Do grade 9s matter that much?

[AGoodDayToday]

Hi,

My 15 year old son is home schooling with council funding, because he was struggling with epic anxiety after being at an ultra competitive state secondary school.

He's highly academic and getting very high grades in past papers, but he constantly worries about how he will guarantee a grade 9 in the actual exam.

It seems that when he was at school, the school were very focussed on the importance of getting a grade 9 in everything, and that my son received the message that an 8 or 7 was really not okay. I asked his school friends and they confirmed that the pressure was intense, and he was not mistaken about that.

Also I know that the school routinely gets 20% of all their GCSE exams coming out at grade 9 whereas the national average is about 20% of GCSEs being awarded at grade 7-9. So I think the pressure was very real.

I wondered if anyone could help me figure out how to reframe the GCSE discussion in a more healthy way, so he can be excited about aiming for a 7 and know that that is actually a really good grade?

I know a 7 is the same as an old A grade, and I got As and Bs and ended up with a first class honours degree and a PhD, so I really think that a 7 is probably okay.

DS doesn't need or want to get into Oxford or Cambridge. He's said repeatedly that he would be happy with an apprenticeship even, but he just can't shake the message that he's received from the school that he has no value in life if he doesn't get 9s.

FWIW, at 15 he is also operating at high A level standard in computer science and was already getting a grade 6 in maths GCSE past papers at age 13.

He's a good lad, and will be an asset to someone in their organisation with his abilities, but I need to callm him down a bit and show him that it's okay to be a regular human and not an exam-sitting machine.

I would be really grateful for any thoughts on this.

Thanks!

Grade 9s matter a hell of a lot more for the schools than they do for the kids. (I'm a secondary teacher)

@AGoodDayToday honestly I don't think it is like that in most schools. Certainly most state comps (I assume this is a selective school). After all the majority of DC in a state comp will not get all 7 and above never mind all 9s. DD's friend in the year below her got 999999888 IIRC, she is super smart, the school celebrated that of course as the best result from that year group. But it also celebrated a student who gained 4s and 5s that they had worked really hard for.

I meant to say before – They ask essay questions and I am bracing myself to write an essay that would grace the front page of the FT, and then when we look at the marking scheme, it's really very basic information that is called for. – do be aware that the mark scheme is important.

I have known DC write loads for their English lang exam but bc they didn;t write what the MS wanted, they got very few marks. I am sure that's not your son! but just to be aware that to some extent GCSEs are an exercise in box ticking and passing an exam at the highest grade you can, rather than enhancing your knowledge for the love of a subject. Sadly. Though of course you can do that as well and why not!

@clay Thanks so much for your kind response. I totally get what you mean about the marking scheme. Looking at that one for geography yesterday was a real eye opener, because the things they were asking DS to do were not at all related to having a broad knowledge of the subject, but about being able to state the obvious in the most basic way. That is definitely a skill that we will need to practise, because I wouldn't have thought to do it.

The good thing about looking at the marking scheme is that the exam turned out to be really quite easy, from the point of view of the knowledge needed, so that is good. We just need to be sure to state the obvious at every turn and not be fretting about trying to say something that no one else has ever thought of.

It's really good that your school celebrated those kids that got 4s and 5s that had to be worked for. That sounds nice. Our school isn't selective, but I think it wishes it was iykwim. I think in way it would be better if it was, because then my DS would hever have gone in the first place. It's easier not to go in the first place, then to go and get spat out half way through.

@clary I just asked DS if people ever got celebrated in his school for working hard to get a 4 or 5, and he said "LOL. No". We're not sure they admit the existence of 4s and 5s tbh.

It really good to know the world isn't like this everywhere else. Feeling a bit more hopeful now.

If he's serious about wanting a degree apprenticeship in software engineering (DS is doing one and loves it) then it would be worth him looking at extra curriculars that he will be able to put on a cv and talk about at interview rather than just focusing on exams. They are very competitive and he will need to stand out, they won't worry if he hasn't got all 9's at GCSE as long as he has decent grades, but they will want someone who can demonstrate a genuine interest in the subject and work as part of their team. The schools obsession with grade 9's is just about their own stats and nothing else.

So doing things things like moocs, youtube tutorials, free courses, Unity Junior programmer, making his own games and having a Github account to show their development. Relevant voluntary work, examples of teamwork (there was always a question on working as part of a team at DS's interviews), an EPQ in an area of interest (DS did quantum computing/cyber security related one), a really good NEA as part of his comp sci A-level (DS did a game with simple AI) and/or a part time job to show reliability.

Coming out of uni with a degree is no longer enough to get you a job, employers want to see much more than that - and at that point they're not going to care less about what grades you got at GCSE as long as you have maths and English. Much better to be able to also demonstrate you have all the soft skills they are looking for than and a variety of experiences to talk about at interview than to focus solely on exams and academics IMO.

Thanks @Sandy483 that's really good to know.

Ironic that what they really want is the capacity to function in society and that that is why my DS lost by being hot housed at school.

Would have been better if he'd come out with 7s and without the panic attacks. Oh well.

Wow @AGoodDayToday I am amazed tbh it’s not a selective school. At least if it was (depending on how selective) you might expect the majority of students to achieve 6+ in their GCSEs.

Goodness. It sounds like a truly toxic environment. I taught in a comp in a pretty disadvantaged area and I can clearly recall students of mine getting a C (old school) or a 4/5 and they are I were really pleased. For many students, grades 4 and 5 represent a massive achievement.

And students who don't achieve all 9s or even all grades 7-9 can still be useful and purposeful members of society. They can go to college, get a job, earn money. Actually after many many years in the workplace in a variety of roles, the qualities I value most in colleagues are empathy, a sense of humour and the ability to tackle a challenge. Not so much with the starry academic career. But you know this I am sure :)

Often the love of a subject comes from having an inspirational teacher and good discussions in the classroom, topped up by school trips and a sense of all being in it together. Not sure being at home alone can provide any source of true inspiration. So that must be very difficult. I hope he can find a solution to go to college or sixth form for the next stage. Then he will get the reassurance about grades, that he seems to need.

I would be careful of falling into the trap of looking at the mark scheme and thinking the exams are really quite easy. This year, of the 16-year-old students who took 7 or more GCSEs, 45.8% achieved all grade 4 or above, 5.5% achieved all grade 7 or above and 0.2% achieved all grade 9. If GCSEs were easy these figures would be far higher.

EOTAS/EOTIS absolutely can work. Where it is appropriate it doesn’t have to involve being at home alone either. There are possibilities for interaction even if school is legally inappropriate. Trips out can (should unless it is inappropriate) be part of a proper EOTAS/EOTIS package. Inspirational teachers are just as likely, if not more so since parents often have greater input into who is working with their DC (e.g. because they have direct payments), with EOTAS/EOTIS as they are in schools.

Thanks @flawlessflipper. One of the nice things about EOTAS is that he can take the time to think about what he really wants to do. It's not just going from class to class to class and trying to keep up. He has the time to actually think about what kind of life he wants, and about what is actually feasible. I feel as though in the long term, having this time out to think is very valuable.

I understand that in the Republic of Ireland they intentionally give the kids a year of thinking time at this point to work out who they are and what they want, and it considered very valuable.

Given the massive changes happening in society and globally, and the way that the world of work is changing, I think it's actually quite a good thing to have time to stop and reflect.

There's a good article in the times education supplement today, saying that school leadership is an incredibly complex job at the moment. It said that the leaders are trying to prepare the kids for the a very rapidly changing world, and a world where even global leaders are struggling to articulate our national stance on all sorts of issues, or to predict where we're going.

The article said that while the school system demands attainment and attendance, the broader question of how to actually prepare kids for the reality of their future life is actually far more complex. I hadn't really thought about that tbh.

I think it's good that my DS is getting time to think, so he can form his own ideas and at least go into his future with the conviction of having made his own decisions.