tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019828684971971203.post6014638165858086140..comments2024-03-14T02:53:31.171+00:00Comments on Tom Bennett's School Report: Twilight of the GCSEs; new balls, pleaseTom Bennetthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03211959016018081924noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019828684971971203.post-45515121790167761342013-06-29T16:57:21.976+01:002013-06-29T16:57:21.976+01:00"People frowning on 'facts' as 'm..."People frowning on 'facts' as 'merely facts' make me wonder when we started to get so stupid. You can't understand anything without facts"<br /><br />Aren't they frowning on them because facts are necessary but not sufficient? - possession of facts doesn't guarantee understanding, whereas understanding guarantees you have facts.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019828684971971203.post-82548065030037707532012-10-09T21:09:42.591+01:002012-10-09T21:09:42.591+01:00Bill Hall, not all children are intellectually equ...Bill Hall, not all children are intellectually equal. That's not to say they aren't equally precious, valuable and entitled but it is something that needs to be acknowledged. Academic children did O levels. Those whose prior 9 years of performance had suggested they weren't up to it did CSE. What's the difference between that and doing Foundation or Higher GCSEs?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019828684971971203.post-23655146127382802412012-09-20T21:38:45.538+01:002012-09-20T21:38:45.538+01:00Were you in a bad mood when you wrote this? '...Were you in a bad mood when you wrote this? 'How d'you like them apples?' I've plagued my husband on more than one viewing, what DOES that mean? His response: it's a guy thing. ;o) Yes, I DID actually READ the blog. It's admirable that you strive for the best in education...even if it is giving you a hernia ;o) Journal for My Daughtershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16271784940616945687noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019828684971971203.post-23413983095049809922012-09-20T00:12:27.631+01:002012-09-20T00:12:27.631+01:00I don't care if reformed exams are still calle...I don't care if reformed exams are still called GCSEs or a new name. What is important is that they address the problems of current GCSEs and I guess they can also try and avoid the worst problems with the old OLevel also. It's a bit too defeatist to suggest its not worth reforming our current GCSEs because they themselves were a failed attempt at reform. Shall. Just give up then?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019828684971971203.post-15046968229606901242012-09-20T00:08:31.694+01:002012-09-20T00:08:31.694+01:00I see what you mean but the exams are at fault as ...I see what you mean but the exams are at fault as they have become ever easier.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019828684971971203.post-64321643589078292202012-09-18T10:51:04.752+01:002012-09-18T10:51:04.752+01:00As I imagine you dancing with glee around this par...As I imagine you dancing with glee around this particular bonfire of the vanities, I must express my disappointment in you, of all people, falling for the invitation to chuck another can of petrol onto the flames. As we’re among friends, there's no need to rehearse here all the problems associated with GCSE, but you should ask yourself the question, 'Why were they so keen to dispense with O levels and bring in all this new-fangled coursework assessment stuff back in the 1980s?’. This is even more pertinent given that GCSE was brought under Thatcher’s regime, an era not noted for its progressive child-centred educational outlook. As the old Viet Nam ‘vets’ would say, ‘You weren’t there’, but there are still some of us old gits around who worked under the old O level system. You didn’t experience its divisiveness, separating kids into O level and CSE groups from Y9, the last minute cramming for exams (bright kids could just free-wheel for 2 years!), double entering students who were on borderlines, let alone the condemnation of half the cohort to the outer flames of CSE (I really could go on…...). <br /><br />So, consider for a moment a strange parallel universe where GCSE was never born. In this perfect world how would the ‘gold standard’ of O level have fared over the last few decades if it had been subjected to the pressures of league tables (as the new E-Bac will undoubtedly be in England)? Schools would have done their damndest to get the best results possible by such nefarious tactics as choosing the easiest exam board, they would ‘teach to the test’, and all the other aspects of so-called ‘gaming’ which have been criticised so heavily and so rightly in current exams (actually most of this happened anyway even without league tables). So, by this point in time, I suspect we would be discussing the ‘dumbing down’ of O levels instead. In other words, it’s not the GCSE exam itself which is at fault. The exams, the exam boards, the schools, the teachers, and (unfortunately for them) the kids have had to work in a system where the ‘tail’ of league tables has been wagging the poor dog senseless. For too long now everyone has been arguing about answers to the wrong questions.<br />Bill Hallhttp://www.billhall.org.uk/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019828684971971203.post-72573063760133319992012-09-17T22:38:46.565+01:002012-09-17T22:38:46.565+01:00Indeed.
One of the mailing lists I'm on has r...Indeed.<br /><br />One of the mailing lists I'm on has received numerous wails of agony from anonymous teachers who are being pressurised by their HODs or SLTs to treat Controlled Assessments like coursework - mark drafts, provide 'frameworks' (i.e. everything but the actual wording) or simply teach the whole class how to answer the question. Coursework had become a scandal, but all the CAs have done is remove the locus of cheating from the parent to the teacher.<br /><br />Returning to a terminal exam as the only mode of qualifying will also help to lessen the achievement gap between girls and boys. I can already hear the shrieks of the snake-haired sisterhood...Sue Simshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15868265477624790008noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3019828684971971203.post-42879365371426820682012-09-17T22:11:37.732+01:002012-09-17T22:11:37.732+01:00This bolg post is probably not going to be you mos...This bolg post is probably not going to be you most popular Sir. I agree with every word.irondanimalnoreply@blogger.com