What do you think about children having to do a compulsory core subject at GCSE such as Maths if they are clearly incapable. I mean those that have had intervention, SENCO involvement, an ed psych report, help from parents and still a couple of years behind?
A couple of years behind is not 'clearly incapable'. Unlikely to get a grade C at GCSE (although there's still time), but not incapable of maths. Maybe under the old system they'd have been able to answer 50-odd percent of the paper and got an E at GCSE, which demonstrates some level of understanding, then they'd have been entered for Functional Maths in sixth form and after a couple of years might come away with a level 2 qualification.
Now? It's horrendous. I don't know what percentage of the paper an E equivalent student will need to get, but it will be very interesting to see when the grade boundaries come out as it's going to be very low, for Edexcel at least. Entering a student for a paper where they could answer half the questions didn't feel too bad, even if they came out with an E. They felt they could at least do a reasonable amount. Even a G grade student could answer nearly a third of the paper. How is it going to feel entering students for a paper, the vast majority of which is totally beyond them? Not good, I think. Schools will still enter them, maths is double weighted and they can't afford not to. My school has entered our bottom set for a level 1 maths qualification as well as GCSE and had that as the main focus, so that they at least feel like they can do some maths. That will probably be the way forward unless we look at the other exam boards and their GCSE seems more appropriate for the bottom end.
