New Exams in 2017 - my DD will be taking the last GCSEs in 2016

[ExitPursuedByABear]

Why does this worry and depress me?

I have DS taking the last GCSEs in 2016, then DD1 taking the first E-Bac (or whatever they're called) in 2017.

I'm not sure which I'm more worried about!

I know - I would have been equally worried if she had been the first of the new batch.

Seems like such a mess.

Have to say, I feel for you, because it does seem such a mess.

I was taking O levels in 1983 when the new GCSEs were coming in and people worried, but I was fine: they seemed to have a lot more thought though - they didn't come in until about 1988, which was longer for getting it right. Plus Gove seems on a power trip, and a poorly advised one too - its all very worrying.

If it helps they won't be the last GCSEs, there will still be GCSEs in many subjects for years, 2017 is just when the first English Bac exams in English, Maths and Sciences will be taken.

I have no concerns re DD (year 8) being the last of the old system - (not the last GCSE's as only maths, English and science change the following year). It has the advantage that nothing is likely to change for them, lots of cheap revision books available and teachers that know what they are teaching.

However I feel sorry for the current year 7's, my sister was the first year of GCSE's back in the 80's and that was a disaster.

I took GCSEs in 1988, so was the first year to do so. My younger daughter is currently in Year 7, so as things stand will be the first to take some of the new exams.
Don't remember my GCSEs being a disaster and nowadays when I say I did GCSEs I sound relatively young!

I was also in the first year of GCSEs; we had to study the O level specification in one subject as the GCSE one hadn't been published. When it finally was there were huge sections that were different enough from the O level that all of us were given a higher grade than we were originally awarded

I suppose my main concern is that by 2016 the GCSEs in English, Maths and Sciences could become totally devalued if the Government continue to push their agenda for a new system which by implication means there is something wrong with the existing one ie they are too easy.

I was hoping her school would move to the International Bac, but little chance of that.

Our school already offers the EBacc but my eldest DD, who has just started Year 10, won't"qualify" for it as she didn't choose a language as one of her options. She's telling me some of the students have already changed an option here and there since the start of the new term so I am wondering whether I should approach the school now and ask if she could swap one of her option subjects for French which would at least give her a chance of achieving the EBacc. Is this what employers are going to be looking for on a CV and will an interviewee be disadvantaged by not having the EBacc? What do you think? I feel so sorry all the children these changes will adversely effect and especially reading all the disparaging comments in the press about the apparent worthlessness of the current GCSEs. It's hardly encouraging to those students who have just started, or are half way through, their GCSE course.

I think it will be very interesting to see how independent schools (and academies? possibly) react to this new idea.

Will GCSE/iGCSEs no longer exist? Or will they still be around but not part of Gove's preferred teaching options?

If the iGCSEs are still available, then perhaps schools free from Government control may choose to switch to these for a few years while the new system is bedded down.

Also on last year of the GCSE. I think it is a good thing. So many past papers to revise from.

New system, they will have nothing to go on for the first couple of years.

Oh fuck that's DD2's year.

DD1 is getting messed about with new (and I hope better for her) linear next year.

I don't understand that and now I have to learn another one- great

DS1 will be the last year of GSCE and I don't think that is such a great thing. GSCE will be on their way out, people, employers mainly, will already have written them off as the old way with all their associations with grade inflation and falling standards.

Not sure I want him to be the first of the bunch to do the new exams but at least people will be more understanding, knowing that a new system has teething troubles.

Something has to change but it is unfortunate that there will always be children caught in the change over.

Honey, the current (5 GCSEs of the specified type) is completely different to the new ebacc exams which will be replacing GCSEs. Confusingly.

I don't think employers will be that concerned about the current Ebacc as it will have been a league table measure that will have lasted maybe 5 years. If your DD wants to swap to French then it might be useful, but I wouldn't do it if she is better at her current options and already has a variety of academic subjects to impress employers with.

so what current school year is the cohort who will study Ebacc

For the new exams catwoo it will be Year 7.
Why couldnt they call it something different, its very muddling when the core gcses currently add up to a different Ebacc.

I'm a bit dismayed too that dd will be the last of the old gcse contingent. I havent got a clue how they are going to be run - they are removing the retakes and stuff arent they???

Are you me, startail ?

DD1 is in year 9, and I think she will be fine in exam assessed GCSEs. I think it's pretty much compulsory to do subjects at her school which will lead to the EBacc, anyway.

DD2 is in year 7, and will be one of the first to sit the new EBacc.

DS is only in Y4, so hopefully it will all have settled down by then.

Or maybe we'll get a Labour government, and they'll scrap the whole thing. Maybe, I said.

That's my worry, that employers will dismiss the tail end of the GCSEs as meaningless - although as I hope DD will go on to A level I hope it will not be too important/

Thanks noblegiraffe - maybe I'm overly worrying as my DD is hoping to go on to A levels, GCSE grades permitting of course. She chose media studies over French for two reasons, firstly because her French teacher is not that great (hence a tiny proportion of students choosing French) and, secondly, because she does extra-curricular stuff in media and it's an area that we (her parents) have some knowledge and experience in. But she could still choose to do AS level media studies without having taken it at GCSE level. Just not sure what's best...I think she is more likely to get a better grade in media than she would in French although I would hope she'd get the C and she is doing the other subjects necessary to qualify her for EBacc (if she gets the grades of course). Just not sure whether it's worth trying to persuade her to change at this point. I just want to guide her to make the best decisions but I just feel confused about the best route. Do you think an employer would just see "EBacc" on a CV and not be concerned with whether it dated from 2014 or was a slightly different qualification from 2017?

Why is it a mess?

If you are going to change a system, how should it be done? You can do it quickly, or slowly. This has a 3 - 4 year run-in time. It doesn't affect anyone already on an exam course (even with ridiculous early entry), and it gives schools and awarding bodies time to develop new specifications.

It's a mess because they have done so much tinkering with GCSEs in the run up so teachers are having to make so many changes over a prolonged time along with all the usual challenges.

I was last year of o levels before gcse's made no difference what so ever.

So instead of tinkering, they are starting with a relatively blank canvas?

The mess is the GCSE system.

Schools have been manipulating the system in order to boost league table positions, in collusion with exam boards. The system is now ridiculous, with early entries and a myriad of fake qualifications.

The country is crying out for a sensible, "robust" system, where achievements are clear.

Honeykate- I think you might be a bit confused.

The current EBacc now is just a measure that Gove introduced (retrospectively!) to measure a school's performance. A school doesn't choose to 'offer' it as such, but they are measured against it whether they want to be or not, so they just might direct DC towards the subjects that will count towards the EBacc thus towards yet another measure of a school's performance. I still think most people, especially after this week's announcement (GCSE upheaval) will disregard the EBacc as it stands altogether, preferring the '5 good GCSEs including English and Maths' as the gold standard of a solid secondary achievement.

Now, I am an oldie, thus I feel that a DC who just scrapes that and nothing else isn't 'A' level material. If one's DC are real 'A' level candidates, the current EBacc is of no consequence, they should have a good cross section of 'proper' GCSEs, anyway. A MFL is a good idea for some uni entry but that's independent of whether it's part of the current EBacc.

The new EBacc exams replacing GCSEs are a bit of a worry for me as my DS2 is in Y7 and he really doesn't need a more rigorous examination system! I too am hoping some leeway will be given with the first out take.

I actually feel sorry for the DC who are sitting linear, highly scrutinised, no-more-grade-inflation GCSEs next summer and the following ones up to 2016 (inc DS1), where their qualification will be directly compared with those taken 8-10 odd years previously in the hey-day of endlessly repeated modular GCSEs with no real anti-cheating measures in place. The two 'systems' will be impossible to differentiate, whereas at least an EBacc will have clear blue water between it and a GCSE.

No chance of DD1 doing present Ebac as she's dyslexic, MFLs are not her thing and her Y9 French sets behaviour was appalling.

Trouble is she's chosen art instead and two weeks into term I'm already finding pictures missing from my magazines and bits of plant life drying for a collage.