Plan to scrap GCSE's gets lukewarm reception in East Lancashire

6:21pm Monday 17th September 2012 in News

A SHAKE-UP of GCSEs with a single exam, fewer top grades and one board for each main subject has got a lukewarm reception from East Lancashire headteachers while unions have warned the moves will be a step backwards.

David Whyte, principal of Blackburn’s St Wilfrid’s Church of England Academy and Janet Walsh, head of Colne Primet High School, welcomed moving away from the “re-sit” culture of coursework-based qualifications but expressed concern that not all subjects were suitable for single exam assessment.

Brendan Loughran, principal of Darwen Aldridge Community Academy, said: “It’s high time we had a good look at how we assess our young people’s performance. Now we need a sensible consultation on all this.”

However Sam Ud-din, National Union of Teachers Lancashire secretary, said: “This is bad news. It is not just a step backwards, it is a step downwards.”

Under the plans announced yesterday, pupils who begin secondary school this year will be the first to take the revised exams in 2017.

The current system of assessing individual “modular “ units of a course will be replaced by a single three-hour final exam with one exam board for each major subject. It will be more difficult to get the highest A* and A grades.

Mr Whyte said: “A single exam board is a good idea. I am in favour of reducing the emphasis on modular and rolling assessment of coursework for some subjects where it has created a “resit culture” with some students. But not all subjects are suitable for a single test. Schools must not become exam factories and lose our role producing rounded individuals.”

Mrs Walsh said: “This is good in parts. A single exam board and less emphasis on complicated coursework assessment is good. We need to end the “resit” culture, but not return to the old O-level GCSE divide. We need to prepare our pupils for the world of work. We must be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.”

Mike Damms, chief executive of the East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce, said: “I am in favour of a single exam board to compare like with like and a more rigorous exam-based system but we need to measure the employability skills important to business.”

Comments (7)

8:02pm Mon 17 Sep 12

Excluded again says...

I have been asked to do many things in nearly 30 years of working life.

One of the few things which I have not been asked to do is to sit in a room for three hours and write down all that I can remember on several vaguely connected subjects.

How this is meant to help prepare young people for the realities of the world of work is beyond me. Unless they are all going to become academics.
I have been asked to do many things in nearly 30 years of working life. One of the few things which I have not been asked to do is to sit in a room for three hours and write down all that I can remember on several vaguely connected subjects. How this is meant to help prepare young people for the realities of the world of work is beyond me. Unless they are all going to become academics. Excluded again

10:54pm Mon 17 Sep 12

Rimbus says...

Excluded again wrote:
I have been asked to do many things in nearly 30 years of working life.

One of the few things which I have not been asked to do is to sit in a room for three hours and write down all that I can remember on several vaguely connected subjects.

How this is meant to help prepare young people for the realities of the world of work is beyond me. Unless they are all going to become academics.
Write out 100 times 'I must not criticise Michael Gove's idiotic attempt to make a name for himself whilst taking secondary education back 20 years'.

Completely agree with you Excluded again. Politicians need to stop meddling and understand that some children are more suited to a vocational type approach to their education rather than purely academic. This proposed policy will come back to haunt us at some stage in the future if it is followed through.
[quote][p][bold]Excluded again[/bold] wrote: I have been asked to do many things in nearly 30 years of working life. One of the few things which I have not been asked to do is to sit in a room for three hours and write down all that I can remember on several vaguely connected subjects. How this is meant to help prepare young people for the realities of the world of work is beyond me. Unless they are all going to become academics.[/p][/quote]Write out 100 times 'I must not criticise Michael Gove's idiotic attempt to make a name for himself whilst taking secondary education back 20 years'. Completely agree with you Excluded again. Politicians need to stop meddling and understand that some children are more suited to a vocational type approach to their education rather than purely academic. This proposed policy will come back to haunt us at some stage in the future if it is followed through. Rimbus

7:00am Tue 18 Sep 12

caballo says...

Excluded again wrote:
I have been asked to do many things in nearly 30 years of working life. One of the few things which I have not been asked to do is to sit in a room for three hours and write down all that I can remember on several vaguely connected subjects. How this is meant to help prepare young people for the realities of the world of work is beyond me. Unless they are all going to become academics.
Have you ever been asked to make a hurried or instant decision though?
In my 30 yrs of working life I've never had the luxury of being able to make a decision over several weeks/months, then be given that decision back and told which bits of it were not quite right so I could amend them, several times if need be.
[quote][p][bold]Excluded again[/bold] wrote: I have been asked to do many things in nearly 30 years of working life. One of the few things which I have not been asked to do is to sit in a room for three hours and write down all that I can remember on several vaguely connected subjects. How this is meant to help prepare young people for the realities of the world of work is beyond me. Unless they are all going to become academics.[/p][/quote]Have you ever been asked to make a hurried or instant decision though? In my 30 yrs of working life I've never had the luxury of being able to make a decision over several weeks/months, then be given that decision back and told which bits of it were not quite right so I could amend them, several times if need be. caballo

8:57am Tue 18 Sep 12

Chris P Bacon says...

Tricky one this. I can sympathise with both points of view. We do need to be tested on what we know but also need to be assessed on what we're doing periodically so we don't go 100 miles in the wrong direction but can alter course earlier on.
Tricky one this. I can sympathise with both points of view. We do need to be tested on what we know but also need to be assessed on what we're doing periodically so we don't go 100 miles in the wrong direction but can alter course earlier on. Chris P Bacon

5:16pm Tue 18 Sep 12

sally786987 says...

I'd like to know who had been consulted when the decision was made to scrap the English GCSE. Teachers have been left out of decision making again. I believe changes need to be made,but surely young people, parents and teachers should have been part of the decision making and not just Mr Grove and his "experts". The whole GCSE English grading fiasco, has been staged by the govenment so that the public wont be as objecting to the "EBAAC qualification. I feel sorry for all those young adults who have worked so hard this summer and did not get what they deserved.
I'd like to know who had been consulted when the decision was made to scrap the English GCSE. Teachers have been left out of decision making again. I believe changes need to be made,but surely young people, parents and teachers should have been part of the decision making and not just Mr Grove and his "experts". The whole GCSE English grading fiasco, has been staged by the govenment so that the public wont be as objecting to the "EBAAC qualification. I feel sorry for all those young adults who have worked so hard this summer and did not get what they deserved. sally786987

8:12pm Tue 18 Sep 12

Chris P Bacon says...

Mind you, the headline writer himself could do with English lessons and a test to show he's learned what he's been taught.
Mind you, the headline writer himself could do with English lessons and a test to show he's learned what he's been taught. Chris P Bacon

10:40pm Tue 18 Sep 12

Excluded again says...

caballo wrote:
Excluded again wrote:
I have been asked to do many things in nearly 30 years of working life. One of the few things which I have not been asked to do is to sit in a room for three hours and write down all that I can remember on several vaguely connected subjects. How this is meant to help prepare young people for the realities of the world of work is beyond me. Unless they are all going to become academics.
Have you ever been asked to make a hurried or instant decision though?
In my 30 yrs of working life I've never had the luxury of being able to make a decision over several weeks/months, then be given that decision back and told which bits of it were not quite right so I could amend them, several times if need be.
I frequently have to make quick decisions. Sometimes they are instant, but if I was given three hours, I would check as many facts as I could before coming to a decision.

I'm an employer. If one of my employees was faced with a problem and three hours to solve it: if they said I just did what I could remember and didn't check anything, they would at best be on a warning, most probably dismissed.
[quote][p][bold]caballo[/bold] wrote: [quote][p][bold]Excluded again[/bold] wrote: I have been asked to do many things in nearly 30 years of working life. One of the few things which I have not been asked to do is to sit in a room for three hours and write down all that I can remember on several vaguely connected subjects. How this is meant to help prepare young people for the realities of the world of work is beyond me. Unless they are all going to become academics.[/p][/quote]Have you ever been asked to make a hurried or instant decision though? In my 30 yrs of working life I've never had the luxury of being able to make a decision over several weeks/months, then be given that decision back and told which bits of it were not quite right so I could amend them, several times if need be.[/p][/quote]I frequently have to make quick decisions. Sometimes they are instant, but if I was given three hours, I would check as many facts as I could before coming to a decision. I'm an employer. If one of my employees was faced with a problem and three hours to solve it: if they said I just did what I could remember and didn't check anything, they would at best be on a warning, most probably dismissed. Excluded again

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