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.

That does sound a little excessive, but then I spent weeks before my A levels taking past papers repeatedly in order to get a good A level result. Surely one of the things that you should expect from a good teacher is to coach you in passing exams? The more all or nothing they are the more teaching to the exam is likely IME, as the grades matter so very much to both teacher and student.

I can only speak for languages but there too much is put into teaching how to pass the exam and too little into actually learning to speak and manipulate the language.

I often teach GCSE bottom sets (English - judge not my spelling). This all makes me incredibly sad.

the main problem with a lot of these reforms is that people object to anything below a C being a GCSE pass, which it is. Of course that overlooks the fact that many, many students work damn hard to the best of their ability to get E, F or G grades. Apparently they deserve absolutely nothing. Just a blank piece of paper. As a teacher in a comprehensive school it makes my blood boil.

YY BrianButterfield spot on for me.

The point of CA is that you can't redraft - it is a one shot deal. The most they can do is plan a sheet of supporting notes.

I also agree with the dismantling of exam boards. These have been problematic for years.

It is one huge thankless task already, and it is getting worse.

Am getting sorely tempted to leave. The hoop jumping was bad enough when I started a decade ago.

"So perhaps he is acknowledging that standards have risen since 25% of students did O levels back in the day..."

No, it means it is unlikely that a return of bell curve marking is on the cards. 25% (or whatever) passed O level because the pass mark changed each year so only the top 25% passed, and there was no grade inflation. Your number of marks was irrelevant, and you were graded on your performance relative to everyone else sitting the exam that year.

I think there may be a generational issue here. If you went through school on CSEs and O levels, then you are likely to be less worried about what all of this will mean.

Especially as the proposals haven't been announced yet, and frankly Labour opposition to them is next to non-existent now. Or have they a different vision of what 16+ assessment should look like? If so, now would be a really good time to unveil it?

Or is this yet another topic (like ever more of the economic policy, given Balls at TUC last week) on which they indulge in a bit of cat calling from the sides but say they won't change? That is, they privately welcome others making the changes in areas they know they know are needed but never had the nerve to carry out.

Just seen on the news: Labour 'haven't decided yet' if they support these reforms. Now that is wetter than a fishes wet bits.

I'm of the Olevels/CSE era so much more au fait with this system than GCSEs. fWIW CSEs didn't mean you were consigned to the dustbin. My cousin was in the CSE stream then did an HND at college in computing and did his degree at a poly. All his courses had a large practical/ work experience module and today he is a very successful businessman despite not being very academic at school.

CouthyMowWearingOrange

No, modular GCSE's are gone. To the dismay of parents of SN DC's currently just starting Y10, who have had all their SEN help geared towards helping them pass modular exams for the last 3 years, not Cunting linear.

My DD, and the thousands of others like her now in Y10, are the forgotten casualties of Gove's thwarting around with the education system.

And it won't just affect my DD's life - it will affect my life and the lives of her siblings too. Because she will not be able to follow the path she has been treading for the last 10 years of her education, with every forward step fought ten times harder than the average pupil due to her SN's.

These changes might be excellent news for the top 25%, like my DS1, but for my DD, and probably my DS2 (also has SN's), it is fucking devastating.

A theoretical question for you then. If one group has to be failed by the system, should it be the top 25% or the bottom 25%?

I have a child in yr 10 and a child in yr 7- I am so worried about it all. My guess is that primary schools will have to change slightly to- ours has emphasis on topic work to lay foundations for modular courses at secondary school- oh I have two children in primary too.......great. Large sigh......

Trouble is, we can't hold back the top 25%. We need them. That cohort are the future scientists, doctors, teachers, etc. They need to be academically stretched and stimulated. GCSE does not do that.

Lots of my cohort in the early eighties did CSEs. I can't see that their lives are the empty, barren economic wildernesses some of you are implying they are. They seem, in many cases, to have done as well as the O level cohort.

We need the top 25%, but my God, we need the "bottom" 25% to be educated and engaged and not feeling like second class citizens.

Amended to add: should have said, not ALL* GCSEs do that. Clearly some are challenging (such as the Eng. Lit GCSE referred to above).

I used to work planning a professional exam, where only the top 40 percent passed, whatever the marks they happened to get.

So, there were no agreed grade boundaries, it all depended on your cohort.

I always thought that it was slightly cruel. But on the other hand, it did make everyone try their absolute best, I suppose.

i'm of the Olevels/CSE era so much more au fait with this system than GCSEs. fWIW CSEs didn't mean you were consigned to the dustbin.

Agree. Dh was undiagnosed dyslexic, ended up doing CSE although was intelligent enough for o'levels. Being an august baby left school at 15 went straight into an old fashioned apprenticeship and got his qualifications that way. He is a professional engineer, but would need a degree to get those letters after his name nowadays.

I dont necessary think modular work is good for all children either. My DS has a sld and just finished his gcses. He has struggled with course work and has done much better with straight forward exams.

Not sure if it's already been mentioned but you might want to edit - current GCSE does not include English to MFL translation.

This is a tricky one.

I agree with Bruffin that modular work is not the best for all students - I for one would do much better with a single 3 hour exam at the end of a course. So as one type of assessment is never go to suit all children I'm not sure that it's right that those who perform best under pressure are disadvantaged.

To go back to a system which purely tests by rote would be a backward step however, surely there is a middle ground where by English exams, for example, assess understanding and interpretation alongside grammar and writing style (which I understand has been lost in recent years) in 3 hour exam conditions?

100% agree with Couthy that there is a massive gap in qualifications for children wanting to pursue a vocational path. Not all children are suited to university and alternative routes should be awarded equal value/investment by society/government.

Another one who was in the system when it was CSEs and GCEs.

CSEs did not condemn a child to stupidness :)

A CSE grade 1 was fully accepted as equivalent to a GCE pass.

Many of my contemporaries with CSEs went on to university/polys and have extremely successful careers.

It was slighly disappointing to some to be taking CSEs, rather than GCEs, but those who were genuinely bright certainly were not held back, and those who were not 'academic' and actually didn't want to take GCEs (and there were some, myself included in a couple of subjects ) were in an environment that was entirely suitable for them, i.e not struggling to keep up with those more able and were taught by teachers who understood that.

We all came out of that system pretty well I think.

Wait, Couthy , just let me make sure I've got this straight. Gove is being disablist because you don't think you'll be able to run to DD's bus fare... in four years time?
I sympathise, but really, you have to look at the bigger picture. The fact that your DD has an alternative route surely proves the opposite to be the case.

I'm annoyed that they are changing the nature of the exams again.

I have one child in year seven who will be the first year to do the new exams and another in year ten who is doing the new, different GCSEs. The year 10 is also doing a number of Welsh GCSEs, so I also worry about that. What happens if the Government decides that Welsh GCSEs are now invalid in England? Will DS now have to start on a different curriculum half way through his courses? He started triple Science a year ago, so that would all now be invalid.

I wish they would just start changing things. If the new exams are supposedly changing the content of KS3 to prepare for the new exams, where does that leave DD who has already started the old KS3?

I was at school during the transition to GCSE, and it was an utter shambles in my school. We completed course work one year that was then found out to be the wrong work the next year, so had to redo it all. I just wish they would leave the education system alone or do things in a more rational manner.

If they want to bring in a new exam, they should start by bringing in the new KS3 first and have that up and running really well before they change KS4.

That should have been: I wish they would just stop changing things.