to think thank fuck we don't live in England with this stupid results system going on?

[ssd]

by christ Michael Gove has really fucked up with this, it seems to be a change for the worst and is very confusing

why was this introduced, it doesn't seem to be clear to anyone, this is an awful system for the kids to get their heads around, this gov should be ashamed of themselves.

Because the grade boundaries - set by an overarching comittee called the Joint Council for Qualifications - will differ between exam boards in order to level the playing field

I wonder if they ever do experiments with the same pupils and gave them the same exam papers from different boards - and see if they get the same ultimate result....

beyond

One of my main issues is that my childrens school offers 9 exams (10 if you want to do triple science)

Other schools do 12+

And i dont know how an employer would look at that (obviously not concerned about colleges or universities)

Ours take 9 too - that is plenty.

Maths and English are the important ones, too many other subjects water down the available teaching and revision time. It is important to keep a broad enough sweep so as to not close any doors for A level and beyond. But 9 is enough for that. (we only got to do 7 when/where I was at school many moons ago!)

Kids can choose to do more later anyhow, for themselves, education is not a one time miss it and miss out kind of thing.

Those children who do upto 12 GCSE are usually the ones who then go onto further academic studies. Then GCSEs become slightly irrelevant as A level results become more important until they are eclipsed by a degree. Working in recruitment I honestly cannot remember ever comparing candidates GCSES once they are degree level.

Oh i agree beyond

But its just the difference in schools, so one on these 'educating....' shows had children taking 14!

If an employer sees one child getting 8 and another 14 are they not going to think they are a bit lacking?

Probably not I'm just a bit paranoid

boulshired

I am talking about where schools only have a maximum amount of gcse's they offer

Not based on further academic study

But I appreciate your comment regarding employment

If an employer sees one child getting 8 and another 14 are they not going to think they are a bit lacking?

I wouldn't have thought so. Its usually said that all that matters is 8 or 9 good ones. In the past, some mediocre schools would play games with the numbers by putting some kids in for a ridiculous number of exams. It's probably a good thing that seems to be less of a thing now.

as minimums.

Per Nutty's response earlier. Repasting here as Nutty said it very well. I don't work in HR so can't comment on the why's but I do candidate interviews for roles for some departments due to my expertise and I put together feedback in an assessment pack for interns and graduates. 5s in English and Maths is the absolute minimum we are looking for.

Nutt's response, repasting:

It's there to differentiate between those students who scraped a pass in English/Maths and those who got a comfortable pass, as it's well known that often those who scrape one aren't generally as great as applying their skills immediately in the real world. My organisation has already amended GCSE requirements accordingly - so now require a 5 as a minimum but realistically a 6 due to the numbers of applications.

Thanks errol

I took 9 at school and ds1 took 9

Its only when watching one of the school programs that i realised that some schools did more than that

Like everyone is saying it doesnt matter...but it just seems a bit stupid

Mix of gcse and cse in my case

Wait did i do 9 or 10?

Dunno

I failed physics, can't remember if i took geog and history

Dammit thats going to annoy me now

Nope took 9 and failed physics...really, really failed (told them i didnt want to take it...thatll teach them...wait)

The extra GCSES are generally attached to an original option. Triple science instead of double, options of accelerated language at year 9, further maths or statistics for those good at maths. Generally not offered to those who teachers believe will not get As as two As in science can read better than 3 Cs etc. So whilst they look good on paper and show the abilities of the student they rarely open further options for students. They will usually be the students who progress to A level and would do so if they took 9, 12 or even 14.

Appreciate your point

But on that essex program one of the children was taking 14

She took 6/7 a year early

standard comprehensive

Ds1 is taking the statistics with his maths and triple science...he can still only take 10 maximum. The majority of the stdents (unless there is a learning difficulty) will take 9

Again standard comprehensive

I just think that there is something wrong with a system that is so diverse...when most people think its standard

Again really appreciate your posts, and i will stop now

orlantina this: I wonder if they ever do experiments with the same pupils and gave them the same exam papers from different boards - and see if they get the same ultimate result wouldn't work as each exam board will have a different syllabus covering slightly different topics examined in different ways, so a student prepared for one exam would not do as well in another.

"If an employer sees one child getting 8 and another 14 are they not going to think they are a bit lacking?"

ime, the top sets (who probably go to Uni) are the ones that take 10-13.
The lower ability kids (more likely to leave school at 16) take 7-9, including BTECs.
So basically, employers who are considering GCSEs hard, are probably looking at a pool of people who did 7-9 overwhelmingly, not comparing to the kids who did 10-13 - who will end up having A-levels & university results before they end up entering working world so GCSEs won't stand out much on cv.

(wishing I could say that more concisely)

DD's problem with 12 choices is she couldn't find that many she wanted to do.. she ended up doing extended project for one. Further Maths not possible due to shortage of math teachers, too.

DD's school did 9 (she did them this year) - that was the maximum, no choice to do more, no "clever kids do more" - they do 9 at her school.

She was top of top set getting great marks, is going on to a selective grammar 6th form in Sept (requirements were only to get 5 A's at GCSE) and will most likely go on to Uni.

There is no correlation at all between max no of GCSEs you can take and cleverness/intelligence - it is purely down to the school they attend.

Dd2s selective indie only do 10 max. Even the hugely clever ones. They prefer breadth - so they will do choir, instruments, sport, plays etc etc as well as 9 or 10 gcses.

ime, the top sets (who probably go to Uni) are the ones that take 10-13.

As beyond also said not at our school

So ds2 is doing triple, maths, statistics, computer somthing (wasnt paying attention) computer something else (as before) english and geography

So thats 10

Dd and ds1 did or are doing 9 because they didnt do triple science

All top set

But I appreciate the point re A levels and degree

(Though i dont think dd is doing A levels or a degree)