Dunces all of a sudden

[Bazile]

So is this years crop of students sitting GCSE not as bright as those previously
or has political pressure being put on examining boards to ' halt ' the previous upward trend


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-19349444

[andy-hughes]

It's acknowledged by those who know that the English grading system has been altered dowawnwards after the studfents took their exams in the summer. This means that anyone who took it early, will in effect have a higher grade by default.

Successive governments are obsessed with exams, and constantly tinker with the curriculum and the markiing systems to a point where massaging figures for political gain is seen as the norm.

It is immoral, and it is time it was stopped and the system was overhauled properly, and then actually left alone for more than twelve months, now that would be a good result!

[TheNovice]

the government announced they were going to tighten up the marking of these exams and that's seems to be whats happened. Another non news story. They done the same with A levels. Simple as that. Unless you're the bbc wanting to bash the tories with whatever stick you can find of course!!

[TheNovice]

well said Andy

[Bazile]

This is what one exam borad is saying

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-19355956

while teachers are saying this

//Many teachers say pupils were marked too harshly, with many unexpectedly failing to get a benchmark C.

The Association of School and College Leaders called for an investigation.

Some head teachers have said some pupils have been awarded a whole grade lower than they were predicted.//

[cazzz1975]

Dunce is a little harsh as a terminology.

[factor-fiction]

I don't see the relevance of the word 'dunce' to all of this.

[Bazile]

The word ' dunce ' was used , tongue in cheek - did you not see that ?

[Duncer]

Leave me out of it!!!!

[factor-fiction]

Sorry Bazile- as a teacher maybe I'm too sensitive on these issues. Maybe a question mark would have helped though

[cazzz1975]

I actually think the whole ofsted and league table thing is tosh, I have seen a failing school (failing for years) nearby go from level 4 and special measures to level 1 outstanding in 1 year, I cant understand how exam results went from 12% students getting A-C in 2010 to 68% in 2011. something is amiss

[Bazile]

factor30 - I take your point about the question mark

[factor-fiction]

Yes you always have to look behind the data. One way to make your percentages look better is to enter students for fewer exams- or at least not enter the weaker ones. and many schools boosted exam results by entering students for exams (BTec etc) that counted as up to 5 GCSEs each. I knew pupils who left school with 16 GCSEs but failed to achieve a C in Maths.
I went to a good grammar school but the most we ever did was 8 GCSEs

[Ellipsis]

It's a bit tough on the current crop of kids. They're being marked more harshly than their predecessors and, should they make it to University, they'll be paying higher tuition fees than their predecessors. The knock on effects in the job market will be subtle but profound: kids from one or two years ago will have slightly higher grades and slightly lower salary requirements.

[ichkeria]

I'm proud to say it doesn't seem to have affected my nieces and nephews' performances. Pre-2012 clampdown style grades - well done to them

[flip_flop]

factor - my grammar was the same; the maximum number of 'O' Levels we were allowed to do was 8, and back then, in my school at least, there were no soft options to choose from such as psychology, media studies etc...from memory this was 1986 - my year was the last to do 'O' Levels.

In the sixth form the 'normal' kids were only allowed to take 3 'A' Levels; only the most spectacularly bright kids were allowed to attempt a fourth (alas I wasn't one of them). There were 60 kids in my sixth form, out of which only 5 were attempting a fourth 'A' Level - I know this because a special assembly was called which singled them out. This is why I can never understand how today's kids often do more than four 'A' Levels, yet we are told they are still the gold standard they always were.

Children work just as hard now as we did back then, and common sense dictates today's kids are not intrinsically more intelligent now than when I was at school, and I applaud them for their multiple A*, but the fact of the matter is the GCSE is not as testing as the 'O' Level and I think today's kids are being cheated because of the constant political pressure of improving grades.

It would be extremely churlish and unfair to suggest today's kids do not work hard for their grades - the problem is with the exam.

I was interested to hear on the news this morning that we still produce 'O' Level papers.........but then sell them to countries like Singapore. I had no idea. If the GCSE is so great, surely the Singaporeans (is that a word?) would rather use our GCSE papers than our 'O' Level!

[jake-the-peg]

You've obviously never tried psychology flip-flop

I don't know about GCSEs but my daughters been struggling with the AS of that.

They have to remember and quote around 80 studies with authors correct terminology, data and conclusions and the papers are structured to be very tight on time - only about half finish in time

What are you basing your "soft options" ideas on - what you read in the papers?

[jake-the-peg]

The other thing flip flop is that there are two levels of GCSE

The harder and easier papers - roughly equating to the old O level and CSE level

The macimum you can score on the latter is a C

It's a typical trick of journalists to trap the unwary to compare O level papers to the the easier GCSE papers

Sure you've not been fooled?

[factor-fiction]

When I was at grammar school my 'O' level results were among the best in the school, with all 6 passed, mainly at grades A and B. In comparison with current results, however, my grades look poor. I now try to avoid putting my 'O'level and 'A'level grades on job application forms if I can because they don't look impressive.

The change in grade distributions this year is only minor but it is significant in that it seems to reverse the trend of ever improving grades. However I suspect there will be a temptation to show improved grades again next year to show the benefits of government policy on education.