News

Dance and Drama Discount Code change

04 March 2014

The CLA has seen an email from Lord Nash’s office confirming that Dance and Drama GCSE will not discount each other from 2015 in school performance tables. This is really good news.

The Codes 'discount’ subjects considered too similar in the school league tables. New Discount Codes introduced in 2013 mean that several arts subjects at Key Stage 4 are considered so similar that only one counts towards a school’s league table. This had included Dance and Drama. However, the change to codes made on 28 February means that from 2015 if a pupil takes Dance and Drama GCSEs they will both count towards a school’s league table.

Teachers told us Dance and Drama sharing a Code had resulted in courses being withdrawn and pupils being told they could not take both subjects. We are very pleased that Dance and Drama no longer discount each other and hope that the damage done to school options can be reversed.

The List of 2014, 2015 and 2016 qualifications and discount codes on the RAISEonline site details the change. (RAISEonlie have told us Chrome users may have problems downloading the file. Using another browser should fix the issue.)

The Discount Codes do still discount disciplines such as Graphic Design, Photography and Ceramics, and the CLA is seeking a similar change so these entirely different disciplines do not discount each other. The discounting of disciplines within a subject does not affect the sciences.