Views on 2015 A level changes.

[mumyoga]

I have heard there will be 30% more content in A levels, combined with no course content at all. I am nervous about the year group being guinea pigs. All new systems take some time to bed in. Any views? The teachers I have spoken to do not seem happy.

The flexibility to take 4 or 5 subjects at AS and drop one at A2 is very valuable and will be lost.
Both of my DC have found that the subjects they expected to enjoy / do best / worst at in Year 12 were not the ones they expected.
DS2 would have chosen Physics over Chemistry if he had been forced to stick to three subjects. In fact he is unexpectedly excelling at Chemistry and plans to drop Physics after A2.

My DS's school expect to be able to teach the AS curriculum in the first year, allowing puils to take the AS level, and then do whichever is right for A level. So no change except the AS result won't count towards A level.

The exam boards claim that the new AS levels will be co-teachable with the first year of A level.

Having seen all the proposed specs for my subject I don't believe a word of it. The assessment would be different, for a start. So the AS students would need to produce a piece of coursework for the same topic that the A levels students would take an exam in. When do you make that decision in the year?

The only way round it would be for the whole cohort to do the AS as well which would double the amount of assessment and would be totally wasted for anyone going on to do the whole A level.

The schools will also have to consider the financial costs of entering a cohort of kids in for a bunch of external exams, as most of them won't actually need them.

If schools keep entering all their students in for AS (as Cambridge Uni is urging them to do) then Y12 will be just as dominated by mocks and exam prep as it is now, so the benefits of moving to a linear system will be completely lost.

I notice our local comp is already talking about offering 3 A levels and no AS levels at all if these changes go ahead. So the original benefit of AS in broadening the range of subjects will be lost. You could do 4 A levels if choosing maths and science but arts students will be back on the traditional path of 3 arts/humanities subjects. I suspect this is going to hit MFL in particular as there is a perception that it is harder to get top grades.

Some schools locally are not offering AS levels and are limiting A level choices to 3. While I understand that most students only go on to do three A levels, and uni offers only ask for three, it leaves no room for manoeuvre if the student finds one subject was a mistake.

I do not wish to be critical but people are rather late realising this - arent you?

The AS may as well no longer exist. Its a pointless qualification under the new scheme. Co teachability might be possibly in my own subjects only if the students opt for AS at the end of year 2. Certain elements are different and would require more teaching for those taking AS in year one.

I would prefer not to see that. I have 4 hours teaching time.It wont be enough as it is, let alone trying to teach extra for the AS

My school will not teach different classes for AS and A2. All will be on A2. A level is now a two year course based on all final exams and yes it does seem to have more content. It also seems to include "coursework" which the specsays is a requirement but which will not be examined or marked in any way ( so why is it to be done and worse how the hell do they know?). Yes , it does appear the marking will be harder and so therefore the pass rate and grades will be affected. That is as far as my subject goes. It has been validated.

Lack of books and resources is going to be a bigger issue.

I think my school is planning on bringing in the EPQ ( which remains unchaged for the next 5 years and has been validated again) as an AS. So studentswill take 3A levels and the EPQ ( which is AS) in year one. If they do not make progress, they will be bumped onto a vocational style course.

Thats the plan it seems anyway. I have no input. I just do at the chalkface.

Kattinger, some schools and sixth forms are still passing duff information to students about what they can or can't take as options for next year, so it's surely not too surprising that parents are still trying to catch up -- especially when most f us have more than one year or key stage of child to think about.

I don't think people are late realising what is happening - there have been previous threads about it. Schools are going down different routes and there is political uncertainty so there is a lot of confusion. My DD's school (big comprehensive) is asking them to choose 4 AS levels for co-teaching from 2015 and then drop down to 3 A levels in y13 (I think that this will be a lot of extra work). Other schools are planning to go straight for 3 A levels.

The sixth forms my dd is interested have all said they will enter all AL students for the AS for the next two years until all A levels are linearly examined at the end of year 2.

So which subjects then are allegedly not co-teachable, as these SFCs don't seem to think there is a problem?

My ds is in this cohort but his will be a mixed bag as he wants to do maths and further maths - I think his maths and further maths will be with AS exams and his physics and computer science will be linear. Hopefully with this particular combination and his ability he will be able to do 4 full A levels.

Kattinger, if Labour win the next election, the decoupling won't happen. So there's no point in saying that the AS level might as well no longer exist when the plans to change things aren't even set in stone yet!

For now from September my children's private school will be doing AS level plus A level in the subjects like English and history where these changes are starting first. Some of their A level subjects will be in the new scheme and some not so the interesting question will be in the transitional period is it best to pick subjects which change a year after so that you can bank your AS results to count as part of your A level or not worry about that as the universities will see the results they get in the four AS levels they will do in any event in lower sixth.

In all cases students should pick the subjects they are most interested in, not try to game depending on whether they're one or two year examined.

Greengrow - out of interest what are your super selective planning to do during the transition or haven't they said yet?

Sorry reread your post - so they'll all be doing AS followed by A level, and disregarding the AS if it's one of the two year ones?

Noblegiraffe, I wouldnt bank on either the labour party winning the nextelection or that if they do they will change anything. I think its gone to far in many subjects, especially those like mine which are on a linear route from Sept 2015. ( Thats not a political statement,just areasonable one).

Most sciences, maths English and several other subjects are due for a change in September 2015. Its in motion.

The AS and A level are decoupled. It is simply pointless to take the AS exam at the end of year 1 because it will not count to the A level results. You will have to sit it twice. The AS will be meaningless even if you got an A. It may well look worse for a student too especially if they get an A at AS in year one and then bomb out in A level and cant manage more than an E over the four papers.

Its more work. Far more and different content to sit the AS at the end of year 1. Its even different content if you sit it at the end of year 2, so far more to learn. Its also separate entry, so not cost effective either.

No,its not thought through but its the way its going to be. Its fine if you are not in the first cohort of fully linear subjects.

If it weremy kid ( mine arent there yet) I would suggest they try and stick to subjects that are not changing in 2015 as far as possible.

Kattinger it would be a work of minutes for Labour to halt the changes. A quick phonecall to Ofqual and job done. All the exam boards need to do is to churn out some 'same as last year' papers and things can truck on as normal. Maths isn't changing till 2017 btw, they've already put it back twice as rushing the changes hasn't actually resulted in agreement in how to examine it.

They stated quite strongly that they would halt the changes. I'm not banking on them winning, but if they did win, I think it would be something they could quite easily do.

Agree with noblegiraffe that reversing the changes would be fairly straightforward. There will be some exam papers for the old specifications (legacy papers) published anyway, to give students the opportunity to resit. So all the exam boards need to do is print off more copies so there are enough for a full cohort of students.

If it weremy kid ( mine arent there yet) I would suggest they try and stick to subjects that are not changing in 2015 as far as possible.
I really don't agree with this. At A level it's far more important that pupils choose the subjects that they are best at and are motivated to do well in. At the end of the day everybody taking English or a Science subject is going to be in the same position. But some schools and colleges will be better prepared than others and will have different policies on the number of subjects pupils will be taking.

I would also be wary of pursuing the IB to avoid A level changes. It does not suit every student. The attached articles highlight some potential issues with the IB.
www.telegraph.co.uk/education/expateducation/8846162/Know-your-child-before-opting-for-the-International-Baccalaureate.html
and www.telegraph.co.uk/education/secondaryeducation/10017618/International-Baccalaureate-is-it-any-good.html