England’s GCSE pass marks need to be pushed upwards to compete with other countries

Researchers from the Education Policy Institute have said that England’s GCSE pass marks need to change in order to match achievement in Asia.

Changes to the GCSE grading system means that, for the first time, pupils will be graded numerically - 9 to 1 - opposed to the traditional A* to G.

However, there will be two different pass marks with grade 4 as a “standard” pass and grade 5 as a “strong” pass.

Researchers say that pupils will need to be getting a grade 5 in order to match global rivals such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea.

At the moment, researchers state that only 40 per cent of pupils in state schools have achieved this “world-class standard”

In order to keep up in maths, over a third of pupil will need to get high grades and an average above grade 5.