Michael Gove exposes the sham of rising GCSE results - Telegraph.co.uk

In each of the past 23 years, the pass rate in GCSEs has risen; last year's results showed that almost seven out of 10 papers were awarded a Grade C or better. The reality behind this apparently dazzling educational success story was exposed yesterday when, for the first time, league tables were published showing attainment levels in serious subjects – the so-called English Baccalaureate core disciplines of English, maths, a science, a language and a humanity, which will in future form the nucleus of the syllabus. The tables make shocking reading. While the proportion of pupils achieving A* to C grades in five subjects including English and maths rose to 53.4 per cent, the percentage achieving those grades in the Baccalaureate subjects was just 15.6 per cent. In other words, just one pupil in six achieved decent grades in worthwhile subjects. The yawning gap between those two percentages is filled by soft subjects requiring minimal academic ability.