Gove does it again!

[longfingernails]

An end to dumbed down GCSEs, and a return to the O-Level!

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2162369/Return-O-Level-Gove-shake-biggest-revolution-education-30-years.html

He truly is a simply unbelievable reformer. It is so refreshing to have someone who really cares about education, putting pupils first, and not caring about whether idiot teaching unions bleat.

No doubt we will have Christine Blower ineffectually defending the ludicrous notion that standards in British secondary education have "improved" year on year on year despite international evidence. Watching the militant unions get their comeuppance - yet again! - is a delightful little bonus...

The bit where he's marked (the bit I heard is at 57.50)

Oh damn I'd fail my O Level - misplaced bracket!

Sorry, din't know about that bit. Will listen to it.

Yes, the examiner said "he tied himself in knots", didn't capitalise some words at beginnings of sentences amd couldn't spell the noun practice. He would have given him an A grade at GCSE and about 75% at O level, which was a secure A. So there was not much in it. Bit of a poor show from an adult BBC presenter, as opposed to a 16 year old.

But, the examiner didn't mention that the GCSE exam had speech bubbles which acted as clues and prompts to help answer the question, whereas 'O' level candidates were faced with a blank page.

Also, if you tie yourself in knots, don't put capitals at the starts of sentences and make spelling mistakes, and can still get an A, what do you have to do to get a B?

start of sentences

Ah but it was a low A at GCSE - don't forget the top GCSE grade is A*.

I'm not hugely pro-GCSE - but I did think that was interesting.

Agee, but maybe the low A should be a B and the A* should be an A, like in the 'good old days'.

claig

"Agee, but maybe the low A should be a B and the A* should be an A, like in the 'good old days'."

but you don't know what it would have been in the 'good old days'

True, with norm referencing or whatever it was called, then maybe an A at GCSE would have been a C at 'O' level and an A* could have been a B.

I lived through the 'good old days' and the bad old days of New Labour.

Equally, Claig a C at GCSE could have been an 'A' at O-level, that's the problem with awarding marks in that way - it's a measure of your ability in relation to the rest of your year.

Yes, that is possible. But then presumably, there would be very few A*s at GCSE for that particular year. No system is perfect, they all have their positives and negatives.

Or the O-level year group could have been particularly weak and there's a 'normal' amount of A*-B grades.

As far as I know, and I'm a GCSE, AS and A2-level examiner, so I'm familiar with the examining system (too young for O-levels though). The Principal and Chief examiners do take into account the mark distribution when they have their awarding meetings (not that I attend them). It's one of a number of things they consider when setting grade boundaries. It should be considered, it should not be the only thing that determines grade boundaries.

Yes, you are right, it could have been a bad year for 'O' level candidates.

It's a difficult problem. If examiners make an exam too easy and lots of students get 100%, then I don't think pupils who got 99% should get a C grade, just because of norm referencing rules. So in that case, I do prefer the GCSE marking system, insofar as I understand it, rather than norm referencing.