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Original poster

GCSE computing

6 replies

kidsRTW · 07/05/2011 17:23

Hi, has anyone had any experience with the new OCR computing GCSE (not ICT)? My DD is desperate to do it but no schools locally offer it. I have no issue with doing a mixture of private tuition and home education - doing that already in parts - but I am finding it hard at this point to judge the difficulty of the controlled assessment work for it and the IT hard- and software requirements. Any opinions greatly appreciated!!

OP posts:
SDeuchars · 08/05/2011 07:53

Would you be able to get the controlled assessment done? These sorts of GCSEs are a nightmare for home educators, many of whom look at IGCSEs instead. CIE IGCSE Computer Studies (0420) has an exam alternative to the coursework. You may find the home education exams Yahoo! group of help.

[FYI, I am not a teacher but I have worked on the course material for many GCSE and A-level syllabuses.]

Original poster
kidsRTW · 20/05/2011 10:21

that was exactly my worry. Personally, no. i have a friend who feels he could tutpr her for it but am a bit concerned re the ad hoc nature of this. The IGCSE is just that bit more theoretical and - in DD's words- 'fluffy' that she would prefer the OCR one....

OP posts:
Original poster
kidsRTW · 20/05/2011 10:22

oh, and the school would supervise the controlled assessment and do the paperwork - entering etc - that is no problem and they have done that for us before with good success.

OP posts:
IndigoBell · 20/05/2011 14:21

If your DC wants to do computing, she is far better to teach herself how to program in a decent language then to muck around with a GCSE........

snorkie · 20/05/2011 20:25

It is offered at ds school for the first time to the current year 10s and I understand that for that year group the school had to be part of the pilot to trial it, which might explain why the OP is having trouble finding a school that offers it. I'm not really sure how it can be done without a school to support the assessment part to be honest. But it's absolutely not a prerequisite for AS computing, so not doing it now doesn't mean that she can't pick up the subject later.

I think it does include programming indigo - I know the AS Computing has quite a large programming element at least.

FranzFanon · 21/05/2011 09:12

I work in IT and have seen the new OCR syllabus - my DD is taking it. I think it's a pretty good all round intro to the subject. Completely different to the woeful ICT which you can learn equally effectively by reading the help topics on MS Office product.

There's a lot more options available when working in "computing" than just programming - IndigoBell!

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