A new GCSE in mathematics is designed to test pupils’ problem-solving abilities. Paul Wilkinson finds out why the harder exam is controversial

Next summer, around 750,000 teenagers will sit the Government’s new, tougher maths GCSE. They will be the first to be tested on the syllabus introduced two years ago in response to claims that GCSEs had been dumbed down and were just too easy to be valued. The new regimen includes more material and also puts greater emphasis on reasoning and problem-solving.

But the bid to dispel the controversy over the perceived failure to stretch pupils has unwittingly created another. There are claims that the new exam will be too difficult and discourage students from going on to A level, threatening the past decade’s rise in A level maths entries.

Peter Sides, former head of maths at the high-performing Catholic Notre Dame High School in Sheffield, disagrees. “Anybody with common sense recognises that A level maths is hard and the fact that GCSE is going to be harder might give them a better understanding of what A level is about,” said Sides, who is now standards consultant with the South Yorkshire Maths Hub. “The whole push for a more challenging GCSE is right. We now have a proper GCSE that truly prepares the kids for A level.”