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 take it this also means the end of Speaking and Listening assessment in English? Or maybe we will have public speaking exams.

I did O levels and CSE's. Back in the day a good solid secondary education consisted of 5 O level grade C and above passes in traditional subjects.

I was a bit wayward and didn't do any work in the 2 years until 2 weeks before the exams. Ended up with only 3 grades C's the rest were level 2's or D's. I thought I would get the 5.

I went to college and took the missing 2 over the one year, alongside a vocational course and because the teachers had more time and I wanted to do better I ended up with A's at O level!! Went onto do an A level in a year and got a grade B. Really made me wonder how I would have fared had I been at a school where the teachers gave a shit and had been monitored by way of module exams.

O levels aren't all they were cracked up to be. Also agree that continuous assessment/course work is a more relevant to the world of work.

I do think that the current government are wanting to go back to the days when a smaller percentage of pupils went to university. Maybe turning some of the ex poly's back to vocational colleges will be next on the agenda. They want to keep the top jobs for their own.

The problem is thatooften those that are asked for (or put forward) their opinions about what they want the youth of today to leave school with are those that want to pay peanuts but want more than the proverbial monkey.

actually no i.m not blinkered i,m a great beleiver in everybody being given the same chances in education just remember eduacation is for life gcse,s are nt th b all and end all i should know i did nt do great in mine but was determined to succeed atn present i think our present system is crap and it needs to change we are well down the world league when it comes to maths english science and we used to be near the top prhgaps its not the government you need to be angry at but colleges that cant see your daughters potential

Tressy

I would say that the reason you did better the second time around was more down to "I wanted to do better" than the staff.

A collegue of mine said that often students felt that the only thing valued was that being assessed.

I really want to know where this "world league table" is.

The only group that I know of that is often quoted as this table has stated that creating a league table is not what the results are for.

They don't even test the same skill sets year on year.

What relevance does a 'world league table' have to real life in the UK? We don't have the manufacturing industries that developing nations do, so where do these DC's go? Won't be the dole, because of their PARENT'S are already claiming over the new benefits cap in support for low paid jobs, they will be unable to claim anything.

They won't be able to live independently as there will be no job for them with no qualifications, and no Housing Benefit help with rent until they are 25.

How is a low-income family meant to support an ADULT child, possibly with SN's, with no money?

THAT is the issue, and the Government IS at fault.

I know that, but teachers at my school did leave pupils who didn't work to their own devices. Had we had to sit modular exams I might have pulled my socks ups sooner. But that was just me and my way, I suppose.

BonyBack he's referring to the OECD's PISA rankings.

MammaBrussels

Yup they would be the ones that said their methods where never meant to be extrapolated in to a league table.

They where formed to monitor trends in education, they test every three years on a different subject.

What I don't get about all this (and about any of the previous changes to exams) is why no-one appears to have asked the essential question: What do we want our school leavers to be able to do at 16/17/18? What skills will they need, depending on whether they're going into work or further education?

I can think of a few:

• Recall of key facts needed in everyday life
• The ability to research independently and reference said research correctly
• The ability to organise and present information in a format that meets the intended purpose, such as: writing a CV or a business letter, writing an informative article on a subject for a lay person, writing instructions for the use of a piece of equipment. These are all useful skills in the workplace.
• The ability to speak fluently and coherently, demonstrating the ability to build an argument, adjust flexibly to disagreement or unexpected interruptions - this prepares one for interviewing, whether for work or further education.

No doubt there are more.

Then the question arises: Does a three hour end of course exam rigorously test all of the above?

Of course it doesn't - it's all about recall, which is only one facet. I agree that it is an essential one, but it's only one of many essential ones.

So why are we throwing out essays/business letters under exam conditions? Why are we throwing out spoken exams?

The proposed 'crammer' style of exams will do no-one any favours - as always, teachers will teach to the test (driven by league table pressure and academy nonsense). This will mean children not being taught any of the other skills they will need in future employment or education.

Sitting on the fence on this at the moment as need to read up more about it - DS just started secondary and another will start next year - however am glad to see that it will be the end of the constant A* etc that seem to be coming out of schools - just the rise in grades must say that something is wrong -whether this is the right way to fix it I'm not sure as yet .

BonyBack the one and same. Also the ones who point out that some of their results are not statistically significant...

Well hopefully it will result in only the top 5% or whatever going to university which will give a knock on effect of everyone else also having a decent education, because it will be the majority who don't go and who are deemed averagely intelligent and so resources will be aimed at them.

Everyone should be given the opportunity of going to university but that is different to everyone should go. This seems to be where it all went wrong. Hopefully, it will end up with people who become nurses etc not needing a degree to do it. Presumably all these professions which now need a degree became thus because the education at schools was so lax that they needed a bloody degree to get up to the level to be able to understand basic stuff. Once it is sorted that all children get a decent grounding and fairly rigourous education then they will not need a degree to do a normal job.

But the real elephant in the room is the difference between the results of private and state education (bar grammar schools). Averagely intelligent children at private schools, on the whole, gain much better results than those at a not particularly good state school, which is the really big problem.
Strikes me if they make everything harder there may be quite alot a few in the private system who suddenly don't get a string of As. and it will actually make things fairer. Only the really bright will be able to attain those grades, which is quite right.

animaltales

"Presumably all these professions which now need a degree became thus because the education at schools was so lax that they needed a bloody degree to get up to the level to be able to understand basic stuff"

LOL, the reason why these professions know need a degree is because the government says so.

Great for people like me and Gove, who do exams easily (and forget a lot of the things they learned immediately after sitting the exam). More prizes! More awards! More gongs!

Crap for anyone who likes to spend time on lengthy investigations and projects, like, er, scientists, artists, musicians, engineers, mathematicians and so on.

BoffingMum, I doubt that you (or Gove ) do actually forget everything you have leaned immediately after sitting the exam somehow.

I don't expect many successful scientists, artists, musicians, engineers, mathematicians do either.

BoffinMum (sorry, not BoffingMum:))

Yes, I agree BoneyBack, it is the govt that says so. I am not blaming the teachers, just the system.

Asking for degrees is really a supply and demand thing. If there is a shortage of labour, then employers won't ask for degrees. If there is an abundance of labour and 50% of applicants have degrees, then employers will probably ask for degrees.

It5's teh same with GCSEs and EBaccs and everything else. If there is a shortahe of labour and lots of jobs are avaialable, then employers will not stipulate that you need an EBacc etc.

I think that GCSEs and even A levels are probably on the way out long term. I think there is a drive towards European standardisation in an EUtopia and the EBacc may only be the start. The grade inflation and dumbing down has served to discredit our system, and this helps teh drive towards a Bacc standardisation.

Gove wants to label a whole generation of children as failures. His revenge for the rough estate kids of his childhood who dared to call him 'swotface'. He's only interested in the top 15%. Or maybe just the 5% who will go to university straight from private schools. Who look a bit like him. In fact, he is only interested in himself.

I think it was a union official on Channel 4 News that wondered why the word "baccalaureate" was chosen.