DD's GSCE controlled assessments in English being scrapped...

[Kbear]

DD (year 10) has come home from school raging because her English teacher has told the class that their controlled assessments from past two years' work in English are not forming part of their GCSE any more? In the light of no actual information from the school at all to explain this, is there anyone here who can take a stab at why this would be. Apparently the Head of English has decided.... they are going to do iGCSE instead. I have no idea what that is.

A letter will be coming home from school next week I am told but I wondered if anyone here can explain a bit?

Current year 11 have done CAs in some subjects

Marni
Considering the insults that Gove has let rip about the GCSE, my opinions on the IGCSE are trivial.
Kids will not benefit from the Education secretary telling them they are taking devalued exams. But he seems to think its OK.

talkin you said IGCSEs were designed for DC whose second language is English 'FACT'.

That's incorrect actually. There are two IGCSEs in English. The ones taken in the UK are for those pupils for whom English is their first language.

You said IGCSEs were easier 'FACT'.

That's incorrect. The syllabus in some subjects is actually more challenging, particularly science and MFL. The grade boundaries are higher for an A*.

You said independent schools chose them to game the system 'FACT'.

That's incorrect. Many independent schools choose them because they believe they are better preparation for A level, that the linear system is more rigorous, and they do not wish to have the governement interfering with boundaries etc. The fact that it is easier to get a C may well entice your DC's state school towards the IGCSE, but it is certainly of no interest to Win Col, Eton, Wesminster, St Pauls, SPAGS, Habs, NLCS...or are you saying these schools are scrabbling around for C grades?

The reality is you know almost nothing about IGCSEs but fall upon anything that puts them in a bad light, without actually doing any research of your own to see if said information is true.

You just make yourself look uninformed at best, absurd at worst.

jodie the current GCSE English language and literature both inlcude CAs.

My year 10 has done three in both.

CAs are not being totally abandonned until the new style GCSEs arrive I think (though am prepared to be advised that CAs aren't going at all in English).

Jodie - I'm confused - DD didn't start the CAs in year 8, she is in year 10 now, she started in year 9 with a view to taking the exam in year 10 - that changed to year 11, now scrapped and igcse taking over. Not sure what I shouldn't be surprised about.

I am still awaiting a letter from the school but I called today and was informed that this is English Language not Literature - Lit remains the same.

Sorry, I didn't mean about you being surprised, the school should have been on it so it wasn't a surprise to you. Dd in yr11 hasn't done any CAs, we were told 2 years ago they were not doing them, just terminal yr11 exams. Again, though, yr9 is early isn't it, I got a bit confused thinking it was two previous years making it a yr8 start.

Dd not in so I can't confirm I've got my facts right, we've had so many meetings concerning new GCSEs since yr7, I may have got confused!

"I dont think the IGCSE is inferior but neither is it superior"
I suspect most MFL teachers would strongly disagree with that statement. Having revised higher level science papers with DS1 last year I bloody hope IGCSE is more rigorous!

Jodie - the top 13 classes took their options in year 8 and started GCSE work in year 9 - lots of grammar schools do this routinely but DD's year group were the first to do this in their non-selective school. Lots of other schools in the area do this too.

From what I gather from friends who are teachers etc. then Igcses in MFLs are harder than Gcse. 2 friends who teach science at 2 different private schools say they switched to Igcses as it is easier to get an A* because they don't have the Isas bringing down the grades. My DD2 sat her Gcse maths last year. She is a bit of a whiz at maths so I also gave her some past Igcse papers for practise as she had done all the Gcse past papers. Her opinion was that there were a couple of questions she couldn't do as she hadn't covered the topics but overall she much preferred the Igcse paper as there were less 'problem' type questions and the wording was simpler. She also said there were a couple of topics covered in Gcse that were not on Igcse. As said in previous posts, schools appear to be switching to Igcse English as there is less risk of interference from Gove etc.

hells like all exams IGCSE's vary from exam board to exam board and as said up thread different question styles suit children. DS2 has practised both GCSE and IGCSE since yr 8 he was getting 95%+ on GCSE papers before he could get it on CIE IGCSE papers.

One if the reasons schools are changing is because GCSE has been so fucked about with no-one knows if they are coming or going.

Gove is stuck, because his posh pals do iGCSE so he can't bugger about with it - but now the oiks have caught on so he wants to stop them...

It will all end in tears at some point.