DD's GSCE controlled assessments in English being scrapped...

I suspect a lot of schools are teaching beyond the syllabus. I remember ds's work from years 7-9 and it looked like they had cut a chunk out. I can understand why, they are all able children (entrance exam) and a lot of the work in his primary and prep was repeated yearly, just at a slightly more in-depth. The poor lad's done the structure of a plant about 5 times, so by cutting out the bits in the middle he has been challenged (finally!). He's doing things in Chemistry (bonding etc) that I didn't study until A'level.

From what I can gather, the main focus of the IGCSE is the exam at the end, rather than coursework all the way through. There's more focus on spelling and grammar too (which ds loves as he's a true pedant), so would set children up for after they leave.

From what I have understood previously, TP is right about the surge in state school entries for English IGCSEs and the advantages of no CA but still coursework. From what I have read the flexibility in the English IGCSE syllabus can used to stretch brighter children by selecting tougher literature.
TP's views unfortunately are always skewed to try to show private school education being a con for many parents and that her DCs are not disadvantaged in the state system. There are elements of truth in her presentation of information but like politically biased broadsheets the interpretation is not objective.

I will add that the approach of the school seems rubbish. One of my DC changed syllabus half way through (ironically from iGCSE to GCSE). We got a letter explaining why. All fine.

TiP I don't think you are right, at least not when looking at selective London indies.

Private schools started using iGCSE about the time we were doing the rounds of secondary school open days. The general explanation for the switch was that Science and Language departments were concerned that the new GCSE syllabi would not provide a good enough preparation for A level. Given the number of MN threads about the difficult jump from GSCE to AS in French and Chemistry, that sounds reasonable.

The trouble, I assume with both maths and English is that lots of kids need at least a Grade C, which then makes it very hard to differentiate at the top between the able mathematicians/English people and those who have worked hard and been taught well.

DC report that maths iGCSE was not hard, but claim that some of the GSCE papers they practised were even easier. There seems to be a trend towards either teaching well beyond the syllabus or taking Add Maths as well. What can be a difficult hurdle for those wanting that all important grade C in order to move onto college is really not much of a issue in selective schools where A* is the norm. Much more important that kids are on solid ground when they start sixth form.

I think I'm going to disregard TalkinPeace on this one - ds1 (selective indie) was recently revising for his end of year 7 maths exam and had forgotten set notation for venn diagrams - we looked at some ks3 and GCSE revision guides but could only find the most basic venn diagram examples and no set notation; luckily we spotted an IGCSE maths book. His school regularly win national prizes and awards for science (and send quite a few scientists to Oxbridge as well) so there must be something rigorous about the IGCSEs - or perhaps they're structured to allow teaching to go far beyond the syllabus?

OP, this happened to us last year with DS1 who is now in Year 11. The school told us that it wasn't just about grade boundaries, but also that Gove had made it impossible to switch directly from the Language/Lit AQA in Year 10 to separate Language and Literature AQA GCSEs as they had planned. The school switched to CIE iGCSE English Language and Edexcel GCSE English Literature.

The English Language seems to have worked well for DS. He enjoyed the coursework and has achieved the same or higher marks than he did with his original controlled assessments. There have been advantages of a year's extra maturity and being able to produce the work at home rather than in exam conditions.

I'm not quite so sure about the English Literature. It has all seemed a bit crammed, with the kids only having read a third of what they needed to study when it got to the mock exams.

I am genuinely confused about how iGCSEs are considered immune from the grade boundaries problem? Does Gove only have power over GCSEs and not iGCSEs? And even if this is the case, won't the iGCSE boards get fed up with being seen as the easy option and change their grade boundaries anyway?!

I do think many school view the lack of course work/controlled assessment or what ever they're called associated with the GCSE's as a good thing. DS1 who sat GCSE's spent a whole terms doing course work/CA for some subjects he was bored stiff. I get the impression DS2 schools ethos on teaching English and other subjects is very non prescriptive with the view to inspiring the boys by reading debating acting experimenting etc and that they would be loth to spend a whole term preparing a CA as this wouldn't really fit in with their teaching approach.
IGCSE's are also seen by the school as one of those things that are required by universities but of little significance to the overall learning experience education of the boys.

Talkin why would many of the top super selective independent schools let their pupils to sit the "lightweight" IGCSE? Logic would tell you that as they and the parents are wanting top grades at A /pre U/IB then they would want their pupils to sit exams that prepare them the best for the 6 th form not ones that do the opposite.
Few on here question the the CIE MFL IGCSEs are more rigorous as the GCSE MFL is widely criticised by teachers, Latin is definitely more rigorous, my DS also compared his math, physics and chemistry paper with his friend AS papers and much of what was on the IGCSE was on the AS paper. In fact his friend who sat only CIE IGCSE papers in another country has also commented, with some surprise, on the similarity and that she's so much better prepared for ASs than her friends at her current school who've sat the GCSEs.
Finally as you probably know Talkin Win Coll is the only school to only offers the more rigorous Pre U, I understand they went over to the CIE IGCSE because they felt it was better preparation for the Pre U. I know the school can be illogical at times but I struggle to accept this they did this because they felt a more "lightweight" would be better preparation.

Well I can give a very straightforward comparison on GCSE vs IGCSE for Chemistry.

Ds1 got an A* in GCSE Chemistry last summer and has just sat his AS Chemistry exams. Ds2 is in Y10 doing IGCSE Chemistry - he was revising today for his end of year exams and asked ds1 for help but ds1 said ds2 was doing topics he won't cover until A2!!

Yes, last two schools haven comps. Have taught all levels from A* to G forecast students. I think IGCSE is a step in the right direction for everyone.

I think many of the state grammar schools use IGCSEs as well, particularly for maths and science.

I'm not sure it is about being easier, it's about predictability and consistency - GCSEs are all over the place at the moment, anything could happen.

cosmic do you teach in a comp?
as in do you see the full range of abilities ?

I've taught the old and new spec AQA over the last eight years and I don't feel that IGCSE is any less challenging for English Language. Where it is different is that the questions are more straight forward but the marking criteria is just as rigorous, actually a bit more emphasis on SPaG.

The Cambridge IGCSE English First Language 0522 is for British students and is taken in many private schools. Would you rather your daughter didn't get the A or A* she deserved because the government put pressure on the exam board to produce fewer high grades, thus resulting in higher grade boundaries?

As for employment skills. The written element of IGCSE focuses on paragraphing, punctuation, spelling, purpose and audience. It covers a wide range of forms, such as letters, reports and articles. It requires that students can both read and write with fluency and accuracy. This can only be a positive step.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7924496.stm

Ds is at an academically selective independent. I've seen what he's doing and it's not easy.

I'd be quite annoyed that they have left it this late, OP. They are just over half way through the course so it's a tad unreasonable to do this now.

tinu
DCs are at a comp
igcse's are used for C/D boundary across the board - nuff said about rigour

Ds is doing IGCSE's. They are not easy. Chemistry, physics and maths are all A'level plus standard, I don't know about English but he's studying Frankenstein and Jeckyll and Hyde at the same time (AQA I think).

Not all IGCSE exams are easier than GCSE - MFL are significantly harder; maths includes calculus (with one exam board) and sciences would appear to be more demanding too. Can't comment on English, although a friend's DCs have just done English and were doing whole texts for lit.

Ah - I've just found Edexcel IGCSE - English Lit papers look easier than Cambridge.

Nope, they were conning the parents ....

state schools were not allowed to use the igcse so it became "elite"

then state schools were allowed to use it and realised it was best for the C/D boundary

DD was insulted by the A* questions in the IGCSE science and maths papers

I was highly amused that parents were paying tens of thousands of pounds to put their kids through frankly lightweight exams

I'm somewhat confused about IGCSEs now - some of the most selective schools in the country use IGCSEs. St. Paul's Girls' School for example use the Cambridge IGCSE for English Lit - looks pretty demanding to me. Is there an easier version/exam board?

The igcse is not for children whose first language is not English. Certainly for the Cambridge board (I dont know about edexcel) there is two different igcse English, first language and second language. The former being for English speakers, the later for children learning English as a second language. If an English school is entering children for English second language then that is surely cheating the system.

Cosmic
The IGCSE was designed for kids whose first language is NOT English.
Its an easy paper compared with Higher level GCSE (DD had brought home both)
IGCSE is even less accountable than the other exam boards

BUT
the issue of controlled assessments will not be cured by copping out to IGCSE
or by making all kids go back to exams
which penalises slow but thorough thinkers : who may be of great use to employers if they have been allowed to show their skills