Blog posts for tag:exams

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Will GCSE reform disadvantage girls?

By Lindsay Plumpton, Communications Leader, Sunday 14 April 2013

Lindsay Plumpton

Teachers have warned that the switch to final exams, rather than a series of smaller units could see girls’ results fall. Data shows that girls have been outperforming boys in GCSEs at grades A*-C for more than 20 years, as GCSEs have been heavily based around coursework projects and extended essays. However, The Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) suggests that girls often lack the confidence to perform well under the pressure of a ‘high stakes’ final exam system. The Department for Education denies that there are gender differences in how pupils perform in different exam structures.

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Proposed changes to Level 3 qualifications for 16-19 year olds

By Lindsay Plumpton, Communications Leader, Friday 08 March 2013

Lindsay Plumpton

Following the Wolf review of vocational education, the Department for Education is now consulting on proposals to establish rigorous standards for Level 3 vocational qualifications taken by 16-19 year olds in schools and colleges from September 2014. The plan is that only ‘high value’ qualifications that meet specific sets of requirements will count in performance tables from this point onward. Quality and rigour are very important to us here at NCFE. Supporting learners to reach their full potential is at the heart of everything we do. Therefore, we’ll be working with the Department throughout the consultation process to find workable solutions that will best support learners to achieve success.

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Vocational qualifications for schools

By Lindsay Plumpton, Communications Leader, Thursday 08 November 2012

Lindsay Plumpton

By David Grailey Back in December 2011, I told you about our plans to redevelop a selection of vocational qualifications so that they’re in line with the new Department for Education (DfE) criteria. To recap on this, the qualifications we’re redeveloping are:

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What came out of Ed Miliband’s keynote address?

By Lindsay Plumpton, Communications Leader, Tuesday 02 October 2012

Lindsay Plumpton

This afternoon, Labour Party Leader Ed Miliband spoke at the Labour Party Conference in Manchester to galvanise the party in moving towards the 2015 General Election. The speech was anecdotal in style, looking at his own past as he delivered a speech which praised his teachers, drew on an example of an unemployed woman sending her CV to 137 employers, and set out a policy direction focusing on the Disraeli spirit of ‘one nation’.

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The biggest overhaul of exams in a generation: what do you think?

By Lindsay Plumpton, Communications Leader, Tuesday 18 September 2012

Lindsay Plumpton

GCSEs are set to be replaced by an English baccalaureate certificate from September 2015, it was announced yesterday. The key reforms include the scrapping of modular exams in favour of a final 'tougher' exam, with pupils no longer be able to re-sit to improve their grades. It is expected that only 10% of pupils will achieve a Grade 1 with the new system, compared with the third who are currently awarded an A or A*. There will also be only one awarding body per subject area.

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Vocational training – a credible alternative to university

By Lindsay Plumpton, Communications Leader, Wednesday 22 August 2012

Lindsay Plumpton

Despite the news that top A Level grades have fallen for the first time in 2 decades, August’s news has been filled with images of delighted A Level students, clutching their well-earned results with pride. But what does the future hold for these young people as they move on to the next chapter of their lives? It seems that many of them are opting out of university and choosing an alternative path - university applications have dropped by 8.8%, representing 15,000 students who have taken a different route. It is thought that the drop is a direct result of the rise in tuition fees (the cost of a degree is set to increase to an average £8500 per year by 2013).

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Funding changes – hiding the wiring?

By Lindsay Plumpton, Communications Leader, Thursday 26 July 2012

Lindsay Plumpton

You will have seen in recent weeks the usual media coverage of challenges facing the education sector in the UK; Michael Gove’s numerous announcements, comments regarding the merit of some of the qualifications on offer and changes to the funding system.   The most recent of these was the Education Funding Agency’s 16-19 Funding Formula Review published earlier this month.  The review outlines how the Department for Education and the Education Funding Agency (EFA) plans to fund 16-19 year old students from September 2013, with all full time programmes to be funded at a single funding rate per student, per year.   

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Gove’s GCSE plans – what do you think?

By Lindsay Plumpton, Communications Leader, Friday 22 June 2012

Lindsay Plumpton

According to reports yesterday, Education Secretary Michael Gove is preparing to scrap GCSEs from Autumn 2014, in favour of ‘tougher’ O-level style exams in English, Maths and Science. Less academic pupils would sit a ‘more straightforward’ exam, like the old CSE. Mr Gove said action is needed to tackle ‘competitive dumbing down’ and restore rigour to the system, allowing England to keep pace with educational improvements in other countries.The ideas, which are going to be put out for consultation, would amount to the biggest change to the exams system for a generation if they were introduced. This is in addition to recent changes whereby many vocational qualifications will cease to hold GCSE equivalency from the end of the 2012-13 academic year, in line with Professor Wolf’s recommendations.It’s a time of much uncertainty for schools who are trying to digest the changes that emerged from the Wolf report as well as understand the implications of Gove’s newest proposals.According to Labour's education spokesman Kevin Brennan, Gove’s plans would take the exam system 'back to the 1950s,' dividing children into winners and losers at just 14. But we’d like to know what you think.Is the reform a backwards step, segregating the young people? Will the ‘more straightforward’ exams be seen as an inferior qualification for the less able? Surely, we want to avoid making a decision about a child’s capabilities too early in their career and risk demotivating them...Or alternatively, is the proposed 2 tier system a good step forward, allowing young people to focus on their individual skills and talents? Is the current exam system letting children down? After all, there’s no doubt that some young people will be more engaged by technical / vocational study with others better suited to the academic route…

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