The
General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic
qualification awarded in a specified subject, generally taken in a
number of subjects by students aged 14–16 in secondary education in
England, Wales and Northern Ireland and is equivalent to a Level 2 (A*-
C) and Level 1 (D- G) in Key Skills. (In Scotland, the equivalent is the
Standard Grade.) Some students may decide to take one or more GCSEs
before or afterwards; people may apply for GCSEs at any point either
internally through an institution or externally. The education systems
of other British territories, such as Gibraltar, and the former British
dominion of South Africa, also use the qualifications, as supplied by
the same examination boards. The International version of the GCSE is
the IGCSE, which can be taken anywhere in the world, and which includes
additional options, for example relating to coursework and the language
used. When GCSEs are taken by students in secondary education, they can
often be combined with other qualifications, such as the Business And
Technology Education Council (BTEC), the Diploma in Digital Applications
(DiDA), or diplomas.
Education to GCSE level is often
required of students who study for the International Baccalaureate or to
GCE Advanced Level (A-level). GCSE exams were introduced as the
compulsory school-leavers' examinations in the late 1980s (the first
exams being taken in the summer of 1988) by the Conservative Party
government, replacing the Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE) and
GCE Ordinary Level (O-Level) examinations.
