In light of the school holiday thread…

Discuss.

Shift in blame and kids not being held responsible for their academic achievement/behaviour, or declining teaching standards not getting the best out of kids/not adapting to the kids of today?

What are your experiences? I’m a teacher and have my side of the story, so was initially against the taking kids out of school arguement. However some good points did come up on the other thread so i’d be interested to see what people think about this. Let’s broaden those horizons. Needless to say, in a polite and friendly manner, one at a time and hands up if you want to contribute.

PS: Wrong forum, I know. Can I get it moved?

Had this email from my sons school re: his recent gcse exam.

Bit depressign really – how will employers know that kids with an ‘A’ in 2012 worked harder to achieve it than a kid who got one in 2011?

Dear Parent/Carer,

As you may be well aware, the results of the first round of Science GCSE modular exams in November 2011 were very much lower than expected. Across the country students achieved results that were on average two or more grades below their expectations. Most Blatchington Mill students’ results were similarly affected.

We are not sure why the results have changed so much. We do know it is not the fault of the school or the students. It is quite possible this was a deliberate move by the Edexcel exam board to reduce the number of high grades awarded. Edexcel will not confirm for us that this was their intention, only that they are confident they assessed the students correctly. What is undeniable is that the grade boundaries were higher than in previous years, and I believe the question papers were more difficult. We have checked the marking of a number of students’ papers and it was accurate. It seems Edexcel did not award these lowered grades in error. Therefore students may find that from now on GCSE exams are much harder to score good grades in than was the case in previous years.

Well, the only consistent feature in those two pictures besides the grades being terrible appears to be the parents….

how will employers know that kids with an ‘A’ in 2012 worked harder to achieve it than a kid who got one in 2011?

Do they know that an kids with an ‘A’ in 2012 still worked less hard than a kid who got one in 1992?

Do they know that an kids with an ‘A’ in 2012 still worked less hard than a kid who got one in 1992?

they would if they read the Daily Mail 😉