Blog posts for tag:gcse

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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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The value of the arts in creating futures

By Lindsay Plumpton, Communications Leader, Friday 22 March 2013

Lindsay Plumpton

The Creative Employment Programme has announced its intention to create up to 6,500 employment opportunities across the country. The road show has already visited cities nationwide, including Birmingham, Sheffield, Gateshead, Cambridge and Southampton to encourage employers to sign up. Using money from the National Lottery, Arts Council England has set up a £15 million fund to create thousands of apprenticeships, traineeships and internships in the arts and culture. The scheme will be run by Sector Skills Council, Creative and Cultural Skills, a body designed to promote training and employment in the arts sector.

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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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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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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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