New maths GCSE verdict: bad for the less able

[noblegiraffe]

The new GCSE maths syllabus has been released, for first teaching September 2015 so hitting current Y8.

As promised, it will stretch the more able more than the current GCSE (no calculus, however, to the disappointment of some).

There will still be a foundation and a higher paper. Foundation will cover grades 1-5 and Higher 4-9. A pass grade "C" equivalent hasn't been set yet, thoughts are it should be a 4 or 5 otherwise foundation students won't be able to access it.

The biggest change is that the foundation paper will contain a lot of what used to be higher material. Current B grade topics, and even some A grade stuff is on the foundation list. I think it will be more like an old Intermediate paper, but a bit harder.

This is going to be tough for lower ability students who will be faced with a paper where a lot of the questions will be inaccessible. I'm not imagining it will do their confidence any good. It also looks like they will spend more time learning abstract maths instead of concentrating on the numerical skills that employers say are lacking, although some financial elements have been added. It is a real shame that Gove has ignored his advisors' suggestions to split maths into two GCSEs. However, the new GCSE will have double weighting in the league tables, so will count as two GCSEs there.

Gove has suggested that schools increase maths teaching time by an extra lesson a week to account for these changes. He hasn't, however, proposed where the extra maths teachers will come from (maths is still a shortage subject). Changes to schemes of work will need to happen right now for Y8 if they are to have maximum preparation time. Obviously changes in teaching time won't be able to happen till at least next September. Heads will be looking at which subjects they can cut to account for this (not looking good for Drama!).

A good summary of the changes is here:
stuffimlearning.azurewebsites.net/2013/11/changes-gcse-maths-2015/

[AtiaoftheJulii]

The standard/underlined/bold bits from the spec are puzzling me. The new stuff for the Foundation Tier is mostly the underlined stuff, isn't it? So that's going to be in the foundation tier, but only "more highly attaining students will develop confidence and competence with all of this content" - hope there's going to be more guidance about how much of what will be where.

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/254441/GCSE_mathematics_subject_content_and_assessment_objectives.pdf

Do you think the AS spec will change too?

[noblegiraffe]

AS will be binned, the new linear maths and further maths A-levels are proposed for first teaching 2016. Which seems to mean the first lot sitting it won't have sat this new GCSE so not sure how they'll account for that.

It says the higher students will be assessed on the standard font stuff as well as underlined and bold. Not sure how they're going to fit it all in one paper, I'd hope weighted heavily towards the top end or it will be as useless as the amount of A* stuff on the current higher paper.

Not looking forward to trying to decide which kids sit which tier in the first cohort. Did you see that the grade boundaries are simply going to be decided based on how the kids do? A suck it and see approach. So we'll be going in blind.

[Doris60]

I am reading the new spec differently - it does include calculus, both differentiation and integration, as well as mechanics and compound measures such as density and pressure - all new stuff.
It has been split into three ability levels, standard font for everyone, underlined for more able and bold for the very able. We will need to wait and see which level (1 to 9) each category applies to.

[noblegiraffe]

It does say that everyone will be assessed on the standard and underlined stuff, so the less able will be faced with it, just not taught it.

It doesn't specify differentiation and integration, if it wanted it I would expect to see differentiating and integrating simple expressions before being expected to apply it to graphs. I suspect the rates of change and area under graphs to be straight lines and estimates as a calculus pre-cursor.

[ClayDavis]

I would think the underlined stuff refers to grade 4-5 as it overlaps both papers. Might possibly stretch to a 6 i.e. a student who know all of the standard and underlined content really well but has a limited understanding of a small amount of the bold content.

Will have to wait and see though.

[HmmAnOxfordComma]

noblegiraffe - what sort of nc level do you think a dc in yr8 needs to be working at now to be able to cover all of this material and get the highest grade (with or without extra hours added to the curriculum)?

[HmmAnOxfordComma]

Forgive me, and feel free not to answer as the spirit of the thread was concern for the middle/lower ability children and how difficult their papers might be, not how higher ability children might get a grade 7, 8 or 9.

Sorry.

[noblegiraffe]

It's a good question. I think in a lot of schools top set kids will be ok time-wise despite the extra material because it is usual for them these days to sit two maths GCSEs, e.g. maths and stats or additional maths, or to start A-level early. Schools will be able to bin these extra qualifications and concentrate on the new stuff, meaning kids should be well prepared by the end of Y11. These kids would probably be getting good level 7 at the end of Y8. (this may vary from school to school as how GCSE is organised seems to vary). However, that doesn't mean a pupil who would get an A* and an extra GCSE in the current system should expect a 9, as they are trying to differentiate at the top end so these will probably be reserved for exceptional performance on a more difficult paper, if you see what I mean.

If your child would not be in a set expected to do two GCSEs then they will be hit by the lack of time. A pupil who would work their socks off through till Y11 and cover all the current material and get an A or possibly A* in a single GCSE won't do as well.

That would be my initial thought, although with so little information to go on, it's very hard to say. They are only going to decide grade boundaries after the exams have been sat, looking at how the cohort would be expected to progress from KS2. So how many kids get the top grades ultimately will depend on how many kids they want to get top grades.

[Ilovegeorgeclooney]

It seems they are bringing Maths into the same position English is now in, norm referencing and teachers being unable to predict what skills a C, or new equivalent, requires. Not sure how this helps the pupils. Also how much extra funding will be provided?

[HmmAnOxfordComma]

Thanks for that. I like your sentence 'how many kids get the top grades ultimately will depend on how many kids get the top grades'. Sounds very true.

Ds is at a non-selective independent, in top set of an apparently very bright cohort. Not a school that does early entry or further maths ordinarily, I don't think. They're working on level 8 topics at this point in year 8 so should have time to cover the syllabus. My instinct would say ds is a (new) grade 8 candidate, not a grade 9. I'm still hoping for the top grade for English for him though, new grades or not .

[HmmAnOxfordComma]

Whoops - 'how many kids they want to get the top grades'. Sorry for the misquote.

Just realised I think ds's school currently do November entry for maths so they are already a bit ahead with teaching time.

And they currently only take 9 or 10 Gcses too so are used to more teaching time per subject than some schools