Government failure to repeat GCSE & A level guarantee puts future of Turkish GCSE and A level exams at risk
Educationalists have raised fears that the future of Turkish GCSE and A level exams is still in doubt, despite the government’s promise to protect them.
The exams, popular among secondary school students in Turkish-speaking communities, are set to be abolished by the OCR examination board in 2017.
The Conservatives had said they would “guarantee” Turkish and other foreign language exams, but this week an education minister appeared to backtrack on the commitment by promising to retain “as wide a range of languages as possible”.
“I am concerned that there does not appear to be any progress in resolving the crisis,” said Ali Uysal, a member of the consortium that helps run Turkish exams.
“Turkish exams are important because we want to open up higher education for the kids of our community, but we are running out of time.”
The decision to abolish the language as GCSE and A level subject provoked an outcry in the Turkish-speaking communities.
PETITIONS LAUNCHED
A Londra Gazete petition launched earlier this year has attracted more than 2,500 signatures. Many hundreds more were collected in Turkish weekend schools around London.
Hornsey & Wood Green MP Catherine West, who expressed concern over the Government’s position
Kelami Dedezade, the head of the Turkish-British Education Consortium, said the exams risked being abolished if the campaign to save them was not taken seriously.
“Everyone needs to see this as an extremely serious issue,” he told Londra Gazete. “As many people as possible should write to their MP, because in this country every single letter is regarded as a vote.”
Catherine West, the Hornsey & Wood Green MP who supported Londra’s campaign, said it was important that people in the Turkish-speaking communities can continue to learn the language.
“It’s crucial for global trade and travel that people are fluent in Turkish,” she said. “It’s crucial that young people learning languages have the opportunity to do as many language exams in Turkish as possible.”
MORE STUDENTS INTERESTED
Referring to the government, she said she was “expecting an announcment any day soon that they will keep Turkish as a GCSE and A level”.
The decision to abolish Turkish exams comes as the subject gains popularity.
There were 644 Turkish A level (A2) candidates this summer, an increase from the 618 who sat last year’s exam. Meanwhile Turkish GCSE students this year numbered 1,717, up from the 1,675 students who sat the subject in 2014.
A GUARANTEE MADE…
Londra’s Save Our Exams campaign, launched three months ago during the general election campaign, prompted promises by Britain’s two major parties to protect the exams if they are elected, with the Conservatives’ pledge coming from education secretary Nicky Morgan in a letter to examination board chiefs.
She wrote at the time: “I am making a clear commitment that the next Conservative Government will guarantee the future of GCSEs and A-levels in subjects like Polish, Gujarati, Panjabi, Bengali and Turkish.
“As such, if there is no further action from the exam boards and Ofqual on this matter, we intend to launch an immediate consultation, within the first month of a new Government, on how best to secure the future of these qualifications.”
…BUT A BACKTRACK?
But in a response to parliamentary question this week, education minister Nick Gibb stopped short of repeating the guarantee.
He said the government would work with examination boards “to consider how best to enable as wide a range of languages as possible to be maintained at GCSE and A level”.
A Department for Education spokesman said: “We have committed to working with awarding organisations to ensure qualifications in minority languages continue.
“Our reforms do not stop exam boards developing robust language qualifications in any language they chose – including Turkish – as long as they are high-quality, demanding and academically rigorous.”
