Re:An Ex-Teacher Made a Video Game That Skewers the No Child...
by DanBC on Friday April 10, 2015 @08:24AM
(#9353799)
Some children have the capability to pass a GCSE at grade C or higher, but fail to do so because eg they are child carers for disabled parents or because they had a terrible teacher or etc.
Those children are being failed.
The numbers of children who cannot (not just do not) attain grade C in English and math are a rough proxy for rates of innumeracy and illiteracy. The UK has worryingly high levels of innumeracy and illiteracy.
This sounds reasonable for 16 year old children, but don't forget that this work covers clever children who will easily achieve A.
You can get a rough idea of what a grade C means by comparing it to the new numerical grading system to be introduced in 2017. In that system grades range from 1 (low) to 9 (best) (with U still meaning failed). A 4 is expected to be equivalent to a current C.
> But there are a couple of indicators to help us with this matching. Firstly, a grade four is going to be set at the level of a current grade C. What this means practically is that the same proportion of students who would achieve at least a grade C now will achieve at least a grade four under the new system. We also understand that a grade seven is going to be set at the level of the current A. That means we’ve now got grades four, five, and six to cover C and B… and grade seven, eight and nine to cover A and A. And if we look a bit more at this very top level – where three grades now allow for greater differentiation – we might expect the top half of the current A* students to achieve a nine grade in the new world.
It's great that there is more differentiation between very high attaining students but it's a pretty low bar.
Those children are being failed.
The numbers of children who cannot (not just do not) attain grade C in English and math are a rough proxy for rates of innumeracy and illiteracy. The UK has worryingly high levels of innumeracy and illiteracy.
Here's the English national curriculum.
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-curriculu...
Here's the maths national curriculum. Key stages 3 and 4 cover the GCSE exam.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curricul...
This sounds reasonable for 16 year old children, but don't forget that this work covers clever children who will easily achieve A.
You can get a rough idea of what a grade C means by comparing it to the new numerical grading system to be introduced in 2017. In that system grades range from 1 (low) to 9 (best) (with U still meaning failed). A 4 is expected to be equivalent to a current C.
http://www.aqa.org.uk/supporting-education/policy/gcse-and-a...
> But there are a couple of indicators to help us with this matching. Firstly, a grade four is going to be set at the level of a current grade C. What this means practically is that the same proportion of students who would achieve at least a grade C now will achieve at least a grade four under the new system. We also understand that a grade seven is going to be set at the level of the current A. That means we’ve now got grades four, five, and six to cover C and B… and grade seven, eight and nine to cover A and A. And if we look a bit more at this very top level – where three grades now allow for greater differentiation – we might expect the top half of the current A* students to achieve a nine grade in the new world.
It's great that there is more differentiation between very high attaining students but it's a pretty low bar.