Mr Gove said he had asked Ofqual to ensure that there would be new GCSEs in seven subjects - English, maths, the sciences, history and geography - ready for teaching by 2015.

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Thirdly, the new system will demand a lot from schools: teaching a 13-year-old with a talent for maths alongside pupils several years older (and vice versa) is tricky.

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Mike Lynch's main concern, however, was about the teaching of STEM subjects - science, technology, engineering and maths - in secondary schools where he felt we were falling behind.

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But Mr Gove has also announced that from autumn 2015, teaching will begin for "new" re-vamped GCSE courses in English, maths, the sciences, history and geography.

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Students tended to think maths leads to teaching or accountancy, when it could mean a career in Formula 1 racing, code-breaking or journalism, a spokeswoman for the consortium said.

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"This is likely to have a hugely detrimental impact on children's education with teachers in key subjects such as maths, physics and IT who have highly marketable skills leaving teaching and graduates with these skills, and other sought-after skills, not going into teaching, " she said.

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