Gove to announce scrapping of GCSEs

[Itchyandscratchy]

But before anyone is taken in by the leak announcement in the Daily Hate Mail here, take the time to then read this for a more informed version.

With any luck they'll be out of a job in 2015 when this is sposed to be brought in, but there's no doubt GCSEs will be scrapped. What I woud hope is that Labour will get is finger out and propose a system that has had full consultation with schools, teachers, employment agencies, industry chiefs and unions.

It will change how every child is currently taught at secondary school. And I hope that doesn't mean some children's futures are determined by the age of 11.

I'm not asking for them to teach how to be a chocolatier at school. I want them to offer a sensible entry level Catering qualification like an NVQ level 2 in Catering, which would lay the groundwork for many different jobs in the Catering industry, allowing further specialisation post-16.

Ok, Claig. If my DD does not get a job by 19/20 that covers the loss of the Child Benefit, Child Tax Credits, 25% Single Person Discount on my Council Tax, and the portion of HB I will lose at the end of that Academic year, where, pray tell, is the money to feed and clothe her going to come from? The tooth fairy?

We will be over the cap anyway if my disability benefits are resinstated, I live in the SE and rent on my HA shoebox is £800 PCM. I also have 3 younger DC's to feed and clothe. Do I take the food from them and the money I would get given to feed them to feed DD?

Once she has left education, until she is at least 25, either I feed my younger DC's and myself less (though that would mean eating one meal in 6 rather than one meal in 3 as I do currently, so not exactly sustainable and compatible with good health...) in order to feed her, or she has to get a job that covers her living expenses.

There's no proverbial money tree in my garden to provide for her once she is an adult.

Couthy, sorry if you've explored this already, but have your dd's school mentioned an ALP (alternative learning package)? At my school students who find school is not working out at 14 can go to college or onto apprenticeship type courses. Technically they are still on the school roll I believe but are not doing GCSEs. We send about 3/4 children a year on one.

claig

"do you really think that all the brilliant minds who passed O levels, when standards were higher, couldn't think creatively."

Those in MENSA are not known for there creative thinking capabilities.

The schools here don't do that. Only the PRU. And you have to have behavioural issues and have been permanently excluded from school. DD behaves at school, she saves most of her meltdowns for home.

'Those in MENSA are not known for there creative thinking capabilities.'

But I'm not talking about New Labour style 'creative thinking', which plays fast and loose with ps and qs and other aspects of spelling, I'm not talking about creative light touch regulation, I'm talking about the inventive thinking of former O level candidates like Sir Clive Sinclair, a former Chairman of British Mensa.

It would be quite funny if Polytechnics were reintroduced by the Conservatives, seeing as they were responsible both for converting Poly's to Uni's and introducing GCSE's.

I think for a hat trick, Gove just has to bring back school milk.

claig I think it is beneficial to try and understand what an author is portraying. Just discussing what it might be is enlightening. Sometimes there is no correct answer, it is a matter of interpretation and exploration. It can also be a lot more interesting and stimulating What do you think that current students study for their English Literature GCSE? You might like to read this, it might perhaps enlighten you. You might do a bit of research before you form your opinions, balancing all the factors in order to reach your conclusions but then O levels would have left you poorly prepared with such skills.....

That is the problem with these proposals, they aren't driven by consultation with teachers, university and employers and sound academic research but by political dogma which panders to the prejudices and stereotypes of people who haven't the slightest clue what is really happening in our schools and universities and have a rose tinted perspective on an education system that didn't meet the needs of the 70s and 80s, let alone 2015.

My opinion shared by a Cambridge fellow

And I haven't even mentioned the legendary island owning, island hopping, former O level candidate known as Xenia. She will be able to tell you of the days when children stood up when a teacher entered the room and called them Sir or Miss with an enunciation that was so correct that it was almost painful.

There were no baseball caps round the wrong way in those days; Thatcher would have chucked William Hague out of the Cabinet room, and people still insist that standards haven't declined. Ask Xenia, she will tell you stories of the good old days.

CopthallResident, I agree with you. I am not saying that GCSEs are bad. As RavenAK said, they are of a high level and require critical thinking.

Couthy, I can totally see your point of view with "I want them to offer a sensible entry level Catering qualification like an NVQ level 2 in Catering" but that is and option in my area (very large town) so it must be down to each LEA what they offer, I am sure you have already asked them about offering it but I really hope these changes strengthen your case in asking them to think again.

You know, of all the myths I'd like to bust it's the "most entrepreneurs had no formal education/were expelled from school/have no qualification" one. Shortly followed by the "X hasn't got any GCSEs and she's a millionaire pop star/actor/model"

Yes there are examples of both. But the overwhelming majority of people who do well in life do have an education and qualifications. And the majority the people who don't have an education and qualifications are condemned to a life of boring low waged jobs and a pretty tough life all round. For every Alan Sugar there are thousands of shelf stackers.

seeker And a higher proportion of entrepreneurs and CEOs have SLDs than the general population. That is part of the reason that such a high proportion left school without O levels. This is just one article on the phenomenon, plenty more on the relevent research. One huge educational advance has been in the way that those with SLDs are facilitated to achieve their potential at GCSE, I really can't see anyway that this isn't a retrograde step in provision for learning difference, just the fact that all incluidng the very brightest will have to write for up to nearly four hours, sometimes twice in a day, let alone the way that modular assessment and CA helped people with a range of SLDs and ability levels to show their potential. I doubt any of those entrepreneurs would argue that they wouldn't have benefited from the access to higher education and training a chance to demonstrate their potential at 16 would have gioven them.

If that's the case then how will those entrepreneurs benefit from being 'facilitated to achieve their potential at GCSE'? The article suggests that the failure of the education system to cater for their needs is what made them successful entrepreneurs.

And why would entrepreneurs benefit from a university education? Most of them start work at 16 and prove themselves very early on. By waiting until they leave university they're missing out on 5 years of work experience.

Toby Young said on Newsnight last night that the EBacc won't be mandatory. I don't really understand that. What will the alternative be?

Nothing, I should think! Do it or fuck off, there's your options!

"do it or fuck off"

But aren't they making education mandatory to 18?

Animaltales, I am extremely good at drawing birds' beaks and feet. In fact I spent two months getting up at 5.30am teaching myself in order to do this for the exam, having little ability to draw in general. I used to be able to draw the inside of an eye and an ear, and label them, but I would be buggered if I could do that now.

Not much has changed. They are still the only things I can draw, apart from stick men, and as I didn't go down the ornithological illustration career route (where there are probably about 2 jobs a year coming up) it was a complete and utter waste of time.

Bet Govey-boy can draw birds' beaks as well, though.

Everything I needed to know about REAL science I learned at university from other students doing PhDs, and from colleagues, while I was on a completely different course. That says something.

The good old days of Thatcher have a particular resonance in this debate. For it was she who brought in the GCSE, following years of planning and trialling, all within the term of her Government. Nice to see such enduring support for one of her reforms.

But the education system of 70's and 80's arguably did meet needs because far more manual workers were required back then... (plus until 70's half work force expected to give up work on marriage).

I wonder ...
What would happen if we actually got rid of most exams altogether?
They never used to feature so prominently in education, before credentialisation took over. And people still were able to do skilled jobs a lot of the time.