To think GCSEs and A levels are crazy

[Chimichurrie]

I think there is far too much pressure on the kids in secondary school with GCSES and A levels. DH and I grew up in different countries and didn’t have to go through all this. We went to have successful careers.

We feel we enjoyed our childhood and teenager years without this constant pressure that exists in the UK about exams and success. Maybe is the same in other countries.

Our kids used to be very creative but once they started secondary school that just got to be put behind; school seems to consume their life. I have always worried whether they are having a nice childhood.

Do you think there is something wrong with the curriculum? Should our kids have s bit more opportunity to do other things to be more rounded?

I think coursework really is a thing of the past - it was bad enough when parents and/or teachers did the work, or at least allowed several attempts at it before the final mark was achieved.
These days with AI etc, I cannot see a way in which it can be guaranteed that the work is totally that of the student.
I know it still features in some A levels, but at least some independent research and/or fieldwork is required which is harder to cheat on.

Yes i can see how that would be a problem now .

Yes, coursework has had it's day.

And this sadly is what OP does not understand. In terms of global performance, China is number 2 economy. India is taking off.

Having visited both countries there is a work ethic like nowhere else (except other Asian countries).

In China, 996 is often mentioned meaning people work from 9am to 9pm, 6 days a week. It’s illegal but is very common from what I understand.

Even in the states where you get two weeks holiday a year, it’s not as hard-working as the other two.

Europe is like the sick man of work. Wants early retirement, long holidays, low pressure.

im not saying one is right or wrong but just that living in a global economy you have to realise that competition ranges globally now, and therefore our kids in the U.K. compete against the likes of Asia for some jobs. My prediction is this competition will only increase,

OP thinks from a personal level but there’s far more complexity to the subject.

For what it’s worth I think education is not effective to some extent in this country.

If we are to work when we leave, it’s not very effective at all.

So much more could be done in this area.

It wasn’t talking about work ethic but about the focus on exams and results. There is lots more to education than exams.

Both economies mentioned here, plus Germany have very high level for maths and sciences. Unfortunately these do need to be tested and learnt with vigour.

Perhaps other subjects not so much. In the end, how do you make sure a subject is known and understood and able to be applied without an exam?

That said I do agree that the competitiveness of it all and GCSEs and A levels is insane. But it’s a sign of the globally competitive world we live in.

I did mine in 1995 and don’t remember many subjects having much coursework, other than the practical ones.

I think they should scrap GCSEs and SATS. Make maths, English and a language compulsory up to year 13.

So. No exams until yr13?

And how will this help prepare our doctors of the future in the UK? How will students who want to go on to do medicine, or sciences demonstrate they have the intelligence and work ethic to be accepted by a university?

I fully agree that the school system doesn't suit everyone - but you are still suggesting a one size fits all - but making it less rigorously academic to suit SOME kids. My DS (currently working high up in engineering) would have LOATHED having to do a language up to age 18. He had to take (and failed) GCSE French. He thought it an utter waste of time studying a foreign language he had no interest in and would never use.

This is what it was like in my secondary. There were two streams in the same school. Those that passed the 11+ went into the grammar stream in Y7 (or first year as it was then!) but you could swap, both ways, based on end of year exam results.

How would that work ?
Not everyone stays at school ,for those that go college if you haven't got at least a grade four in English and Maths ,they have to continue with it untill they do ,and some kids do apprenticeship, s after year.11

Not every child goes to uni but for those that do in areas that don't have gcse and A levels how do uni entrances work there?

School test but not national exams

I'd scrap GCSEs and move to a "school leavers certificate" instead, made up of accumulating points/marks from lots of different modules. Scrap the year-by-year system too. Each module lasts a term, and you move up different levels of modules based on what you've already done, i.e. you'd need to have passed level 1 French before doing level 2 French, etc. Each module would be open to all 5 years, so the less able students could just do lots of basic modules, hoping to find something they do well in, but at least getting a broad general knowledge. Higher ability students could just choose their subjects and work through the modules as far as they could get. Test at the end of each module, so end of term tests along with limited teacher assessment of work done through the module, gives the module result/mark. Lower level modules have lower maximum points/marks than higher level marks. English and Maths compulsory every term for at least 1 module each - but lots of different modules, so pupils can choose what topics/module, so can re-take a module if necessary, or move sideways to other similar level modules, so can continue at their own level to gain confidence, rather than the constant "moving up a year" leaving them floundering.

I'd not be keen on this

So, all these modules are teacher marked?
Not an external process?

I didn't think it was a lot (did 10 GCSEs and 4 A levels), plus you get the long summers after GCSEs and A levels with nothing at all and that's great.

So how would the unis accept the test?

Excatly.

But i assume you are academic to be able to sit so many GCSE,s and Alevels ,so for you it might have Been a breeze
Not so much for the less academic kids

That was supposed. To quote @deargodno

I would say it was more work ethic than intelligence, but I agree that there should be far more options for kids at that age, especially when as a country we're short of people with practical skills and it would be beneficial for people to have a valid and respected qualification in a trade, especially when it's more in line with their interests.

How would it be standardised?
Don't get me started on the covid CAGs and TAGs.

Extracts from a woman’s diary from 1873.

Travel writing from a mountaineer in 1898.

That kind of thing.