to be worried about changes to A Levels and GCSEs now that Tories are back in government???

[Fluffcake]

DS has just started his GCSE exams and obviously things are a bit stressed but not too bad. However, he is at a super-selective GS and it hasn't all been smooth running. At least 3 subjects across the year group had really bad teachers last year. DS does 2 of these subjects and has basically had to do the 2 year course in 1 year. Some deadlines for other subjects' coursework were not passed on putting more stress on the boys.
If schools can't GCSEs right after all these years what hope have kids got with the changes that are coming? DS will be affected by A Level changes whilst DD will be affected by the GCSE changes. Only hood thing for DD is that she won't be the first year to have the change.

What are you actually worried about?

Don't think the govt can be blamed for indifferent teaching.

A) the Tories were in government before this election B) what worries you exactly?

GCSE changes have cross party agreement.

I came on to say YANBU, but I'm not so sure having read the OP.
If your kids aren't having great teaching then I don't think that would be affected by whoever got in.

However, I am really worried about education in general under the Tories, based on what they've been doing over the past few years. Mainly because it's not based on educational research, or anything child focused. It's based on political ideology.
For example, suddenly deciding that in year six kids should be able to do a range of things that you haven't previously asked for. So including them in the test for this summer. Which means loads of kids are on course to fail the new test because they haven't covered the material required. And the solution? Make the kids sit the test again a few months later because "it gives them a better chance of passing GCSEs." Um, no it doesn't. It makes them feel bad about themselves through no fault of their own, or their teachers. And a test at 11 doesn't cause pass or fail at GCSES. Kids who struggle at 11 are the same kids, on the whole, who struggle at 16. They don't fail GCSEs because they didn't do well at tests age 11. It's correlation, not cause and effect. The Tories are a disaster for education based in decent educational theory.

Op. I think your problems are with your school's incompetence rather than education policies.

Education is better under the Tories which is why most people in the UK want Tory rule.

The move to the new system in September applies to some A levels and not others as it's being done bit by bit so some of the AS/A levels my sons will be starting are new system and some old.

Education isn't better under the Tories.
Aren't Tiawan and Singapore now beating all our 11 year olds in Maths and Science tests?

Measuring education is better under the Tories, but the actual ability of teenagers in various subjects is dire. Because the measurement the Tories love is counter productive to acquiring knowledge.

Amybear - I don't disagree with you but it seems to happen at other schools as well. There seem to be so many continuous changes that teachers must struggle to keep up and kids are the ones that suffer.

Education really isn't better under the Tories. In terms of what the OP is worried about, though, I think it's hard to blame government for problems with individual schools (with certain caveats - I think academy schools and free schools are going to be a disaster, for example, because of the lack of oversight by local authorities).

In the OP's position, I'd be more worried about the government removing the cap on tuition fees, which I think is very likely to happen and will make studying at a Russell Group university extremely expensive.

Education is better under the Tories which is why most people in the UK want Tory rule

Many reasons why people will have voted for the Tories- but education being better being a reason? No. If you work in education, have children in education, you will know it's an absolute farce.
Our kids are just getting better at jumping hoops- as teachers we are put under pressure to teach them how to jump hoops faster.

We had an education minister trying to model a system based on cultures that are incredibly different to us-yet expecting the same outcomes. Oh yeah, that makes sense. Total sense. No wonder it's all working so well.

Kitten3, most people in Britain do not want Tory rule. Just under 37% do.

Apologies, I see that should have been directed at LotusLight.

tbf, Labour introduced the target driven standardisation culture in education & NHS & both have been detrimental in many ways (whatever benefits they may also have brought). Tories have just picked up the Labour approach for most part because it makes it handy for a govt to point at things they claim to have done right. One thing I would never expect from Labour is less target-driven-ness.

Education is fucking shit under the Tories. Try explaining to a class of Y9s that have started their maths GCSE that they will be sitting in 2 years a much harder maths exam than their predecessors, that we don't know what the pass grade will be, nor what will happen if they don't reach the pass grade, and that we don't even know what their exam will look like because the Ofqual investigation is still ongoing, and then tell me that the Tories got it right.

FFS.

Yeah my dd is in year 9 and I'm worried that there doesn't seem to be any idea of what she needs to be taught for the new exam.

Tories are trying to raise standards for all kids. I don't agree with it all but labour dumbed down education and that can't be good for anyone

Raising standards for all kids = fine. Rushing through poorly thought-out curriculum changes based on ideology rather than any sense of what actually works, and to a political timescale so that the new GCSEs and A-levels had to be ready to go by 2015 because it was an election year and not because it's actually a good idea (or even possible) to rush through massive curriculum changes in a year or two is fucking irresponsible and will potentially damage the education of kids for years to come.

There has been absolutely no joined-up thinking whatsoever, and they have acted against the advice of many professionals who actually know about education, including the University of Cambridge.

But hey, the soundbite sounds good, they must be doing a good job

I was just talking about this with my Y11 dd. Why should the election have anything to do with her A levels? Why is education policy even decided by politicians? We should have evidence-based policies decided by teachers.

What does raising standards actually look like though? I mean, most teachers I know have not spent years trying to ensure children achieve less than they are capable of.

Say you have levels to measure a standard. And you base these on what the average child can achieve. It stands to reason that some kids will excel, most will pass, and some won't achieve it. That's why it is an average.
Is it really raising standards to say that now all children must achieve the average? No. Children don't just become cleverer because an arbitrary bench mark was raised. (Children don't get taller the more you measure them, as one speaker I heard said). Instead, there is an increased likelihood of teaching to the test, at the expense of things seen as less important.

What the Tories did in the last couple of weeks was announc exactly this sort of measure, for 11 year olds, with the added bonus that those that fail will get to retake the test a few weeks later as those that fail are less likely to pass GCSEs. Stupid, upside down thinking. Kids that fail this test are less able academically, and in all likelihood will struggle with GCSEs however many tests you make them sit age 11. Is it really raising standards to put them through multiple re-sits? Will their understanding increase, or will they either just get better at jumping through the hoops, or alternatively get demoralised?

Raising standards is a sound bite, and the things they've done are not rooted in any kind of pedagogic basis but in their own desire to further their own profiles and status.

"Labour introduced target driven standardisation..."

No they didn't! SATS and targets for the NHS were introduced by the last Conservative government.