I've now made a web page summarising feedback from the survey
At the end of June 2013 I made a quick online survey with 3 open-ended questions which could easily be done in 5 minutes. The survey was only up for a few days before it reached the maximum of 100 respondents. For the first question I decided that just asking "which 5 GCSEs" would more accurately reflect the spontaneous views of a wider cross-section parents at all stages in the exams process, than simply using a multiple choice format. With the second question I wanted to probe beyond the issue of cost - which was mentioned by almost everyone - to see whether there were additional reasons why online GCSEs at college would be particularly welcomed.
I included the third question because I have spent the last 15 years in the home education community and I am struck by just how much value home educators place on flexibility and choice. Where we feel we have no control over key elements of a process we may avoid something altogether or else go into it with high hopes but find it increasingly unworkable. In the interest of getting it right first time I believe it makes sense to put these cards on the table at the outset.
Being able to choose the timing and the quantity (for example a few subjects in one year, perhaps with other subjects the following year) came up over and over again in the survey responses, and parents even contacted me privately outside the survey to say "if we had to do a package of 5 all at once this would mean we couldn't do it at all". Even where parents were hugely enthusiastic about the idea of online GCSEs at college, they instinctively used phrases such as "up to 5".
43% of respondents said they would be very enthusiastic about 5 online GCSEs at college if and only if there was flexibility around the intensity and duration of the course, particularly regarding the number of subjects per year. A further quarter of the people who responded expressed a strong preference for just doing 1 or 2 GCSEs in any given year and indicated that they would not sign up for a package of 5. Only a third of respondents gave an unqualified yes to the idea of a ready-made package of 5 core subjects, and within this group there were signs that families were still wary of 5 subjects being pre-determined without reference to the individual student.
Colleges wanting to test the waters could start with online GCSE courses in Science, English and Maths.