as Progress 8 and the EBacc framework. Once they lost league-table value, many schools dropped them.
GCSE reforms pushed for larger, linear qualifications. The GCSE reforms around 2015–2017 aimed to make qualifications more rigorous, less modular, more comparable and more content-heavy. Short courses did not fit that philosophy well. Regulators preferred clearly defined full GCSEs rather than “half GCSE” versions.
Universities and employers rarely valued them highly. A Short Course GCSE was formally recognised, but many universities and employers focused mainly on full GCSEs. Schools therefore increasingly preferred to use curriculum time on qualifications perceived as carrying more weight.
Funding and timetable pressure. Schools faced pressure on curriculum time and budgets. A half-GCSE often became hard to justify when schools were judged heavily on full GCSE outcomes in English, maths, sciences and EBacc subjects.
Some subjects moved away from the format entirely. Exam boards gradually withdrew many short-course specifications because entries became too small to sustain them economically.
Today, most Short Course GCSEs have disappeared in England, though a few reduced-size or alternative qualifications still exist in limited forms. Wales and Northern Ireland sometimes retained slightly different arrangements for longer.
OCR Latin short course GCSE ran from 2010-2017. The largest cohort was 333 in 2012.
OCR Classical Greek short course GCSE ran from 2010-2017. The largest cohort was 195 in 2014.
Classical Civilisation short course GCSE ran from 2010-2018. It was offered by both AQA and OCR examinations. For AQA the largest cohort was 268 in 2011. For OCR the largest cohort was 431 in 2012.
OCR Ancient History short course GCSE ran from 2010-2018. The largest cohort was 123 in 2012. By the end of its run, there were only 5 candidates.
The withdrawal of a qualification is not just dependent on finances. It’s also dependent on whether the examination can really make truly valid distinctions in achievement between candidates with such small entry numbers.
A Level “Classics”
In England there used to be an umbrella A-level called “Classics”, offered by the exam board OCR. It was slightly different from the still-existing subjects Classical Civilisation, Ancient History , latin and Classical Greek. The “Classics” A-level was a combined qualification. Students could mix units from different classical subjects - Ancient History, Classical Civilisation, Latin and Classical Greek - and receive a single A-level certificate titled “Classics”.
That flexibility was unusual. It allowed schools with small classics departments to build a course from whatever teachers and students they had available. It was withdrawn during the major reform of A-levels in England between about 2015 and 2018. The key reason was structural rather than ideological: the new reformed A-levels became “linear” qualifications with tightly defined subject content, and exam boards were no longer allowed to create qualifications by combining modules from separate subjects. OCR explained that under the reformed system they “cannot offer qualifications that allow centres and candidates the option to combine components from different subject areas.”
The combined “Classics” qualification disappeared, while the separate subjects survived in updated form. “Classics” as a mixed-and-matched qualification was withdrawn, not the study of classics itself.
There were also practical pressures in the background: low student numbers nationally, staffing shortages in Classics teaching, government pressure to simplify overlapping qualifications, and the wider A-level reform programme aimed at reducing modular/resit-heavy courses.
The "Classics" A-level ran from 2010-2018. At its peak, in 2018, there were 382 entries.
What’s going on in modern languages?
The modern language community is currently undertaking research into alternative forms of assessment to traditional GCSEs and A -levels. This is in response to what is often referred to as a ‘crisis’ in languages learning (Bowler, 2025).
Several debates are converging: the dissatisfaction with the GCSE → A-level “cliff edge”; concern about the collapse in language uptake after age 14; an interest in internationally recognised proficiency frameworks; and pressure to create qualifications that recognise partial achievement rather than an all-or-nothing exam at 16 and 18.
At present, official policy still centres on GCSE and A-level reform rather than replacement. Recent reforms have focused on simplifying vocabulary, improving progression, and making GCSEs feel more achievable.
Many modern language educators favour aligning school qualifications more closely with the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). This is the framework used by organisations like the Alliance Française and Goethe-Institut. The attraction is that it measures what learners can do in the language at each stage, rather than tying achievement to age 16 or 18. Under this sort of model, a pupil might certify A1 or A2 competence at 14, B1 at 16, and B2 later. This is especially attractive because many pupils for modern languages currently experience GCSE as relatively basic and A-level as suddenly literary, analytical and grammar-heavy. Teachers and students often describe the jump as extreme.
There is growing discussion about smaller units of certification, digital badges, modular accumulation and recognising speaking/listening proficiency separately. This overlaps with wider conversations in English education about modular assessment returning in some form after the fully linear reforms of the 2010s. The argument is that language learning is cumulative and uneven, because someone may reach strong speaking skills before writing, or reach conversational fluency without literary analysis.
One of the biggest criticisms of current modern languages A-levels is that they mix advanced language acquisition, literary criticism, film study and social analysis. Many pupils who enjoy speaking languages do not want the essay-heavy humanities dimension of A-level modern languages. A common proposal is there should be one track focused on communicative proficiency and another more academic/cultural route. This would resemble systems used in parts of Europe.
The decline in language uptake has become politically worrying. Entries in French and German have fallen sharply over decades, despite some recent stabilisation. Policy thinkers increasingly think the current structure loses average learners at 16, rewards only highly academic linguists and creates a narrow elite pathway.
A “ladder” model is seen by some as potentially more inclusive, better for lifelong learning and better aligned with workforce needs. Barrie Hunt (no relation) suggests the following changes:
Entry level, GCSe and GCE A-Level should merge nto a single, coherent national qualification
Short, on-demand, classroom tests should mostly replace large-scale summer exams at 16+
Different pathways that provide both short and extended courses in Year 8 and beyond
Improving transfer between primary and secondary school language teaching and learning (Hunt, 2025, p. 11).
Problems
However, universities like standardised A-levels. They understand what an A-level grade means. A proficiency ladder creates comparability problems. England’s exam system is age-phase based. The whole accountability structure is built around GCSE at 16 and Level 3 qualifications at 18. A language ladder spreads across this structure. The English Department for Education worries modular systems encourage repeated resits, qualification fragmentation and inflated outcomes. That concern drove the removal of many modular qualifications in the 2010s.
The “ladder of achievement” idea is no longer fringe thinking, but England has not yet committed to replacing the GCSE/A-level structure with a fully cumulative proficiency framework.
A solution?
In Classical languages, we have had micro-examinations like the Entry level Greek and the short course GCSEs; and we still have WJEC Level 1 certificates and OCR Entry level Latin. We also have AS Latin and Classical Greek. If somehow they could align better, we have our own ladder almost ready for use – one which matches potential government thinking without any difficulties.
We also have proficient digital assessment systems in place which can track and monitor student performance at a micro level. If the examinations merged in the way Barrie Hunt suggests, it should be possible to merge assessment routines digitally as well – without the extra complexity of speaking and listening exams which our modern languages colleagues have to undertake.
Current provision of Classics qualifications
If you want to have a look, I wrote an article for CUCD (Hunt, 2020) about the current suite of Classics examinations, including the Scottish system and the IB. it's a little out of date now, but it gives a flavour of the huge range of official examinations that are still offered by the boards in the UK. There's a link in the references below.
References
Bowler, M. (2025). The Languages Crisis: Arresting decline. HEPI 21. Available online: https://www.hepi.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/The-Languages-Crisis-Arresting-decline.pdf (accessed 13 May 2026).
Hunt, B. (2025). Addressing challenges in UK MFL education: is fundamental reform necessary? The Language Learning Journal, 54(1), 116–127. https://doi.org/10.1080/09571736.2025.2558997
Hunt, S. (2020). School Qualifications in Classical Subjects: a brief overview. CUCD Bulletin 49. Available online: HUNT-School-qualifications-in-classical-subjects-in-the-UK-3.pdf (accessed 13 May 2026).
The statistics for examination entries are drawn from papers presented by OCR, AQA and Eduqas at Classical Association Teaching Board meetings.
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