Rejected petition Make GCSE English Literature no longer mandatory.

GCSE English Literature should become an optional GCSE subject for students, it is too subjective, and students only get marked based mostly on the examiner's opinion. There is no creativity and the analysis is useless.

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The GCSE English Literature subject is completely useless for those who do not want to spend years analysing texts from back in the 19th century and 17th century (e.g Macbeth) and it is especially useless since Shakespearean language is not used anymore. Making it an optional subject help students who want to increase their skills in analysis, and helps the students who are going for less wordy subjects such as STEM to avoid any unnecessary overwhelming information to both remember and apply.

This petition was rejected

Why was this petition rejected?

It’s about something that the UK Government or Parliament is not directly responsible for.

Decisions about whether a GCSE subject is optional or mandatory are a matter for individual schools, not the UK Government or Parliament.

We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.

Date submitted 11 May 2025
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