Backlash after new History GCSE exam is postponed for a year

Martin Shipton

Angry teachers have taken to social media to express their frustration at a late decision to postpone the roll-out of Wales’ new History GCSE exam for a year.

Courses for the new exam were due to begin in September 2025, but now won’t do so until 2026.

One post on a private Facebook page sent to Nation.Cymru states: “So helpful for this decision to be made in Feb when we have already sent out options info for the new spec and worked tirelessly making resources ready for Sept! If only they had considered this when putting the new spec together.”

Another post states: “I sent WJEC [the Welsh Joint Education Committee exam board] an email today complaining about the Tudor unit. The recommended books including the main text are out of print so can’t even be bought! Absolute shambles!”

A further post states: “For the Viking unit, one of the resources is a Year 4 knowledge organiser and a link to National Geographic kids (primary school resource). I have emailed to complain about this.”

Concerns

Concerns aren’t confined to History. Another post states: “Triple science will no longer be taught from 2026, was supposed to be this year Sep 2025 but was delayed (very quietly too … I won’t speculate as to why). Huge mistake by Welsh Government / Qualifications Wales. The feedback in their own consultation was very much against this, but they have pressed ahead. Interestingly, across the border, there appear to be no plans to ditch the Triple Award.”

A teaching source told us: “WJEC is a total mess! No scrutiny and staff way overpaid! Also totally inflexible and never consults! Totally autocratic!”

A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “The decision to delay the history GCSE was reached collectively by the Welsh Government, Qualifications Wales and WJEC after listening to the views of partners such as Directors of Education and the teaching unions.

“The revised timeline is being communicated now to provide clarity to practitioners, and to help those learners making their GCSE options choices this term to make informed choices. The extra year will ensure that learners get the best possible learning experience when the new qualification is introduced.”

‘Stakeholder feedback’

A spokesperson for Qualifications Wales said: “The decision to move the first teaching date of the new GCSE History qualification from September 2025 to September 2026 was reached collectively by Qualifications Wales, Welsh Government and WJEC, in response to stakeholder feedback.

“The new qualification has been designed to reflect the Curriculum for Wales, including a greater focus on Welsh history and a broadening of the range of historic eras. Due to the scale of the changes to the content and associated workload for GCSE History – compared with that of other subjects – extending preparation time will ensure that teachers delivering the subject from September 2026 will be prepared to teach this brand-new qualification.

“As with all new qualifications, design and development is an iterative process, involving a broad range of stakeholders. Recently, several stakeholders, including teaching unions and the Association of Directors of Education in Wales (ADEW), raised concerns with Qualifications Wales WJEC and Welsh Government about the new GCSE History qualification. The main concern being that the scale of change to content and workload for history practitioners is disproportional to that seen in other subjects.

“Qualifications Wales, Welsh Government and WJEC have listened carefully to the views expressed by ADEW and others, including the teaching unions, and the concerns raised around preparedness and time available to deliver this new qualification in September 2025. The revised timeline for the introduction of this new qualification is being communicated now to provide clarity to practitioners, and to help those learners making their GCSE options choices this term to make informed choices.

“The new The Sciences (Double Award) GCSE will give all learners a firm grasp of scientific knowledge and skills and will increase opportunities for learners and keep their options open for longer. It will make science more accessible, more relevant, and more exciting for all learners.

“It will give all learners a chance to study the different disciplines of Biology, Chemistry and Physics and explore the connections between topics within each discipline. They will also get to explore the cross-cutting themes reflecting the major challenges of our times, such as climate change, sustainability and the rise of artificial intelligence. The new GCSE will help learners to integrate and apply their learning, making it relevant and engaging.”

‘Preparatory time’

A spokesperson for the WJEC said: “[On February 6], WJEC, Qualifications Wales and Welsh Government announced that the first teaching for the Made-for-Wales GCSE History has been changed from September 2025 to 2026. This decision will provide teachers with additional preparatory time to introduce our new GCSE History.

“The new qualification has been written to support the ambitions of the Curriculum for Wales and has been approved by Qualifications Wales as meeting their approval criteria. As part of our qualification development, we adopted a co-construction approach, which enabled the views and opinions of a broad range of stakeholders to support the creation of our new GCSEs.

“This included establishing subject specific Qualification Development Advisory groups, which features over 170 teaching staff from more than 100 Welsh schools. In addition, we created an Overall Stakeholder Group which included representatives from more than 50 organisations, alongside our Union and Learner Advisory Groups. As part of this process, we also delivered an open consultation which received more than 1.000 responses, which informed our Qualification Outlines which provided the basis of our development work.

“Alongside the additional preparatory time, WJEC will support teachers in the delivery of the new qualification through a comprehensive schedule of free nationwide and online professional learning. This will be further enhanced with our Guidance for Teaching which includes Scheme of Learning that teachers can use to support their delivery of the qualification. In addition, our Digital Resources Team. alongside Adnodd [the body which oversees resources for the education sector to teach the new Curriculum for Wales], are producing more than 50 bespoke support resources, including Knowledge Organisers and adaptable Blended Learning resources. Furthermore, our dedicated History Subject Team is also on hand to support and guide our teachers.

“The decision not to offer GCSEs in the separate sciences in Wales, alongside the postponement for first teaching for The Sciences (Double Award) GCSE were made by Qualifications Wales.”