Achievement badges

But why was it not enough for those kids who passed to have passed? That would be closer to real life. When I passed my driving test, there was no public recognition if it. I was just allowed to drive unaccompanied. If you pass a GCSE paper, that should be enough, why do you need a badge in assembly too? If anything, that's breeding a sense of entitlement.
Like I said, I'm coming at this from a very different position. I am absolutely against certificates and prizes for all, I absolutely believe children should learn about competition and that when you go for a job, there's probably only one winner, and if it's not you, then tough, you weren't as good as someone else. But the practice described by the OP was, in my opinion, ill-advised and unnecesssrily demoralising.

no but education, mainstream, mixed comprehensive education is preparing children for society. not existing in a bubble and promoting and creating expectation for types of treatment and entitlement that they'll never see again once they leave.

Should we not have the Olympics?

Hardly the same thing. Education is compulsory, attended by children, still developing their characters, their success in it can open or close doors for them, etc.
it's daft to compare it to the Olympics.

I've worked out why I'm at odds with most of the posters I. here: you're all Tories

My DCs school also do a prize-giving on GCSEs.

But the prizes are for children who exceeded their target grade, which is a much better way of doing it IMO.

So the reward for getting a D if predicted a E and an A if predicted a B is the same.

couthy - it was a post mock exam gathering. kind of doing exactly what it said on the tin. across a school year i'm sure they do more.

They have Sports awards, Academic awards, effort awards, attendance awards, awards for each subject - so if you are good at History, but not at other subjects, you might get an award for History, awards for most improved student in each subject, awards for vocational lessons, awards for most helpful student, awards for achievements outside of school, like DofE...

As I tell my DC - Everybody is good at something, nobody is good at everything.

And I'm glad that their school recognises this!

My DC's Secondary manages to do it all at once - they have an awards Ceremony for each year group every year, in the evening. They get an ex-pupil in as a speaker, and make son event of it. If a school with 1,800 pupils can do this, I can't see why other schools can't or won't.

If she is having a tough time, and I am sure this wasn't what she needed - I hope she's alright x

kind of agree nobleg. also my nephew who was always fantastically behaved and got really good marks soon picked up on the fact that he got fuck all whilst kids who'd managed not to swear for one whole lesson were getting assembly awards and such.

i don't think in most schools that there is an over rewarding of academic success or good behaviour - quite the opposite.

IME it's usually the kids who are good at sports who are always trooping up in assembly to pick up trophies and accolades. Kids who are merely good at their studies don't usually get any.

who says they're not though? the school may celebrate lots of things and the children also have parents, clubs etc. you can't do everything at once.

But if your efforts and abilities are NEVER recognised, then why would you continue to put the effort in? It'd be like cooking dinner for your partner every night, and never being shown any appreciation for your efforts, no matter whether you are chucking a plate of microwave noodles at him or a 3 course a la carte menu. You'd soon give up on the food that requires the effort and stick to the easy noodles.

Why is it such a 'soft' thing to do to recognise everybody's skills, rather than just those who are academic? Why should those who are less academic not have their achievements praised too? And not only that, but have to 'toughen up' and not be bothered by that too.

It's demoralising for those whose efforts are never recognised. Must remember to include this when looking for schools for non-academic DS2. (Doesn't get automatic sibling link I don't think, as we are now out of catchment for DD & DS1's Secondary.)

also at 16 they're being coddled too much from reality.

should we not have the olympics because it makes people who are bad at sport feel bad? or not do promotions because it makes the people who aren't in higher positions feel bad?

being able to handle that clapping politely at others success is quite a life skill. imagine a world full of grumbling grown ups still whining 'it's not fair' and being resentful and offended whenever anyone else achieved something?

God, that's horrible. So glad DD 's school find ways to reward as many as possible. They look for the skills that individual DC has, and reward for effort and improvement too. My DD, despite her SN's, has had a reward of some sort every year. Last year it was for her having had 100% attendance, and also for most improved in English.

Didn't realise some schools still only looked at results rather than the individual DC. How crap.

Might not have chosen this as a strategy but to be honest I agree that dd needs to toughen up. Every single week there is something someone else can be better at than you, potentially. You have to come off the pitch at half time so the othe rub gets to play; everyone sees you leave. You don't get a part in a play and bf does, you get moved down a set... I'm surprised five years at secondary school haven't given her the opportunity to develop skills in clapping politely while seething inside!
The answer is to develop some resilience, I think (too much Wwaterloo Road ) rather than complain about them rewarding/ celebrating success.

the idea is that it uses the mocks to make students take seriously that there are outcomes from exams and for those who didn't put the work in it would help motivate to work harder - badges equal exam certificates if you like and having a taste of what it's going to be like to have passed or failed at the end of the year.

whilst yes there are some who won't have got grades because of their ability there'll be others who haven't because they couldn't be arsed or they can't get their heads round the fact this is real and will actually affect their lives.

i don't like the idea of a world in which we can't celebrate and encourage achievement. perhaps they also celebrate other kinds of success in the school year re: sports, music, effort etc.

I think not awarding successful students because it will make those who didnt achieve as well feel bad is akin to the concept of giving rewards to everyone on sports days so everyone is a winner as some primaries have been known to do. It's not how the real world works and makes rewards worthless. I agree that things beyond pure academics should be rewarded, at my DD school all subjects do termly awards in assembly for effort and progress as well as for students who excel in terms of levels/grades which means everyone has a good chance of getting something across the year. The head of year also gives out 'achiever' badges for students who are on track to achieve the highest amount of their target grades which seems a bit fairer as it allows for achievement being relative and gives all a chance to shine not just the top 10% or so. I know they do the same in trwerms of GCSE grades as well.

I think the thing that would annoy me most in your situation is that for some of those students who got a C they probably still under achieved. My friends eldest DS was a source of much frustration at school as he was expected to get all As but was lazy as well as bright and achieved mainly C's. What would be gained from rewarding him for that?

Badges? For 15/16 year olds? How very bizarre. I bought DS2 a "genius" badge as a joke present for Xmas. I would never have given him one as a reward for exam successes, for a start he doesn't like to shout about his achievements and secondly at his age a badge is hardly a reward. OP does your school do star charts for yr 11 children as well?
There is no need for a role call for high achievers children can usually work out for themselves who's successful and excelling academically and who isn't.

I assumed it was a modular paper, not the full GCSE. Modules can be taken in November of each GCSE year.

The problem with the roll call is certainly not its impact on those who have achieved success, and i'd be surprised if it made them a target for bullies! It's the alienation it can cause to those who know their name is never going to be read out. They can feel a little bit less a part if the school community, and that's not a good motivator. I've had conversations with pupils who have told me they feel this way and I've seen them losing the will to achieve. They see the roll call as another demonstration that "in this place, teachers are only interested in you if you're clever/sporty/musical".

With regard to my supervisor, to be honest I would take what Ofsted say with a pinch of salt. She supervised me through my masters, not my initial teacher training, and we had many interesting conversations. She had a lot of experience in schools before she became an academic, indeed she had started as a classroom assistant. Maybe she's not typical, but I thought her very wise. She called a spade a spade.

"For what it's worth, my postgraduate supervisor (in education) was appalled at the way schools announce the names of their high achievers in an assembly in a roll call of success."

OFSTED are critical of universities when it comes to training teachers, so I would take postgraduate supervisor's opinon with a pinch of salt.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-25749480

""It is a national scandal that we invest so much in teacher training and yet an estimated 40% of new entrants leave within five years," he told the conference.

He said that the "disconnect" between the theory of teacher training and its practice in the classroom had "bedevilled the education system for far too long". "

Why is having a roll call of sucess a bad thing? Are you worried that it sets up the sucessful children for being bullied? Twenty years ago when I did GCSE no child got both GCSE Maths and English almost a year early in a selective girls school. Surely it is not that common to have GCSE Maths and English six month early in a comprehensive in 2014. I imagine that the majority of students did not have badges.

Having class position of every child in a school report is very negative when it comes to moviation. Some private schools make children's class positions public knowledge to the rest of the class. This is very different to congratulating a child for passing an exam early.

It's a bit of a leap to go from, not presenting badges in assembly to making them feel ashamed of achievement. I'm obviously not suggesting achievement is something to be ashamed of. I've taught for 15 years in a girls' grammar school, I know that motivating children is a complex issue. For what it's worth, my postgraduate supervisor (in education) was appalled at the way schools announce the names of their high achievers in an assembly in a roll call of success.

I'm sorry but I think your daughter needs to toughen up a bit and not be so pathetic. The school were celebrating sucess and the kids who passed deserved to be congratulated.

"For the kids who did pass, a better way of motivating them to keep achieving would be for their teachers or even principal to speak to them individually and tell them how pleased they were, and mean it. "

Why should praise not be given publically? Children should never be ashamed of achievement. Some schools bright children underachieve because its not seen cool to pass exams. I realise that some children will never pass their exams however hard they work, but that is no reason not to celebrate TRUE achievement. If everyone passed GCSE with a grade C it would be meaningless.

From this thread anyone would think that the children who have "failed" have been made to parade infront of the school in dounce's caps.

I think that badges are a bit silly though. The real reward of passing GCSE maths and English is the fact that it opens up a wider range of jobs and higher level study. Most year 11 know this.

I agree with TalkinPeace. I don't think that they shouldn't have rewarded those who did get the grades but they certainly should have rewarded other achievements too.