Exams shake up - any thoughts?

[Hulababy]

Details here

Summary:

GCSEs, A-levels and vocational qualifications should evolve over the next decade into a new diploma system, the Tomlinson report will recommend

Four-level diploma to be introduced as new qualification

A-level and GCSE courses would be components

Pupils learn at own pace, take exams when ready

Vocational options improved

Mandatory basic English and maths

Recognition for other experiences, such as voluntary work

Coursework replaced by a single big project

Changes gradual - taking perhaps a decade

NEW DIPLOMA - CURRENT EQUIVALENTS
Advanced - AS-level and A-level, Level 3 NVQ, BTec Nationals and others
Intermediate - GCSEs grades A* to C, Intermediate GNVQ, Level 2 NVQ and others
Foundation - GCSEs grades D to G, Level 1 NVQ and others
Entry level - Entry level certificates

Not had chance to look through and read fully, will do tomorrow.

Any thoughts anyone?

Probably won't affect me in Wales Hula- interesting though- they've been talking about it for a while

Any one else have any thoughts?

can they make any more a balls of it than they have already? probably!

Children in this country take far, far too many exams. It seems to me that education is geared solely towards passing exams rather than actually learning any skills that will benefit them in life. I'm all for more vocational subjects (I should qualify this comment by pointing out that I teach GNVQ's) and it strikes me that a basic level of literacy and numeracy is lacking in far too many students I come across.

However, recalling the Prince Harry fuss, and going by my own experience, I question just HOW the big project is going to be guarded against cheating in any form.

well as far as I'm concerned it means loads of rewriting of syllabii, new schemes of work etc etc. And the current GCSE structure ( in my subject anyway) is only in its 2nd year.Great.Yet more multiple hours of slog to chuck in the bin.Things like this infuriate me and you can guarantee the proposals will be drafted and finalised by men in suits in whitehall buildings who have never set foot in a f***g classroom in their lives.

I also worry about the possibility of 'over assisting' course work. Also, if there is going to be more c/w when are we supposed to mark it all? And who is going to moderate it all?

I think having more vocational training will be a good thing, especially for those kids who are turned off by the current academic led education, but where are the kids going to get the training? Where is the money going to come from for the new courses? Is industry going to be linked and if not how much use will these new courses be, or will they be downgraded by empoyers yet again.

Could be good with the money to support it. Could be an almighty cock up if the cash isn't there.

they reckon A levels will have 'gold standard' GradeA+ and GradeA++ - can someone tell me what is the bloody point? why not - top marks get and A grade and lower ones get B and below - like the good old days. Employers will just look for the gold standard - its madness. Why don't they just leave it alone!

Tend to agree Joostoo. And if they need something to distinguish between the good and the very good within the A band (which is wider now than it was in the past), reinstate S levels. But they will not do that because it seems like elitism.

but A+ and A++ isn't? If they spent less time trying to pacify everyone with a 'pass' certificate and spent more time improving teaching standards we might get somewhere. Some guy (didn't catch his name) said on the radio yesterday that as many more students were now gaining A levels we need to put some harder questions in?!!! (what like the old A Level standard that has been eroded over the years).

I think that it depends of what you believe that exams are for. Educational theorists think that an exam is there to tell you what a child has learned, so if standards of education rise the number of A passes will also rise. OTOH employers and universities (to a degree) see exams as a way of deciding who is best suited for a job or for a degree course. So they want the best (say) 10% to get an A so that they can select them from the rest. At present 20% of kids sitting A levels get an A.

The whole style of examining has changed since I was in school in the 60s and 70s. In those days exams shought to find out what you didn't know. Now they try to find out what the kids do know. I teach biology. In my day at O level you could be asked to draw and label an eye. You had to remeber all the parts and there were few , if any, prompts to your memory. Now kids are asked to label a pre drawn diagram of an eye. This task is quite a bit easier as there is a diagram to prompt their memory. The old O level sought to find out what you didn't know. GCSE questions often build in compexity and lead kids to the right answer. They also give easy questions at the start....not done in my day! This is a real question from an intermediate AS level question in Maths (granted the first 'easy' question', 'What is the cube of three?'

I am very ignorant about the english education system, I learn as dd progresses I guess, but I worry that these changes mean that children will have to 'specialise' even earlier. Is that right? I also worry that as we try to accomodate children who are not academic (and we should, obviously, so that they can get something out of education), children who are highly academic will be left behind and not pushed as they should be. What do you think?

I think (and I have not read the full report) that children will be asked to choose at 14, which they already do at the moment when they select their GCSEs. Many schools will offer more vocational studues at this point anyway. We offer applied science , buisness studies, child care etc. At A level we also offer other qualifications in tourism and coustomer care.

This just seems to be pulling all of the different qualifications into one 'over all' qualification. It isn't , as I read it, a return to the old grammar/sec modern divide.

My worry is not that the kids will get the change to choose more vocational stuff (many of the kids who will do so have already been turned off academic subjects nyways) but that industry will continue to ignore the vocational qualifiactions and prefer the academic as they do at present. Industry needs to be colosly involved in planning the vocational raining so that it meets their needs, and lead the kids into jobs at the end of it.

I think (and I have not read the full report) that children will be asked to choose at 14, which they already do at the moment when they select their GCSEs. Many schools will offer more vocational studues at this point anyway. We offer applied science , buisness studies, child care etc. At A level we also offer other qualifications in tourism and coustomer care.

This just seems to be pulling all of the different qualifications into one 'over all' qualification. It isn't , as I read it, a return to the old grammar/sec modern divide.

My worry is not that the kids will get the change to choose more vocational stuff (many of the kids who will do so have already been turned off academic subjects nyways) but that industry will continue to ignore the vocational qualifiactions and prefer the academic as they do at present. Industry needs to be colosly involved in planning the vocational raining so that it meets their needs, and lead the kids into jobs at the end of it.

As a parent, I'm fed up with all this tinkering that's been going on for the last 30 years. They need to make a decision, think it through PROPERLY, having consulted people that know what they are talking about- ordinary teachers, employers & whatever & not just faceless men in suits- and get on with it.

When they brought in GCSEs it was supposedly to end the distinction between CSEs & O Levels- then they bring in 3 different papers! I don't know how teachers feel about it, but from my perspective it's worse... esp when your child is told they have got to go for a lower tier than they need in case they don't do so well on the day.

Something tells me this new thing could be a disaster in the making.

Also, as parent governor at a grammar school, we've been told we have to bring in vocational qualifications. You send your child to a grammar school for academic study, surely? (& as a parent I don't want my grammar school DSs doing vocational training)