Condition of Funding - iGCSE English as a Second Language

I don't think there is any official guidance. Outside of what's specifically listed as eligible (there would be way too many variations of English/maths to list the ineligible ones), everything else is just a judgement call. You'd have to be able to justify it, and how could you possibly justify using English as a second language as equivalent to GCSE English? We never accept it. Whilst there's no guidance saying it's not acceptable, there's also no guidance saying it is.

Thanks Ruth, that's pretty much the conclusion that I came to is that they can't prove that it is eligible. And from an educational point of view it doesn't make sense. I have a GCSE in French, but there's no way I could study Physics in French for example!

Just to follow up, I have had a reply from the DfE saying that the Second Language iGCSE does count for CoF. So I will now leave it with the subject leads to make a call on whether the student is capable from an educational point of view rather than funding.

Full response below:

Dear Chris

Thank you for your enquiry.

International GCSEs, regulated or unregulated, or equivalent level 1/level 2 certificates, in maths and English all count as equivalent to GCSEs for the purposes of recognising prior attainment in the 16 to 19 maths and English condition of funding.

Students who hold these qualifications in maths and English at GCSE grade 9 to 4 will not have to continue their study of these subjects.

Therefore IGCSES in English, English as an additional language and English as a second language at the relevant grade all count as prior attainment for the condition of funding.

I hope this is helpful.

We will still not be accepting English and a second language. It's clearly not up to the level of GCSE English, you can see that from the syllabus documents. We'd be doing the students a disservice to not to enrol them on English just because they have that. I guess you could assess them first, and if they clearly have a high level on English and have a Second Language English iGCSE, you might decide to leave it there.

In terms of guidance the section 9 - 2025 to 2026 academic year: 16 to 19 funding: maths and English condition of funding - GOV.UK is extremely vague but I think it's the best we have.

I expect your question is more around admissions/entry requirements rather than funding but thought the below may be of use: 

In terms of the actual Qualification Numbers/Learning Aim Ref's this relates to, you could use the LARS database download in the "Validity" section look for EFACONFUNDENGLISH or EFACONFUNDMATHS

Completely agree that it can be normal for students with IGCSE to continue to study onto GCSE to top-up their knowledge. In this scenario I would not be claiming the Block 2 Disadvantage Funding for the learners, since they have achieved CoF by Year 11 if appropriate for their age.

I don't agree. My colleague reminded me that we've got a response from ENIC that specifically says that iGCSE English as a second language is NOT equivalent to an English GCSE. If you look at the syllabus info, it's clearly nowhere near comparable. Do the iGCSEs even have DfE learning aims any more? Looking at the old ones from 18/19, the First language English one had legal entitlements, but the Second Language one didn't, which says a lot. We haven't had any PLR data for second or additional English quals since 2018. I'd be confident to record that a student didn't have English by the end of year 11 if all they had was an iGCSE second language English. How would an auditor argue otherwise? Nobody would expect us to count French qualifications in English (as a second language) as meeting the CoF where they are an equivalent level and that's no different just because the awarding organisation is based in a different country.

I just think that response from DfE comes from not understanding these qualifications. I'm surprised they even attempted a response, I can't imagine them responding to the same question about qualifications achieved from awarding organisations in other countries.