As kind-of an outside observer (I'm Scottish) - what is it about the English education system? Your politicians seem obsessed with messing about with it all the time, even before waiting to see the results of the last time they mucked about with it.
The Scottish education system has changed very little from when I left it almost 20 years ago. It's just not a big political punchbag the way it is south of the border.
This isn't an England-bashing question, I'm honestly interested why there's such a difference. Is it as simple as Scotland is more Socialist, like the teaching unions?
Gove is being castigated for doing precisely the opposite of what you suggest - introducing a policy to produce lower grades.
Not sure what your point is, what did I suggest?
Gove is being Castgated for residing over a shambles and then saying he had nothing to do with it.
Just saw a friend who marks papers, she said the a level papers in Jan were marked much more harshly, whether this is right or wrong isnt the question, the question is who said the papers should be harder, it was Gove. He is now saying it wasnt him.
As an aside she also raised another good point, when GCSE's go terminal and all 9 papers have to be marked at the same time who is going to do all that marking? How will it be done in time?
Your politicians seem obsessed with messing about with it all the time, even before waiting to see the results of the last time they mucked about with it.
Very good point and the reason for this is ego, both at a party and personal level. There is a culture of having to be seen to make your mark regardless of whether what you are tampering with works or not.
Here's a 1979 physics O level for comparison.
[url] http://www.slideshare.net/fullscreen/telescoper/o-level-physics-1979/1 [/url]
I understand how people feel with the change of marking and the grades given. I was in the last year to do O levels and we were basically ignored by the teachers who were concentrating on the then new GCSE's.
From an employer though I see CV's from applicants with straight A's in their results.The differences between these applicants is immense with basic spelling and grammar mistakes. I no longer look at their results as they have become irrelevant and would welcome some tougher grading. I would look at 2012 GCSE grades more favourable than prior results, hopefully other employers and further education will do so too. It may have been a better idea to differentiate these grades and future grades with something like "Revised GCSE" so other people can tell the difference
"I understand how people feel with the change of marking and the grades given"
Are you sure? Yesterday my son received his results for his Part1 GCSE's. All marks and grades were fine with reasonable concordance, except English. A score of 81% in the exam produced..... a grade C! In other subjects the same percentage scored him an A.
You'd be pleased with >80% in an exam, no? Perhaps less pleased with a C. I am well aware of standardized normal distributions, but give that standardized percentage and a grade, or just the grade or just the percentage. Needless to say the English teacher, and most of the pupils and parents are not impressed.
Flaperon - MemberAbsolutely nothing in these exams provides or rewards the intellectual rigour needed at A-Level, University, and beyond. In 20 years time kids that have scored A grades in exams like these will be making decisions that affect millions of people.
Don't lump the intellectual rigour needed at A-level in with degree level assessments. A-levels are more like GCSE than higher education from my experience.
In 20 years time kids who scored A grades at GCSE will have 20 years more education and experience behind them to help them make decisions. Anyway, when you do A-levels you get told the stuff you covered a GCSE was wrong, and if you go to uni the same happens for A-levels.
So who are we to believe - a man who has risen to high office or a teacher (FFS)?
A teacher (FFS).
So who are we to believe - a man who has risen to high office or a teacher (FFS)?
Given the choice of believing Michael Gove or just about anyone else, including tabloid journalists, its a no brainer. I wouldn't trust a single one of this shower as far as I could throw them!
