What is CFL?
CFL is a listings site. We are not course providers. We are a listing site of courses that do not require students to have Grade 4 passes in GCSE maths and English. Students can quickly see and access information on courses for which they are eligible to enrol in the UK. Our listings directory can be accessed via area, qualifications, age, type of course, course duration and so on.
CFL wants to make it easy for students to find out about and access courses they are qualified to do - some courses don’t require any formal qualifications at all to enrol. We want students to have careers they want to do rather than feel they don’t have any options or opportunities because of a GCSE grade shortfall.
Why did we create CFL?
Many students struggle with English and maths GCSE. In 2023 40.4% of students failed to achieve a Grade 4 in Maths and 38.4% of students failed to achieve a Grade 4 in English. Added to this, there was increase in the number of students taking re-sits in November 2023 and less than a quarter of students passed their re-sits.
Educational professionals have called this situation “soul destroying” and have called on the government to make changes to the GCSE system of having to re-take English and maths over and over again. Statistics show that only a few students pass re-sits and they are then made to re-sit the same exams again. It isn’t surprising that many students feel like giving up at this point but if they do they then may find that many courses they want to do are not open to them without Grade 4 passes in English and maths GCSEs.
However, there are many courses which only require Grade 2 or 3 passes in GCSE English and maths which means students can enrol on these courses and start their learning journey. As it stands – and we are very hopeful that the government will look at this situation and make some changes - students will have to re-take both English and maths GCSEs to try and achieve a Grade 4 pass in both, but they can do this in tandem with their course work.
About Us
We are a small team in Buckinghamshire working away loading up courses across the UK. We started CFL started because our daughter did not achieve a Grade 4 pass in either English or maths GCSE and, despite doing a lot of research, she struggled to find a course she could do, one that she was qualified for and one that she would be interested in. It didn’t seem fair that because she struggles academically, she wasn’t able to tap into to an education system that would provide her with the opportunity to have an interesting career. We want to make the process of find a course easier for everyone who isn’t sure of their options after a GCSE shortfall.
“What makes a child gifted and talented may not always be good grades in school, but a different way of looking at the world and learning.” – Chuck Grassley
