GCSE reforms and performance tables
  
• From 2014, both vocational and academic qualifications will continue to be recognised in the headline measures and the wider performance tables.
 
• All qualifications taken by learners at Key Stage 4 will be recorded and published by the government.
 
• The headline indicator will continue to be five or more A*–C GCSEs, including English and Mathematics. 
 
• Edexcel Certificates and International GCSEs are to be included in performance tables.
 
• The headline measures will change from assessing volume of achievement to assessing breadth of achievement. This means that all qualifications (regardless of size) will count as the equivalent of one GCSE.

English Baccalaureate (EBacc)

• The EBacc is a new performance measure awarded to any student who secures good GCSE (C or above) or accredited Certificate passes for English, Mathematics, History or Geography, two sciences, and an ancient or modern foreign language.
 
• The government intends the EBacc to become one of the main measures of achievement for schools in the future.
 

"The English Baccalaureate will be only one measure of performance, and should not be the limit of schools’ ambitions for their pupils. Schools will retain the freedom to innovate and offer the GCSEs, IGCSEs and other qualifications which best meet the needs of their pupils." 
- The DfE White Paper, "The Importance of Teaching".