too many GCSEs for too long

[lianath]

My son has been doing GCSE's now for at least 3 weeks and still has 8 more exams to go with his last one on 19th June. I find it cruel. I was brought up and educated in The Netherlands. We had all our exams in 2 weeks (max 2 per day). Over and done.
Does anyone agree with me that GCSEs are too many weeks of endless exams?

summerends I agree that examinations in a taught subject don't necessarily increase that subject's educational value but not many schools these days in the state sector will teach history or geography or german or art just for the hell of it.

Could you explain your second point a bit more? I'm not really sure what you mean. What I meant was simply that juggling a heavy workload had practical value for future employment or university workloads. I didn't mean it was academically educational in itself.

It's not half a class per teacher, it's about half a class in the whole year group so they are not supervised in their own classes but by a single teacher who doesn't know them.

I don't know what the solution is with the kids who can't/wont revise is. Perhaps there isn't one.

Evidence suggests that the vast majority do better in school than at home. It's not a risk schools want to take. Not sure why parents would either TBH.

EvilTwins you're talking about 'better' in a different sense from me, as I said earlier.

noble yes I guess it's about the greater good but that's probably right (in my view at least). School could try to pull out all stops for that half a class and send in the teachers who aren't teaching the rest because they're on study leave but I know the timetable is complicated etc. Nevertheless I bet something more productive could be done with will than simply 'minding' those not permitted study leave.

No I'm not. I have spent a lot more time with a range of yr 11s over a longer time period than you have. I'm not just meaning "better" as in results. Better as in calmer, better prepared, feeling more supported.

I think Eviltwins is talking a lot of sense - I cant see why you have a problem with her molio.

I have a dd taking gcses now, and ive had a ds already do them 3 years ago. They are very different personalities, different in their academic abilities and diffent in their approach to work, but both benefitted from being made to get their backsides out of bed, and into school where there was an expectation they would be studying for a whole day and they had no access to social media of any kind, or sunbathing, or just.... (insert 1001 distractions). I would have preferred that they had been made to go in for a further week, tbh. There may be a few exceptions, but everyone I know thinks it's better now they stay in school longer and get more structure to their days and support vrom their teachers.

BackforGood I have no problem whatsoever with EvilTwins. I've read a lot of EvilTwins posts and they overwhelmingly make a great deal of sense. However I would have a problem with any school which insisted my DC went into school over the GCSE period in the manner EvilTwins suggests. My DC have fared far better at home getting on with independent revision/ relaxing rather than flogging into school for generic revision. There's a case for optional attendance , not compulsory. If the parents don't think the teachers have called it right, then the parents can refuse to sign the leave of absence form. One size doesn't fit all.

See, I have an anxious perfectionist, predicted at least straight As, probably with a good sprinkling of As. She just doesn't want to be sitting in a revision class going through basic stuff just so the school can boost it's number of passes. She has targeted the A stuff she needs to know, she is concentrating on filling in every tiny gap in her knowledge.

No way does she want to be in school. And all her similarly high achieving friends feel the same.

Molio I meant that such a workload should ideally have dual benefits of more learning value as well teaching time management skills.

It is very good of teachers to organise revision classes but just like group revision sessions they tend to be of most benefit for those who want to be organised into motivation or are less advanced in their revision or understanding.

Eviltwins I expressed that very poorly, I've just re-read it. Apologies for my ridiculous statement. I didn't mean to say stress had caused ASD. I was trying to say that the pressure of school led to a child dropping out. They were subsequently diagnosed as having ASD/ADHD but no allowances were made for them whilst they were in school, even though the condition was apparent. No child suddenly develops ADHD and most schools would be remiss if they missed the warning signs. The thing that annoyed me, and made me post so inelegantly, was that the child was still being put under the same stresses as everyone else even though it was clear there were difficulties for him and his family. Hope that I've managed to say what I think without sounding completely la-la like earlier.

Also, my dd is just part of a regular comp. This is how they work. It's not just her, it's the whole year group. I could choose a different school, but dd has few friends, this was her feeder school and she didn't even think about going elsewhere. It's supposed to reduce the anxiety by getting a couple of exams out of the way early. HA. That's working out well then!

Tinkly Your dd sounds like mine. We've taken the pressure off her completely. Just wish she'd take it off herself now. Haven't read past your response thread, so apologies if I've missed out any critical points in this discussion. Will catch up on this thread when I'm back from work.

badasahatter, how have you helped take the pressure off in such a pressurized environment? genuine question x

I've got two doing GCSEs at the moment and we've kept stress/anxiety etc to an absolute minimum.

No tears. No lack of sleep. Keeping cheerful etc.

And I'm convinced that being on a long study leave has been key.

TBH we started declaring ad hoc unofficial study leave from Easter onwards. I just said they had various appointments which needed to be sorted prior to the exams. The schools seemed perfectly content (and I suspect they knew what was actually going on).

I think official study leave began in early May. Obviously, children could attend and quiet areas were made available. And there were some revision sessions.

But my DC have positively thrived on getting up later, eating a large breakfast, then revising at home. DS who doesn't have an exam today is currently in the sunshine kicking around a footie.

The only person who has been less than happy has been me. Becasue I work from home part of the time, having two teens rocking around the place has been distracting .

Children are very different. Mine have preferred structure, going into school if revision classes were on offer and "revising with friends". Its got better as they have got older, but even this summer DS chose to go into the University library to revise for his first year exams. GCSE was more difficult and DD tried to divide up her day into past papers and testing by us. Partly its habit, as they both always did homework at school, though DDs dyslexia makes it harder for her to learn from a book.

I assume schools know their catchment and what works for the greatest number. If it does not suit your child I would lie and say I thought my child was coming down with a bug and did not want to spread it around.

DD1 had study leave for GCSEs, that is the system in her (state) school. 12 GCSEs, all linear, about a million exams. She chose to go into school every day, until her last paper, because she needs structure, and in particular her body clock would not have liked getting up at 6 some days and lying in till 11 on others (well - it would have loved the lying in till 11 bit. The getting up early, not so much, especially after a couple of days of lying in). Also - I had to pay for the bus whether she used it or not. And she had instrumental lessons, which also were paid for. She has gone in every day this year (she's just finished AS) also - again, for structure. There were no revision lessons though and she would have liked that option.

"Children are brighter than they were 30 years ago - by around 5 IQ points on average."

Akshully... the generational IQ increase is called the "Flynn effect" in their honour and around five years ago Flynn said UK teenage IQs had dropped over the previous 30 years. Read here:

isteve.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/flynn-flynn-effect-has-reversed-among.html

It's not global, but the UK are not alone with this.

Obviously, those DC who want to go in and study at school should do so. Ditto those who want to attend revision sessions.

But those who find it easier/more conducive at home, should be given the option, I think.

I know some kids will do naff all if left to their own devices and that some parents don't want them at home anyway. But I'd be a bit peed off if my own DC had not had the choice, to accommodate those families.

Imjustahead I went through a stage of asking dd how she'd done on tests and whether she thought she could have done better. I pressed that extra work would lead to better grades. I tried to push her. I didn't think I was a pushy parent, but I'd ask, 'how did your friends do?' leading to the inevitable comparisons. Now I've stopped doing that.

I've told dd that her goal isn't to be perfect, because that's not achievable. I've told her to think about what she really needs, not what she ideally wants. At this stage, it's 5 x GCSE's from A to C. In most subjects she'll probably get A's, but in maths, she thinks it'll be a B and in science it might be a C. I've told her that she has to put in some work, but that her only focus needs to be the exams and she just needs to pass at C or above. She doesn't have to worry about other people. I've stopped asking about her friends grades. It shouldn't bother me. When she was little I compared to make sure she was hitting milestones. That's not appropriate now. So what if child A got an A*? It's not my business. If she decides to tell dd, dd can say well done. I got an A or a B or even a C and that's o.k.

Also, they are introducing the Year 10 syallabus at the end of exams and before the 6 weeks holidays. DD said she was more stressed about that than the exams. I've told her not to worry about the pre-holidays work. It'll be 4 weeks worth at most. She can just pitch up to classes, smile and listen, but not stress about anything she doesn't take in. They'll have to do a sweep up after the holidays and if they don't, I'll cover any gaps then. I'm not a teacher, but I'm sure I can help her catch up if she misses anything.

I'm tired of the education system piling on pressure. I know it's the government, not the teachers, who are fault, but I refuse to play that game. My child doesn't miss classes, doesn't turn up late, doesn't cheek her elders and is a grafter. If they ask too much, she has my permission to down tools and take a rest. If they don't like it, they can contact me. Our deal is that she works hard enough to get 5 x GCSEs from grade A to C. Anything else is optional.

What do you do though when your DC need to feel a bit more pressure.

DS would do the bear minimum and doesn't get that school work is important at all. I do worry that I put on too much pressure , but without it he would do nothing.

Institution in my own case, dd puts herself under too much pressure all on her own. If she knows her goals, she'll go for them. I think much of the time dd tells herself she's not good enough and that leads to an insane form of pressure. She's just come in from school now, has shouted down 'hello', said what kind of day she's had and gone upstairs to revise.

She has notes pinned up on her bedroom wall and books all over the desk. If we offer to help, she rolls her eyes and says no thanks. She's generally very self motivated.

I suppose if I needed to put pressure on dd to get her to work, I'd put on the pressure. I've done it in the past. I've realised, however, that for my daughter that doesn't work. As adults we are all motivated in different ways. it's the same for our kids, I guess.

I'm hoping ds's school sticks to its current policy of giving study leave when it comes to ds's time in two years.

I agree that the majority of students will fare better at school, but Ds is like me and absolutely has to have silence to study, and revision sessions in school are far from silent.

Schools generally admit that A/A students are sacrificed for C/D students when it comes to giving or not giving study leave. Which is fine and as it should be - unless you're the A/A student.

My DDs school has had study leave since the start of exams. It's a GS, I suppose they have good attendance up till then and judging from previous years results it suits their pupils. Of course they can go in to work if they want, either quietly in the library or find a room to work with friends.

Only 3 exams left out of the 23 now. It's been hard work - before the exams themselves the mocks and ISAs and various CAs and finishing major coursework on things like electronics. I don't remember having to work anything like so hard over such a long period for O-levels.

My DDs school has had study leave since the start of exams. It's a GS, I suppose they have good attendance up till then and judging from previous years results it suits their pupils. Of course they can go in to work if they want, either quietly in the library or find a room to work with friends.

Only 3 exams left out of the 23 now. It's been hard work - before the exams themselves the mocks and ISAs and various CAs and finishing major coursework on things like electronics. I don't remember having to work anything like so hard over such a long period for O-levels.