My Baccalaureate

The English Baccalaureate (known as the EBacc) is a performance measure which recognises the attainment of GCSEs in selected academic subjects. It is not a qualification.

The new measure, announced by the government in November 2010, recognises the achievement of GCSEs at Grades A* to C in five subject areas, or components.

The English Baccalaureate (EBacc) is a performance indicator linked to GCSEs. it should not be confused with the English Baccalaurete Certificate, which was a proposed academic qualification to be awarded in the English secondary education system in place of GCSEs. In February 2013 the Education Secretary Michael Gove announced the Certificate part would not go ahead, and that GCSEs would remain.

English Baccalaureate (EBacc)

EBacc

In January 2013, the government announced that GCSE Computing will count as a science option in the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) for secondary school league tables from 2014 (published in January 2015) – alongside Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Any student who sits any three of the four separate sciences and achieves at least a C in two of them will meet the science requirement of the EBacc.

Science plus Additional Science will still count towards the EBacc as an alternative combination. Computing cannot be substituted for Science or Additional Science in this combination.

Computer science will become an EBacc subject, the Education Secretary announced today. It will be added to the list of separate science options, making four separate sciences instead of the traditional three. OCR’s GCSE in Computing will specifically count towards the EBacc in performance tables.

OCR has led the way in developing qualifications in the subject. It has a GCSE and an A Level in Computing, as well as a brand new Entry Level qualification. Programming is also incorporated in Cambridge Nationals in ICT and will be in Cambridge Technicals in IT from September.

Following today's announcement, Mark Dawe, OCR Chief Executive, said:

“I welcome this move. The inclusion of GCSE Computing in the EBacc will support the growth of this exciting and creative subject in schools. There are many schools who have enthusiastically embraced teaching Computing already. Since we pioneered our GCSE in 2010, the number of entries has risen by over 3000%. Schools also need support to deliver computing. Training and resources are key ingredients too and we are proud partners in the Google Raspberry Pi initiative announced yesterday.”

Pupils at Brynteg School, Bridgend, one of the largest secondary schools in Wales, are following OCR's GCSE Computing course.  The number of students choosing the course at Brynteg has doubled over the past two years. Head of ICT, David Pearce, explained what attracted him to the qualification: “What we didn’t want was a tick-in-the-box qualification. OCR’s GCSE Computing provides more of an holistic approach where students have to think and make their own decisions, including doing their own research.

“Several students from our first cohort have gone on to study A Level Computing and I expect this to be a growing trend.”