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Ofqual changes to GCSE examinations – implications for SEN children

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I received an email from an exam board today which said:

Ofqual have announced changes to GCSE qualifications which will be of interest to schools registered with WJEC in England and in Wales.

Changes in England

Ofqual, regulator for qualifications in England, announced that they will introduce changes to GCSEs for candidates starting two-year courses in September 2012.

 For awards in summer 2014 onwards, linear assessment will be compulsory for candidates in England. They will sit all their examinations at the end of their GCSE course, rather than having the possibility of taking them at different stages during the course as they do at present.

Further details of the changes are available on the Ofqual site here

Once again politics and Westminster teacher bashing takes precedent over the opinions and advice given by the teaching professionals who actually work with our children.  Apparently our exams are too easy and we have to do something to make sure they aren’t.  Of course these changes have far-reaching implications for our students, big ones for some.

My children are low attainers as you might expect (they attend a special school).   About half do entry level qualifications and the rest work at GCSE level.  There are children like mine in every mainstream school across the country – they aren’t that unusual.  These are children that have to be reminded what they did last week (sometimes they forget what they did earlier in the day).  These students will now have to remember what they learned up to two years ago.  Whilst it is possible to build in revision sessions (after all how can students with low literacy levels reasonably revise at home?), it isn’t possible to revise everything in sufficient depth for the students to do themselves justice.  I struggled getting enough revision in when we did modular exams.

So what is the answer?  Not only are the exams being made harder but at the same time pressure is put on schools to achieve better and better results.  The only conceivable way my students can achieve a GCSE-equivalent qualification that reflects their ability is to do a vocational qualification like BTEC where the assessment is portfolio based (although even this is being changed – more about BTEC changes here).

Of course none of these changes are pupil centred or put the student first.  Mr Gove hasn’t considered how my students will feel if I enter them for a qualification they are doomed to fail.   After the media and political attention drawn to the disaffected youth following the recent riots I thought the Government might have started to change its approach.

For now I’ll be plodding along following BTEC science with my students and trying to convince them as we go that they aren’t failures and that they have a place in society.  Let’s hope I am right!

Is offering free GCSE lesson plans (Edexcel) good for science teaching?

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I picked up a nice big glossy folder of GCSE information from Edexcel as I left school today.  Having heard the Chief Examiner speak at a conference recently, the pack offered no surprises as I flicked through.  However my attention was drawn to the following information (which I snapped with my phone):

lesson plans

Free plans for every lesson.  Yes, FREE PLANS FOR EVERY LESSON.  Whilst I can see that this could be a godsend for the busy teacher, I can’t help but feel that this is a bad move for the quality of science education as a whole.

When the QCA published schemes of work years ago, departments followed them for a variety of reasons.  Common reasons for following the centrally produced schemes included saving time, schemes safe from criticism from Ofsted, and having an inexperienced department.  Few schools followed them because they liked them.  Their main effect was to stifle creativity and push teachers towards delivering identical lessons regardless of area, school or setting.

My concern is that by publishing GCSE lesson plans examination companies are appealing to the same inexperienced, time pressed departments who want to play safe.  I worry that this will snuff out what little spark of creativity we have left in science education and mark a return in teaching centrally produced lesson plans (except this time they will be from the examination board rather than the QCA).

I hope that schools will take the opportunity to flick through the lesson plans and steal all the best bits for their own lessons, but will continue to embrace the opportunities for creative and individual teaching that our science education community badly needs.

I’d be interested to hear views from current science teachers, either for or against.  Please leave a comment below (no registration required) with your opinions.

Filmclub – bringing the power of cinema into your classroom

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More and more teachers are hearing about Filmclub now they have been distributing promotional material in the TES and Teachers magazine.  I found out about it by chance and can thoroughly recommend it to others.

As part of the sign-up process you are asked to attend a short induction session.  Whilst the content of this session could easily be distributed on a DVD, I came away from the session feeling enthused and motivated to introduce Filmclub in my own school and make it work.  As well as discussing the technical details of the club (ordering films, registering on the website etc.) we discussed our favourite films and the effects they have had on our lives.  Whilst I didn’t appreciate the importance of this session straight away, it soon became apparent when Filmclub was up and running in my school and students were being asked to review movies they had seen.

So what does being a member of Filmclub involve?

  • Filmclub cover the cost of licensing movies to show in your school, and also provide you with a selection of films that you can order into school (distributed through Lovefilm).
  • You are expected to show a film a week out of school hours (evenings work best, lunchtimes aren’t long enough)
  • Students are asked to reflect on the film and write a short review (with a star rating) which appears on their website (see below)
  • Filmclub provide an excellent and pupil/school friendly website which both leaders and students can use.  Leaders order films through the sites, can see movie requests and reviews from their students, and can put up announcements about upcoming films.  Students can read about upcoming screenings at the school, they can leave reviews (either just a star rating or a full review) and can request movies they would like to see (although the requests tend to be movies that they have seen before rather than something different).

filmclubsite

  • Filmclub provide promotional materials (wipe-clean advertising posters, lanyards and ID tags) to use in your own school.
  • The possibility of receiving funding to support your film club, and possible speakers/visitors into your school.

My experience to date.

I initially launched film club through a school assembly and instantly grabbed the attention of both staff and students, all of whom were eager to share their favourite movies together with a reason.  The Filmclub-supplied “Power of Film” montage was enjoyed by all, and many students were eager to participate.

Students were keen to be part of the Filmclub and the website helps keep the interest between sessions (login reminders are written on member’s ID cards and clipped onto their lanyards).  Students have watched two films after school so far and interest keeps growing as word gets around.  After each film we have a discussion about the film, what we liked about it and why.  We also meet one lunchtime a week where we can watch the ends of films (when we ran out of time) and also review films shown (and upload some of these onto the website).

Less able students enjoy filming video reviews (using flip video cameras or similar), recording audio reviews (using TTS Easi-speak recorders) or simply photographing each other holding up comment cards.  These are shown on our school-wide TV system.

filmreview

I’ve tried to choose movies that students wouldn’t have seen before, and have let myself be guided by the “Filmclub recommends” section on the website.  It is also possible to search for films by theme (e.g. bullying), by age range or by other criteria.

Students have been very positive about our film club and I get asked questions about upcoming films several times a week.  There are films suitable for all ages (even some with a 15 certificate) and I would imagine students from primary, secondary and special education being equally enthused by this scheme.

What next?

As well as showing movies to students, we have a few ideas of what else we can do with our film club.

  • Joint parent/student screenings – to get parents into school and talking to staff
  • Induction of new students – getting year 6 students in from our feeder school for a shared screening, helping familiarise them with some of students and premises.
  • Oscars event – complete with red carpet and paparazzi outside, as part of an awards or celebration event.
  • Linking films to special events at school – e.g. book day, poetry day, anti-bullying week

Do you run a film club at your school?  Do you have any ideas of how we can expand film club to a wider audience or involve parents?

(Science) Equipment Packaging #fail

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I’d had a chemical on backorder for a while.  It finally arrived this week – all 1g of it.  This is how it arrived in a box (about 10” high).

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This is what was inside the box (as well as brown paper packaging).

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And this is what was inside the white plastic container.

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Perhaps a padded envelope would have been a better way of shipping it! Packaging #fail