Education, education, education

[The Lone Gunman]

I did agree when they proposed a standard national curriculum as I had fallen foul of the disparity of the various matriculation boards.
The school I attended set very high standards and generally chose the hardest board as they were also the best courses.As a consequence I did not do too well at 'O' level. This had a knock on effect in that I was turned down for a number of trainee positions becaus candidates with better results were considered.
When I finally got into a job I met one of these better candidates with straight 'A's. His final exams were at about the level we had taken at 3rd year.

It does seem that the modern standard is to make it easy enough for everyone to pass. The problem then is how do employers and higher education establishments diferentiate between applicants?

A national curriculum is a good thing, but we need to get off this ideal merry-go-round where everybody does well.
Some people will never be accademic and with the best will in the world we are not all brain surgeons and rocket scientists. We need an education system that will allow each individual the opportunity to do the best they can in whatever area they are best at, not this one size fits all where nobody finds their best path.

[janey]

As I recall it, the jump from O level to A level wasn't so stark as it is now.

And there were no exams that counted for much in the first year of A level...

yeh I found the jump really difficult... mainly due, I think, to GCSEs being so easy more than A-levels being hard.

my maths A-level was modular so had an exam every 3 months or so, but all the others were the traditional big exam at the end of 2 years type, don't remember any exams in the first year that counted towards anything

what really pi$$ed me off was that in the previous year the english Lit a-level had 70% coursework whereas the year I did it coursework was only worth something like 10%... and I'm cr@p at exams! I got A's in all my coursework but after the exam my overall mark came down to a C

[Jakes Daddy]

There was no multiple choice in the old 'O' level, it was all long winded questions that made your hair stand on end.

Indeed, and the answer was either right or wrong (with the exception of gaining partial marks for showing your workings).
On a slightly off topic subject (but related), my sister in law is a teacher for year 3+4 kids (wtf is that all about by the way - in my day that was called 1st and 2nd year at Junior school)
Anyway, she is not allowed to tell kids they are wrong. She cannot mark in red pen, and cannot use a cross to indicate a wrong answer ! Seriously ! Its all about PC and not hurting the little one's feelings and not demeaning them ! FFS
If the answer is 'wrong', she has to write comments such as 'Are you sure ? Remember our lesson on x where we spoke about y .....'

And the other thing - she is a teacher for year 3+4 - IE. in the same class she teaches 2 year groups. In her class of lets say 30 (more like 35 in this day and age !), half are '1st year Junior school kids' and half are '2nd year Junior school kids' So half the class are a year more advanced that the other half ? How the hell does that work ? From the teachers point of view it must be a nightmare teaching 2 streams at once. From the kids point of view - how demotivating having half the class that are clearly streets ahead of you.

When we looked for a school for Jake, we specifically looked for a school that did not do split year teaching.

[janey]

There was no multiple choice in the old 'O' level, it was all long winded questions that made your hair stand on end.

multiple choice?! I did GCSEs and I don't remember any multiple choice!!!

[eternalnomad]

GCSEs started in 1988, I did mine the year before so I'm 35!

I can show you my working out if you like!

Sorry, you are correct

I was thinking of the "CSE" system which was a pre-cursor and similar to GCSE

I am 37 and at my school we had the option of O level, CSE or 16+ courses

Naturally, the majority of kids didnt go for O level because in reality everyone (including the teachers) knew they were much harder

The mantra was "grade 1 CSE is the same as an O level" - my it is !

[G8_Summit]

My son is doing his "A" levels at the moment. Thats all changed too. In the first year you do AS which consists of coursework and modular exams all through the year. In the second year you do A2 - coursework and modular exams. The end result of the two years is an A level.
There is almost no way to fail unless you are a lazy feckwit, as the coursework can be repeatedly marked by the teacher and corrected until it is perfect (in the teacher's eyes), and the modular exams are fairly small.

I personally don't think this is bad - just different, as the student still learns the stuff - just in a different way.

[janey]

Anyway, she is not allowed to tell kids they are wrong. She cannot mark in red pen, and cannot use a cross to indicate a wrong answer ! Seriously ! Its all about PC and not hurting the little one's feelings and not demeaning them ! FFS
If the answer is 'wrong', she has to write comments such as 'Are you sure ? Remember our lesson on x where we spoke about y .....'

I used to live with a school teacher and she used to tell me the exact same thing... is there any wonder that the yoof of today think they can do anything and get away with it? Being told you're wrong never hurt anyone.

And the other thing - she is a teacher for year 3+4 - IE. in the same class she teaches 2 year groups. In her class of lets say 30 (more like 35 in this day and age !), half are '1st year Junior school kids' and half are '2nd year Junior school kids' So half the class are a year more advanced that the other half ? How the hell does that work ? From the teachers point of view it must be a nightmare teaching 2 streams at once. From the kids point of view - how demotivating having half the class that are clearly streets ahead of you.

I've never heard of this before, there is no way I'd let a kid of mine go to a school like that!!!!! you just can't teach/learn in an environment like that.

[Xenophon]

I know a girl who has 'A' levels. She is slightly more expensive than the others.

[janey]

I know a girl who has 'A' levels. She is slightly more expensive than the others.

someone always has to lower the tone... why am I not surprised it was you!

[The Lone Gunman]

I know a girl who has 'A' levels. She is slightly more expensive than the others.

Nicely done Xen, this was getting way too serious <curly mode>yuck yuck yuck</curly mode>