“It could be leading to further disengagement"
Forcing teenagers in England to repeatedly resit GCSEs they have failed could negatively affect their mental health, new research suggests.
Academics at University College London (UCL) compared the wellbeing of students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland who failed to achieve a grade 4 or equivalent in maths or English.
The study found that students in England experienced significantly lower wellbeing after failing, while similar effects were not seen among students in Wales or Northern Ireland.
England is the only one of the three nations where students who do not achieve a grade 4 in English or maths must continue studying the qualifications.
Robbie Maris, a research fellow at UCL and one of the study’s authors, said:
“Some [resitting] students will not turn up for their exams, they won’t enter them or they will drop out of education – these are the kids at highest risk of dropping out of education and becoming Neets.
“It could be leading to further disengagement, which is a worrying thing.
“People need to pay more attention to this, because if you demotivate or demoralise young people it puts them at risk of dropping out of the education system entirely.”
The mandatory resits policy was introduced in England in 2014. It requires students who have not achieved a grade 4 in English or maths GCSE at 16 to continue studying the subjects.
This is a condition of their further education or college places being funded.
About 180,000 students who sat GCSEs in 2025 are expected to retake English this year. A further 175,000 are expected to retake maths.
The numbers follow a record year for 16-year-olds receiving grades below 4 in the two subjects.
The UCL researchers adjusted their analysis for other factors before comparing students with similar academic records across the three nations.
Maris said the differences pointed towards England’s resits policy as a significant factor:
“We see no impact really at all for failing English and maths in Wales or Northern Ireland but in England there’s a relatively large negative impact.
“This is strong evidence that it’s something to do with England’s policy setting that is generating these impacts.”
The research, to be published as a working paper by UCL’s centre for education policy and equalising opportunities, also identified differences between boys and girls.
The largest impact among girls was found in those who narrowly missed a grade 4 in maths. For boys, the greatest impact was among those who were “substantially below” the passing threshold in English.
However, boys who failed to achieve a grade 4 in maths and girls who failed English showed little or no decline in wellbeing.
Maris added: “Girls already have low self-efficacy and anxiety in maths, on average, and we’ve got similar issues with boys doing English; anecdotally, a lot of boys don’t like doing English.
“Being forced to resit these subjects where there are these particularly strong gender norms have large effects on boys and girls, it’s a very interesting pattern that emerges.”
The mandatory resits policy has remained controversial since its introduction, particularly as success rates among 17- to 19-year-olds have fallen in recent years.
Last year, fewer than 20% of students in the resitting age group achieved a grade 4 or above in English.
In maths, around 15% achieved a grade 4 or better, while fewer than one in 100 achieved a grade 9.
The Department for Education acknowledged that repeatedly resitting exams without improving grades could affect students’ motivation.
The department said: “We know that resitting exams repeatedly without improving grades can be demoralising, which is why we’re taking action to break the endless cycle of resits.
“Our new 16-19 English and maths qualifications will properly prepare students before they resit their GCSE – with changes to the accountability framework to support this and ensure students only sit an exam when they are ready to progress.
“We have also ensured that students will get at least 100 hours of teaching per subject, backed by extra funding and free teacher training, so they progress with a genuine chance of success.”
This year’s resit results could show some improvement following the government’s requirement for providers to offer at least 100 teaching hours for each subject.
The measure has been introduced alongside increased funding, with the aim of giving students more preparation before they retake their exams.
