Y8/Y9 children, worried about exam changes.

[OddBoots]

My ds is in Y8 and if reports are to believed this means he will be one of the last to take GCSEs.

That would be okay if the GCSEs were being left alone until the change but it looks like just before they scrap them they are going to make GCSEs harder so he (and others his age) will still have GCSE on their CV so they will be unfairly compared grade wise to those before. Then on top of that they will be hit by A Level changes too.

It feels like they are being set up to fail before they even start the course. For various reasons I am probably over-reacting but I am absolutely raging about the unfairness of it all.

My DD is in year 8 too and I am concerned that they are being used as guinea pigs (mind you, it has happened to countless children before them. Imagine being in the first batch to take gcses! )

My dh was in that batch (and I believe he did a mix of GCSE and O Level), he remembers it being a very confused time, as does his mother who was a secondary teacher.

I really hope they don't rush this.

You're not overreacting, Gove has said that he expects pass rates to fall over the next couple of years with the harder GCSEs and you are correct to point out that this won't be fair on your DC as employers etc are unlikely to differentiate requirements for the couple of years affected.

If he wanted a complete overhaul he should have done that straight off instead of tinkering.

My nephew says people only look at his A level results, but it seems that A levels may also be different for our children!

A levels will certainly be different, and I think the OP is right to be concerned about what will happen to grades until then. We lurch from one change to another. Things last for one year, then change again. I am exhausted by it. I read this after finishing work on new lesson plans for the new BTEC last night, and just wanted to weep really.

Employers that are interested in GCSE and Alevels already often look at the year on the basis that they've got steadily easier over the years. If they get a degree then really only English and Maths passes will be looked at by a lot of employers.

My dsis was one who suddenly found she was doing GCSE rather than Olevel, and other than a complete blip on one GCSE (they gave something like 10 A grades in the entire county on a subject she was expected to walk a A grade) she didn't find it a problem.

OP I posted on this back in April.
My DS2 looks likely to be hit with the new harder GCSEs and then the new A levels.
And whatever anyone says about the current GCSEs I have a 16 year old who has just worked his socks off over the last two years and I could weep for him when people go on about dumbed down easy exams.

I have posted my opinion on other threads, I also have a year 8 child. Yes, I am very concerned, DD will sit many of her GCSEs as one year courses starting in year 9. She is also likely do English and Maths in year 10. She will be hit by the grade boundaries, especially for A* being made a lot tougher; exams changing to linear, changes to English (more emphasis on spelling). They will hit her exceptionally hard as she is dyslexic and finds exams very strenuous at best.

I am hoping she will escape the most radical of the changes as she should sit her last GCSE exam in 2015 and new "O level" will be first examined in 2016?

As long as universities an FE colleges know the gradings that's all that matters. It may work to our favour because currently a child can be declined on a course like medicine if they don't have a complete set of A*. It doesn't take into account how amazing they are at sciences and maths. Maybe most pupils will have a slight mix of grades and the days of numerous kids having a full house of the same top grade will be a thing of the past.

At the end of the day when applying to university they will be applying with a cohort that have had the same advantages and disadvantages with changes in the exam system. I took the very first GCSEs so the whole course work idea was new to the teachers. Yes this did move me from being someone with a fist full of As to just 1 A and a fist full of Bs. But, I then went on and got my three As at A-level and then to two degrees. So the grades I got in that year of changes I don't believe changed my potential or future course.

There will be many who don't go to university though, and they are the ones who will depend on their GCSE and A Level grades to get jobs.