Y9 daughter told she is being assessed for a part of her GCSE... surely not??

[Olivetrees2]

My daughter in year 9 has had a presentation this week in English. She has been absolutely petrified because her teacher told them it is to count towards their GCSE grade to 'get the presentation part over and done with '. My daughter is very shy and nervous and not at all ready for assessed GCSE presentations.
Surely this can't be allowed when they haven't even started GCSEs??

Plenty of schools start GCSEs early - this isn’t anything out of the ordinary. DD is the shy/anxious type too but did really well in her presentation - as long as she’s well prepared with good flash cards to go off then she’ll be fine. Doing it on a topic that they’re very knowledgeable/passionate about helps.

It tends to be done in Y10 round here (infact DS is doing his on Monday).
It doesn't affect the grade they get, but the English Lang (I think) result gets a D(istinction) M(erit) P(ass) or not classified after it.

Yes, DD did her Speaking&Listening at the end of y9 too.

I did this in year 9. It was only a few of us who were picked, we had to do it for an assessor and they then compared their grade for us to the one the teachers gave us. If it was correct, they let the teachers grade the whole year.

Lots of schools do it in Year 9 as it does not impact on the actual grade but needs to be done.

Yep, very likely true. To reassure you, it will be awarded a pass, merit or distinction but is treated as a separate unit of the English Language GCSE (unit 3) from the actual graded exams . So, basically, although it sounds mad, the school have to prove the students have done it ( that is time consuming for the teachers as some even have to be filmed too ) but the Unit 1 40%) and Unit 2 (60%) exams are the ones which decide the grade .
They will be trying to maximise time on a very crowded curriculum I’ve e year ten and eleven for that which actually counts and get this , as you say, ‘out of the way.’

I hope this make sense! I’m a English teacher

it’s a shame as the speaking element , in my humble view, is a very important skill and can really give some students something to get their teeth into. if it were ‘weighted ‘ and worth something towards the end result it would make it worth the time. It isn’t although it used to be until 2016 (?)

most of us can see the advantages and disadvantages of both approaches but those of us who work with the students have no influence on the gcse assessment process !

support her, help her prepare but reassure her it won’t have an impact on her results at all. It even shows up separately on the results paperwork

ask other questions if you have them 👍

It’s speaking for 3 to 10 minutes on a subject of her choice. To pass you really only need to speak intelligibly, use suitable language for the setting, explain your topic, structure the talk a bit, make it suitable for the audience and answer some questions at the end.

They won’t jump straight into doing it, there will be prep and practice and chance to get used to the idea. It doesn’t affect the GCSE grade itself, at all, it’s just reported alongside.

Ah thanks for the explanations everyone. As long as it doesn't affect the grade.
They did only get 1 week to prep for it, though, and she said she cried when doing it as she was so nervous.

I completely agree with how important it is, especially for nervous teens!
They all need these skills for interviews etc.

English Teacher here. At my school, it's done at the end of Y10 (after the pupils have done their Lit GCSE, which they do a year early). Pupils do it in groups of 5, but if any are too nervous we always offer them the option of doing it 1-1. Has your daughter passed? Sounds horrible for her if she cried when she was doing it! I would strongly discourage any child from doing their speech if they were that upset, and I imagine most wouldn't want to do it anyway!

I would feedback to the teacher (or ideally the Head of English) what has happened and also that it would have been nice (understatement!) as parents to be told in advance! A week is also not long enough to prepare IMO. Sounds like the English Dept need to rethink things a bit.

I agree with @FluffOffFFS that parents need to be told directly about these things. My first DD did the old style GCSEs and it was only because I was very on the ball that we had a clue.
For various reasons a significant minority of teens don't seem to take in what they are told about these things clearly (assuming they are told clearly in the first place).

May depend on exam board. The new English GCSE in Wales for those currently in year 10, has a presentation as part of the non exam assessment for module 2, and it does count towards the final grade. Only about 5% (10% for the module) but does count.

It counts for nothing so I think getting it out of the way makes sense.

Schools aren't supposed to do it in y9, it's meant to be closer to the exam. In reality, the curriculum is so crowded most schools do it summer of y10 (it fits v nicely when there's trips and sports days etc!) It's a shame your daughter has had such a negative experience and the teachers had a get it over with attitude - it is very valuable interview type skills. Some kids hate it!

It's a shame it isn't weighted any more.

It's completely pointless now - it used to be excellent for developing oracy skills.

If it's taken seriously it still is

I work in a college with GCSE students. The students will "pass" or "fail" the presentation, but it doesn't count to the rest of their grade. In theory, an incredibly bright student, with a massive fear of presentations, could get a 9 as their overall grade and a fail for their presentation. It's to give them some practice in presenting as many people have to do some presentations in uni/jobs etc. I guess doing in year 9 cuts down the amount to cover in year 10/11.

There’s nothing to say when it should be done.
we do end of y 9 to get it completed. They do other presentations through y10 and 11.. if we feel it’s worth it we offer another round in y10.

the responses about it not counting are spot on.

I was shocked by all the presentations my DD had to do at Uni. But hell did they pay off when applying for jobs.

Strange thread. Kids do presentations at primary school nowadays. They can usually run up a PowerPoint by the time they start secondary. Lots of subjects ask for presentation, sometimes solo, sometimes group presentations. It's no big deal.
I would be amazed if your daughter has reached year 9 without doing a presentation.
I too, taught gcse English at college. The presentation tends to be a box ticking exercise. It was fun having a bit of down time from the academic stuff. I used to let kids use presentations from their Vocational subjects. One year I sat through loads of presentations about apple watches. Animal care students did cute presentations. I expected all of my 16 year olds to be able to create a PowerPoint.

Your daughter may have the opportunity to repeat/improve her presentation at a later date. I suspect schools want something done in order to tick a box for now. Come year 11 they will still be chasing kids who have missed it for one reason or another

I think it's just general advice. I know someone who got into very big trouble over it, so I read some guidelines very closely and listened to what they had to say!

Think giving them time for presentations in y10 and 11 is totally fair enough.

Yes this is normal, don't think it really matters v much in the grand scheme of things (w regard to choosing a levels, uni etc)

There is a possibility that they have already started the GCSE syllabus in some subjects. In some schools they choose options in year 8 and start the course in year 9. Even if that isn't the case in your school, for core subjects such as maths and English, they may still start the course part way through year 9 to get through it all without running up too close to the end in year 111.