Gove does it again!

MPs who get pensions accrued at 1/40th - far better than other public sector workers, incl doctors, can therefore accrue a pension worth half their £65K salary in only 20 years. £32.5K pension for only 20 years work - and £12K for getting chucked out of office - and lump sum.

And MPs have the gall to complain doctors' pensions are too large...

No wonder they don't want too much discussion on this.

You're right. I learned that through reading catastrophic climate change statistics and New Labour economic forecasts.

be wary of bald statistics Claig though, they don't tell you the whole story at all.

There was also a Tory Education Select Committee MP on Channel 4 News and he said he wasn't told about this and thought it was unhelpful and divisive. so I think that headfairy is right and this is a total non-starter just done to deflect attention from other issues.

Great link, thanks. It looks like something like twice as many entrants got less than C compared to those who got above C in those days. That is a huge difference in standards by the look of it.

EdgarAllenPimms

I am sorry but being a tech teacher etc.

Ok, so I am Old :)

EdgarAllenPimms

CDT??

HE??

I agree that there should not be two different exams. I think teh solution is just to make the exam harder and more rigorous, which may increase the percentage that gets less than grade C. I don't agree with Lord Adonis's seeming emphasis on avoiding failure, I think we have to reward success and increase standards, but this could be done using the current system.

There was someone else debating with Lord Adonis who said that pupils should have a choice about which route or option to go down in order to be able to differentiate higher achievers. I think that is wrong too.

There should be one exam taken by all children and it should be rigorous. To avoid the stigma of failure, children who don't achieve grade C could be awarded some other type of school leaving certificate, which would be a pass, but at a lower level than a GCSE.

and it's only just for maths....

Of course, that is just for one year, 1982

oh that link I posted, scroll down to table 11 and 12. I think they're what you were looking for Claig

Googling around I found this... there are some tables you can click on to open with detailed results but I haven't studied it too closely atm.

It never ceases to amaze me that those most in favour of a return to the "Good Old Days" always assume that their own DC will benefit.

Are you absolutely certain your children are in the top 20% ability band? What sort of choices will they have under Gove's regime if they aren't?

I agree in principle that the way O levels were conducted mean you could dick about all year and still get a pass if you had a good memory, but teachers say plagiarism is rife with coursework sections of GCSEs. I know there are programmes that can detect work lifted directly from websites, but how many schools use them?

Although i agree about coursework - depending on subject (art, CDT, HE obv require coursework of some kind)

it was brought in because they thought it would favour state pupils. they were wrong. It gives public school more of an advantage.

Thanks, good link. If I understand it right, it looks like about 16% get a grade less than C in maths and a bit less in English. I wonder how that compares to O level days.

Margaret Thatchers government brought in GCSEs with good reasons. all children could do the same exam - get graded on the same scale - regardless which school they went to.

Now i agree if people want to say there has been grade inflation and loss of value - but i really don't think this is the solution. I think this is yet more change in a system that needs to stay the same for two minutes in order to drive real improvement.

Gove i think was a very bad choice as education minister - they must have had someone who could have done a better job than this. I was a bit in two minds after the 'King James bible thing' (does he not know bible quotations are available on-line at fingertips?) but this really just beggars belief and looks like something else that will be backed down on...

Yes, they can do that by doing GCSEs.
I did Olevels. They really are nothing to get excited about.
You need a good memory and/or revision skills and the ability not to freak out under exam stress.
You can spend pretty much the whole year dicking about and if you are lucky still pass.

No coursework means no need to keep up with the subject throughout the year.
How exactly does that help anyone reach their potential?

Lord Adonis on Channel 4 News kept banging on about how we should expect everyone to be able to get a C at GCSE. But to me it seemed that he was missing the point that too many people children were getting As and A*s.

2010 results

Yes, it's amazing that Labour didn't make political capital out of it and tell the public. Is there an opposition or is everyone in it together? It's not as if it would damage the country, since the city traders already knew.

'Because my son is capable of getting a handful of GCSEs with the correct support, this doesnt mean anyone is going to do it for him. It means that he can achieve and meet his potential.'

All well and good, and I wish him well. But why does that mean that other kids can't study more challenging O levels and achieve and meet their potential?

Does anyone have figures for how many children get a lower grade than C in Maths and English GCSE?