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froggg

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If too many are getting A's why don't they make the exams harder rather than just changing the grade boundaries?

It's stupid - in the old days the top so many percent got an A, and so on.

However it meant that two people a year apart could get the same mark in the exam but get a different grade. Is that fair?

GCSE were introduced to give the same grade for the same level of achievement across the years. An A one year should need the same level of achievement as an A the following year.

If more kids are getting an A it doesn't mean the exam is getting easier just that more kids achieved the level required to get an A. This could be an indication that Teaching us improving / however for political reasons by the press or government depending on their agenda at the time it gets interpreted as exams are getting easier.

The English debacle last year has meant that an A two years ago took a lower level of achievement than an A last year - is that fair when employers are comparing potential employees.

As a teacher I will say now the exams are not easier than when I was at school( in maths at least) but GCSE was introduced to allow more pupils to reach the grade they deserve and not be held back by extreme normalisation. It worked so it must mean the exams are easier.

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It's stupid - in the old days the top so many percent got an A, and so on.

However it meant that two people a year apart could get the same mark in the exam but get a different grade. Is that fair?

GCSE were introduced to give the same grade for the same level of achievement across the years. An A one year should need the same level of achievement as an A the following year.

If more kids are getting an A it doesn't mean the exam is getting easier just that more kids achieved the level required to get an A. This could be an indication that Teaching us improving / however for political reasons by the press or government depending on their agenda at the time it gets interpreted as exams are getting easier.

The English debacle last year has meant that an A two years ago took a lower level of achievement than an A last year - is that fair when employers are comparing potential employees.

As a teacher I will say now the exams are not easier than when I was at school( in maths at least) but GCSE was introduced to allow more pupils to reach the grade they deserve and not be held back by extreme normalisation. It worked so it must mean the exams are easier.

 

Mr Gove clearly disagrees and the GCSE's will undergo major change. The coursework element of the courses was too open to abuse and the variety from the various exam boards too large.

 

If at the end of the reform the value of grades in especially the core subjects is enhanced over time, then Mr Gove will be proved to be right. I fully expect that to happen.

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If too many are getting A's why don't they make the exams harder rather than just changing the grade boundaries?

Didnt you know, the same with A Levels, the current populous is genetically getting cleverer and cleverer each year until finally there will be a race of super beings populating the UK.....or more plausably the exams are getting easier year on year

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Mr Gove clearly disagrees and the GCSE's will undergo major change. The coursework element of the courses was too open to abuse and the variety from the various exam boards too large.

If at the end of the reform the value of grades in especially the core subjects is enhanced over time, then Mr Gove will be proved to be right. I fully expect that to happen.

Not if the grades awarded aren't comparable to previous and subsequent years for the same qualification. If that happens you create an uneven playing field in college and job applications

The coursework too open? If by that you mean marking in schools that's what moderators are for.

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Not sure if they still do this with GCSE's but, when I did them, they had Foundation and Advanced.

 

Advanced was harder and you could get up to an A*. Foundation was easier and the max you could get was a C (think that's right anyway). It was a horrible way of dividing the classes as it effectively divided them into "intelligent" and "less intelligent".

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Didnt you know, the same with A Levels, the current populous is genetically getting cleverer and cleverer each year until finally there will be a race of super beings populating the UK.....or more plausably the exams are getting easier year on year

Grade boundaries are set so that the same level of achievement one year is awarded the same grade as that level of achievement the following. Actual free boundaries in terms of marks needed vary from year to year and mid year too to ensure that differences in difficulty of paper are taken into account.

Unfortunately education is nothing more than a political tool.

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Not if the grades awarded aren't comparable to previous and subsequent years for the same qualification. If that happens you create an uneven playing field in college and job applications

The coursework too open? If by that you mean marking in schools that's what moderators are for.

 

Absolutely I mean the marking in schools and Gove has made that quite clear. If you believe the Mirror and you would expect them to be on the ball on Labour matters, it seems Gove has seen off another shadow-education minister.

 

Twigg is set to be removed, for somebody who is so clueless, according to so many left leaning people, Labour find it very difficult to put somebody up against him who can cope.

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When I went to school going to University was the exception, now it is the norm. We are shovelling more and more kids through further education on made up courses with no relevance to any vocation just to fit bums on seats so that Universities can get their quota allowances from the government. All this and we are dashing the hopes of youngsters and ridiculously raising their expectations about the standard or level of job or career they will attain when they graduate. In 50 years time we will end up like Japan and have graduates driving buses and delivering milk all for government numbers. 

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Gove is trying to sort it isn't he, his belief is the courses at this level are too easy. Personally I think he is doing a good job, we need more politicians who get change through, he could carry on as before and have an easier job.

Why is the system still failing then? Why are loads of teachers leaving the profession? Why is it every teacher I know feels demoralised by his actions? He's never even taught a class of students so is he the ideal man to tell teachers how best to do their job? I bet he's never even spoke to a student from a state school without it being some kind of publicity stunt.

He's not right for the job. Why else would Headmasters pass a vote of No Confidence? Because he keeps getting it wrong and education is suffering because of it.

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Why is the system still failing then? Why are loads of teachers leaving the profession? Why is it every teacher I know feels demoralised by his actions? He's never even taught a class of students so is he the ideal man to tell teachers how best to do their job? I bet he's never even spoke to a student from a state school without it being some kind of publicity stunt.

He's not right for the job. Why else would Headmasters pass a vote of No Confidence? Because he keeps getting it wrong and education is suffering because of it.

 The Headmasters passed a vote of no-confidence in Mr Gove's reforms, possibly fear of change has a lot to do with that. I disagree I think he is perfect for the job, he has a single minded determination to improve standards in UK Education today. Also very rare amongst politicians of all sides he is a decent, honest man. Also he has plenty of experience outside politics, he is not just a careerist politician, like most senior cabinet members.

 

He has a lot of vested interest to overcome, my view is the Teaching Unions don't help the way the general public view the teaching profession. In time these obstacles will be overcome, good teachers have no need to fear the opportunity will be there for them to earn more money. 

 

If the children were at school more standards might improve, mine are off for a full 7 weeks this summer. How that works I don't know. Not healthy at all that for children or teachers, too long.

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The Headmasters passed a vote of no-confidence in Mr Gove's reforms, possibly fear of change has a lot to do with that. I disagree I think he is perfect for the job, he has a single minded determination to improve standards in UK Education today. Also very rare amongst politicians of all sides he is a decent, honest man. Also he has plenty of experience outside politics, he is not just a careerist politician, like most senior cabinet members. He has a lot of vested interest to overcome, my view is the Teaching Unions don't help the way the general public view the teaching profession. In time these obstacles will be overcome, good teachers have no need to fear the opportunity will be there for them to earn more money. If the children were at school more standards might improve, mine are off for a full 7 weeks this summer. How that works I don't know. Not healthy at all that for children or teachers, too long.
You fly in the face of research. Holidays too long - research shows that kids and teachers need the break. Head teachers voted due to not liking change? It's not happened before. Did they vote no to change or how much and how fast he wants things changed Gove is an honest man ? He's sly and manipulative. Teaching is a profession he says - but don't worry you don't need any professional qualifications to become one just be academic and academies can employ you. That's supposed to attract top scientists etc to take a pay cut to teach. ( its also ****** on my PGCE there were PhDs and MAs galore but they couldn't teach) its about reducing teachers pay and employing people on the lowest possible wages. Gove may be single minded, but I think his aim isn't improving education (he's taking it back 30 years and reversing the inclusive policies in terms of special need pupils). I think he is trying to break an old profession and with it the power of its Union.
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Gove hasn't discussed any changes with Heads, teachers, pupils or parents. He just went ahead and made changes without consultation with the people who actually matter.

You're right tho, he certainly is singleminded when it comes to not listening and forging ahead with his own agenda. He may have experience outside of politics but does this include education? No.

Too easy to blame the unions without looking into the real reasons of what's happening. Why shouldn't they help it's members when Gove attacks their pay and pensions?

And holidays. Why do you think standards would improve more if they were there longer? Imo that's a bad idea. Pupils aswell as teachers need the rest. I know my daughter does because through the year she works hard. She has to, to keep up with the ever changing cirriculum. I'm glad she breaks up for the holidays, that goes for Dav too because he works bloody hard aswell.

In fact, even now the holidays are here, he's still working and the staff in the primary school behind us have been in almost daily for the past 2 weeks to do their planning. It's a case of having to, to give themselves a head start.

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You fly in the face of research. Holidays too long - research shows that kids and teachers need the break. Head teachers voted due to not liking change? It's not happened before. Did they vote no to change or how much and how fast he wants things changed Gove is an honest man ? He's sly and manipulative. Teaching is a profession he says - but don't worry you don't need any professional qualifications to become one just be academic and academies can employ you. That's supposed to attract top scientists etc to take a pay cut to teach. ( its also ****** on my PGCE there were PhDs and MAs galore but they couldn't teach) its about reducing teachers pay and employing people on the lowest possible wages. Gove may be single minded, but I think his aim isn't improving education (he's taking it back 30 years and reversing the inclusive policies in terms of special need pupils). I think he is trying to break an old profession and with it the power of its Union.

 

Gove is totally clear, quite rightly he sees the main driver for increasing standards as high quality teaching. He wants to free high quality teachers away from the restrictions of national pay-scales, so they have the opportunity to earn more. There has been no question at all of cutting teachers pay.

 

I am sure he is keen on reducing Union power and Local Authority control but is that such a bad thing. I can see only benefits to good quality teachers and children. Protecting lazy or poor teachers is detrimental to children's education.

 

As for the holidays, yes we have all been used to 6, although a lot of teachers, parents and children don't like being off for so long. Why though has that gone from 6 weeks 1 day, steadily increasing so now it is 7. They should all be back first Monday in September, as used to happen.

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Gove hasn't discussed any changes with Heads, teachers, pupils or parents. He just went ahead and made changes without consultation with the people who actually matter.

You're right tho, he certainly is singleminded when it comes to not listening and forging ahead with his own agenda. He may have experience outside of politics but does this include education? No.

Too easy to blame the unions without looking into the real reasons of what's happening. Why shouldn't they help it's members when Gove attacks their pay and pensions?

And holidays. Why do you think standards would improve more if they were there longer? Imo that's a bad idea. Pupils aswell as teachers need the rest. I know my daughter does because through the year she works hard. She has to, to keep up with the ever changing cirriculum. I'm glad she breaks up for the holidays, that goes for Dav too because he works bloody hard aswell.

In fact, even now the holidays are here, he's still working. The staff in the primary school behind us have been in almost daily for the past 2 weeks to do their planning. It's a case of having to, to give themselves a head start.

 

A double-pronged attack! Of course Gove discussed changes with all the bodies he needed to, he found a complete resistance of any need to change. There has been no question of teachers pay and pensions having been attacked, yes they were subject to the Public Sector pay freezes, yes they were asked to contribute a greater amount to their own pensions, rather than the taxpayer. In years before though Teachers got very generous pay settlements and terms and conditions are exceptional.. 

 

Teachers working in holidays is purely optional, some do, some don't but there is no requirement to do so.

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Gove is totally clear, quite rightly he sees the main driver for increasing standards as high quality teaching. He wants to free high quality teachers away from the restrictions of national pay-scales, so they have the opportunity to earn more. There has been no question at all of cutting teachers pay.

so you believe his propaganda about reoving the QTS requirement is to attract leaders from industry? How many of them would take a paycut to spend time teaching - or are schools expected to pay them massive wages to attract them? It is more about enabling schools to employ unqualified teaching staff on lower salaries (because lets be fair those that have got full QTS deserve to be paid more) Do you really want unqualified teachers to teach your children?

National pay scales dont hinder progression - the Main scale runs 5 years then their is the UPS for those teachers who meet the requirement (performance related) and payments made for extra repsonsibilities (which are only offered to the better teachers) removing them all together rather altering them is like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut

I am sure he is keen on reducing Union power and Local Authority control but is that such a bad thing. I can see only benefits to good quality teachers and children. Protecting lazy or poor teachers is detrimental to children's education.

Again no action he has taken alters the policies aimed at supporting teachers' professional development - yes they may earn less but if they are qualified this has to be more than the unqualified staff. If anything he is making it easier for schools to force teachers out of the profession and bring in cheaper alternatives.

As for the holidays, yes we have all been used to 6, although a lot of teachers, parents and children don't like being off for so long. Why though has that gone from 6 weeks 1 day, steadily increasing so now it is 7. They should all be back first Monday in September, as used to happen.

I suggest you take that up with your kids school maybe they have chosen to have all their inset days at the start and end of term rather than breaking up on a tuesday and starting on a wednesday.

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