am I being pedantic about this?

[bigmouthstrikesagain]

I have my Y9 sons report in front of me and it has indicator grades/ current attainment grades for the subjects - obviously important as ds is choosing his GCSE options.Now as they are no numerical I am finding it a bit odd that they are still using a minus sign as part of the grading.

So for an example they would put 6- which is equivalent to B-? But if you are using numerical grades surely it should be 5.5!?? as a negative number 6- would be way below zero?!? Obviously I am overthinking it and I do understand what they are putting - but If they are getting rid of letter grades then they should not be using minus signs still. In my opinion it is a half arsed approach to something that has been a massive arseache already!

link explaining number grades and the letter equivalents for info

I do understand that. But how many distinct 'top' grades can there be? Infinity? I am not really questioning the grading scheme as set out it is perfectly logical (apart from the -/+) but I do wonder at the time the Government spent redesigning marking schemes and whether there is much gained by it.

If the grades aren't in fact numerical and are just numbers denoting categories then what was the point of changing them?
I get it op.

Tiggy tape they could have done that with out changing from alphabet to numbers though.

You could have a range of smiley faces from big grin to big frown
Or you could have numbers.
Or letters.

Numbers only bring added value if they can be treated as number.

Do you know someone has explained that to me before and I forgot
That does make sense and is the only good reason I've heard so far. And of course if they hadn't people would still compare, even though they'd been told not to..

And most people will convert it all to letter grades for the foreseeable future anyway.

That said I got an a* in gcse subjects when pupils a few years older didn't as they didn't exist. If we went for the same job it would look like I'd done better. That wasn't fair.

Thank you for replying folks as I feel better informed, if slightly chastised by this thread.

This is the first time I have had to think about GCSEs as something in my children's immediate future as ds is my oldest. When I took them back in the 80's they were shiny and new and there were no A* to be had.

I appreciate that the new system is logical and works etc. but maybe I am jaded by the constant need for change for the sake of change in education policy. Cheers.

I am jaded by the constant need for change for the sake of change in education policy.

Cos Gove is a useless twat.

Peng students might have, some further education services might have but most parents (and I suspect employers but don't know) won't have and it will take a while before they do.

Same way it took time for the Years 1- 13 to take hold from the previous system.

And it's all governments that meddle with education because they want a legacy. And to put right things that haven't worked. And to fuck up things that are fine.

Education shouldn't be political.