New GSCEs too difficult?

[Trishtrash]

"In GCSE English it's all exams – there is no coursework – and pupils are not allowed to bring in any of the texts. They effectively have to memorise three texts and 18 poems. The expectation is killing them.'

The above is a quote from today's Daily Mail - sorry!

Am I being unreasonable to think that that is not an unreasonable thing to require of an A-Level Student? I did my A-Levels over 30 years ago in a bog-standard comprehensive and we couldn't do any coursework ahead of the game and we certainly couldn't take any of the texts into the exam (that would have made it so much easier!!).

I remember having to memorise vast swathes of poetry (Keats, Wordsworth, Somerset Maugham etc...) and chunks of text (Doris Lessing, Return of the Native, A Winter's Tale are ones that I vaguely remember) in the expectation that we would need to quote from the poetry/texts to support a variety of themes/ideas that we might be asked questions on.

I have no idea about the rest of the curriculum as I did Art, English and History. I definitely had to memorise tons for the History element (I did modern History so stuff about Russian Revolution, WW1 & 2 and the EEC). I know that kids are under enormous pressure now and I got an A for my English Literature but there was no A* around then from what I remember (it WAS a long time ago!)

Is the problem that the teachers haven't been adequately prepared or supported to teach for this style of exam? If the kids are going in after two years of expecting another style of exam then I really feel for them but is this the case?

In that case it was, I believe, a teacher published the unseen exercise on a website and by the time it was removed, too many people had seen it.

Yes, in more than one case (5 I believe) and in each case, they were teachers from international schools posting on foreign websites but of course, with the WWW being global...

And OFQUAL have said that until 2020, pupils will still have to complete a 20 hour programming task that doesn’t count towards any final grade. They are in ‘talks’ to decide what to do after 2020.

You couldn’t make it up, it’s the poor young people having their lives affected by this incompetence.

Gove is absolutely a bellend for rushing this through to make a point before he left the position, because none of this was planned properly.

I am all for making exams ‘harder’ as long as it is done fairly and everyone has the support to access it. Quite why it is ok for people to bleat on about how much harder O Levels were and by association how superior they are when O levels and CSE levels were changed for good reason.

Combine the pressure from school with peer pressure, parent pressure, social media, health issues.... etc.... is it any wonder that kids are stressed out?

The new English GCSEs are probably harder than my undergrad degree and I'm genuinely not just saying that for effect

What kitty said

I dont hate many people but i hate gove

(And trump)

Pease I wish I could use your post and contents of some others to start a petition to raise awareness but suspect it’s too late for most students now, my daughter starts year 10 in Sept and I’m really worried about how she’ll cope mentally.

gino if i could just suggest that you dont use the

Gove you bellend quotes

In any future petitions

(Although thinking about it i would definitely sign that one)

Rufus

I'm an English teacher. There are some misconceptions on this thread about the new specs. I'm not an expert on all of the exam boards but I'll try to summarise as best I can. What I describe below therefore might not be exactly what your child has done.

For English Literature, pupils typically do a Shakespeare, a 19th century novel, and a 20th century play, novel, or set of short stories. For each of these, we typically advise them to memorise five or six key quotations for a range of key characters and themes. We advise them to choose 'hard-working' quotations which can be used for more than one character or theme wherever possible. In the exam, pupils are either given an extract from the text and are then expected to show knowledge of the whole text using their memorised content, or are set an essay question to answer using their knowledge of the full text.

Pupils then study a poetry anthology. There are 15 poems for Edexcel, AQA and OCR, and 18 for Eduqas. Usually, one poem is printed in full and the pupils are asked to compare it to a poem that they have studied. For this, pupils will need to have memorised approximately four or five key quotations from the named poems.

Pupils are also given two unseen poems to compare.

There is no requirement for pupils to memorise whole poems.

Pupils are not expected to be absolutely word-perfect, and if they make a minor mistake with a quotation they will still be rewarded for the valid points that they make.

Quoting long passages indiscriminately is never a good strategy and will not be rewarded. Pupils have to be able to provide good quality analysis of the writer's language choices, and in certain papers to be able to make links between the quotations and the social and historical context of the texts.

Undoubtedly the format favours pupils with strong memories but it is hyperbole to suggest that pupils have to memorise whole texts. I respectfully disagree with the advice given to @dungeondragon15's DD that it was necessary to learn large chunks of text by heart, although as she already has her 9 (a fantastic achievement) I doubt she will much care

The new English GCSEs are probably harder than my undergrad degree and I'm genuinely not just saying that for effect

I really would not go around saying this to anyone in real life. It does not reflect well on your degree.

I did O level English Lit - my eldest is in her first year of GCSE - I think it's much harder now than it was

oh and yes - fuck Gove!

I work supporting LAC in education - the system is damaging our more challenged kids - it's letting them down badly

Unreasonable at GCSE.

We had a blank copy of the novel and play (not the versions we took home with us to write notes in and annotate etc). How are you supposed to memorise all the quotations you are going to use?

I also think coursework is very valuable.

English literature has nothing to do with how well you can memorise a poem - and nor should it! It should be about how well you understand and are able to discuss the themes, the construction, and the criticism of a piece of literature. There is no benefit to the memory test element at all except that it satisfies puritans like Michael Gove and Damien Hinds who think that education is a class of children lined up in front a chalkboard reciting lines learned by rote.

Agree.

You know, I've read some books a multitude of times - my favourite books! I still wouldn't even be able to quote you a sentence from any of them, let alone a paragraph or whatever. But if I have the text in front of me, I can analyse for hours if I really want to. Remembering quotations from literature word for word is not the same as remembering say, a scientific fact or a historical date. It needs to be remembered exactly, including all the correct punctuation etc. I'm not sure what that proves other than you have a good memory!

My son has been revising since November as that is what was drummed into them by the school. They then decided to add in after school revision sessions for an extra hour, then Saturday morning revision, at least 4 revision sessions each week over the last 2 school holidays. Then finally they added in breakfast club revision.

So my son was at school from 7.30am until 4pm every day and 9-1pm Saturday and also revising for 3 hours+ every night. Add in the school holiday revision so no chance of a lie in, it gets too much. The school say it is because they did not have the time to teach the full syllabus in time. Constant tweets to the students with a day to day countdown reminding them they should be doing so many hours a night revision!!

Finally they kindly decided to close the sixth form due to lack of funding and lack of applications and told them 10 minutes before they were due to go into an exam.

You couldn't make it up

My son had only applied for that sixth form as he was so loyal to the school and Head Boy. So whilst having the stress of revising he then had to start new college applications at the last minute.

I am surprised he has not had a breakdown!

I'm much more inclined to believe Buxbaum's post above than the DM. It sounds perfectly reasonable to me, and if someone thinks it's harder than an undergraduate degree, I would suggest they went to a Mickey Mouse university.

What I do think is unnecessary is the sheer number of exams GCSE students are being asked to do. Other than languages, where there are additional oral and aural exams, I don't think any subject should require more than two papers at this level. At the moment it seems as though most are asking for three.

Some people are clever. Some aren't as clever. Clever students with good memories will, generally speaking, be okay under the new curriculum. Weaker ones are floundering.

The problem is when memorising texts becomes synonymous with cleverness and the ability to analyse the text well.

Pupils then study a poetry anthology. There are 15 poems for Edexcel, AQA and OCR, and 18 for Eduqas. Usually, one poem is printed in full and the pupils are asked to compare it to a poem that they have studied. For this, pupils will need to have memorised approximately four or five key quotations from the named poems.

For AS English a few years ago we had a coursework element and were allowed the whole poem anthology in the exam (just without any notes written in them). Things change so fast.

Uyulala

But intellect isn't the thing the exams are designed to measure. They are also designed to measure application (work ethic). It's all very well being clever but if you're lazy, you are no use to man nor beast in a work or research environment. The highest attaining students - under the new specs - are clever AND hardworking.

Sorry, clever, hardworking and able to remember stuff.

Sorry, clever, hardworking and able to remember stuff.

Yes. I just think you can be clever and hardworking, with a bit of a crap memory for learning things verbatim. I feel incredibly sorry for those intelligent students who would be able to do some brilliant analyses etc if they could just have the text to remember each word precisely etc.

It's all very well being clever but if you're lazy, you are no use to man nor beast in a work or research environment

I didn't say anything about being lazy, though. I was talking about remembering verbatim quotations. Unless the point is that those who cannot remember word-for-word are lazy? (Sorry I may be reading that wrong, it's just how it came across).

I’ve just re-read my post above and I don’t think I made it clear enough that pupils might still end up learning thirty quotations for one text. It’s a big ask, but not quite as big as the DM might suggest!

The pupils who are really suffering under this system are those who do not achieve a 4, or a C in old money. Previously these pupils could have achieved one of four grades (D, E, F and G), and they are now squished into three grades (1, 2, and 3).

There is no meaningful, valid alternative Level 2 qualification for those pupils who, with every effort in the world, will not achieve a grade 4, and they are being badly let down.

@Buxbaum

I really would not go around saying this to anyone in real life. It does not reflect well on your degree.

That made me laugh!

Uyulala

No. The point is that those who demonstrate in an exam that they can remember quotations verbatim, unless they happen to have photographic memories, which is astonishingly rare, have also had to sit down and learn them, so they are demonstrating their work ethic as well as their ability to recall quotations.

Uyulala

True, but it isn't a perfect system. Overall, I would rather be able to distinguish between those who are clever, hardworking and have a good memory, and those who are clever, hardworking and don't. A good memory is helpful.

Of course. But some students will have a very high work ethic and will have sat trying to recall and learn their segments etc, but just can't get it exactly right. Or they learn them, but then forget them in the stress of the exam hall, with the anxiety and sick-in-your-stomach feeling that often comes with it. Which is why I think having the texts with no notes will enable these students to show their ability regardless. It's not like it's giving you the answer, you still have to find the quotation and evaluate the correct parts and make it work with your essay etc.

I remember endlessesly writing out history dates in my notebook outside the exam hall, right up to entering! I did very well in the exam, but it was touch just remembering those, let alone verbatim quotations. I wouldn't say I don't have a work ethic.