A 16-year-old vs the Department for Education

6 replies

BenTedds42 · 21/03/2018 20:53

Hello all.

My name is Ben, and I'm the eponymous student who is quite fed up with the current state of GCSEs, and my friend's mum suggested that it might be a good idea to post my story here.

To cut to the chase, some of you may be aware of what happened with the Computer Science NEA (Briefly, 6 months of work scrapped due to extreme incompetence by the government). This I saw as the final straw in a long list of maniacal decisions by the DfE, so decided to write to my MP to do something. After a long battle, I eventually received a response to my letter, which only confirmed my suspicions that the new system was complete farcical nonsense and that any protests were dealt with in the most insultingly ignorant and patronising way possible.

Thus, I present my response, which has been read and agreed with by teachers and fellow students, but here I hope that it and its subsequent message at the article's conclusion will garner more attention than if it were just left to its own devices.

Enjoy...

OP posts:

Walkingdeadfangirl · 21/03/2018 21:26

6 months of work scrapped due to extreme incompetence by the government
Not sure its the governments faults that some pupils decided/tried to cheat. And it didn't take 6 months to do the course work, it was 20 hours.

So dont get what point your making?

Stickerrocks · 21/03/2018 21:40

Hi Ben
I'm a mum watching my 16 year old face the same issues as you. She didn't take computer science, but some of her friends did and are similarly frustrated about the moving goalposts.. Her drama chums initially were following one syllabus, then were switched to another one just before Christmas, losing all the assessments done to date. They are having to do new performances next week.

I'm worried that grade 9s are being billed by some as equivalent to an A, creating unrealistic expectations in the minds of some who would previously have been straight AA pupils. Others see the new grade 9 as being completely unobtainable, so pupils are not given the opportunity to try, as they are not being taught the necessary content. There seems to be a truly inconsistent understanding of how marks are grades will be awarded.

I really don't think there will be any rhyme or reason for the grades awarded this summer, so sit back and enjoy the ride! Do your best and remember that your GCSEs are only a tool to get you to the next stage of your career or education and they very quickly become irrelevant. You are obviously a confident, articulate student & these skills will be far more use to you in life than any grade 9 GCSE. Best wishes.

Original poster

BenTedds42 · 21/03/2018 22:00

The NEA is 20 hours of coding but that is set over several weeks, as we can have a maximum of two hours per week. In addition, this included learning all the skills involved in coding a project of its nature, plus a full practice assessment. Perhaps I should have been more clear on my wording - my letter to my MP was with regards to all of the issues with the current system rather than just the NEA. My point with regards to the NEA was that some kind of system should have been in place to prevent the possibility of the documents containing the specifications spreading. The blog post that I link to in the final paragraph is my full 3000-word response to the reply to the aforementioned letter. The NEA debacle itself was just a catalyst.

OP posts:

Walkingdeadfangirl · 21/03/2018 22:31

I get it Ben, my DS did the NEA just before xmas, took him 4/5 weeks. But none of the skills he learnt doing it have been lost, they have still developed his computer science skills and he enjoyed it. He hasn't been disadvantaged in any way.

There is always some problems with exams, we are all human, I remember when it changed from O levels to GCSE, I remember when they taught the wrong text books in English, when the A* was introduced and on and on.

Stop stressing, spend your time on revising not complaining and try and focus on your own exams.

PerspicaciaTick · 21/03/2018 22:35

I was gobsmacked to discover that DD's GCSE in Computer Science doesn't cover any coding. It is like doing an Art GCSE without putting pencil to paper.

InvisibleUnicorn · 21/03/2018 22:46

You need to be concentrating on revision and doing the very best you can.

Bright kids will always get the A*s and the 9s,
regardless of any mess ups and issues with coursework and exams.

Is it fair? Is any system fair?

Seriously, spend your time right now on working hard. It's the only way to make a difference to your results.

Flip