From the BBC:
New-look GCSEs for schools in England have been unveiled, with exams graded from "a bit tasty" to "totally f-ing psycho".
From 2015, GCSEs will move from coursework and continuous harassment to being beaten up at the end of two years. Pupils will face more rigorous content, with those studying English, for example, having to answer riddles such as "Who are you looking at?" or "Do you want some, eh? Do you want some?" Biology students will be expected to know whether it is physically possible to clean your teeth by putting a toothbrush up your backside.
Labour's Stephen Twigg accused the government of creating "terror" for pupils and parents. Mary Bousted, leader of the ATL teachers' union, said the constant change in exams was turning pupils into "Mr Gove's victims".
Wales and Northern Ireland are keeping their traditional humiliation methods and are not adopting the changes proposed for England.
Ofqual head, Glenys Stacey, says: "We want to see injuries that are more serious for the most able students, using assessments that really test their ability like being able to hold their breath underwater or retrieving their homework from railway lines."
There is no sign of a change in name to H-level for the English exams - as had been suggested. But the format is likely to be familiar to anyone who ever got a kicking on the way home from school and the new qualifications will be easily recognisable from their tattoos and body piercings.
Tuesday, 11 June 2013
"GCSEs: New-look tougher exams revealed"
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10 comments:
I see from the proposed Eng Lit syllabus, which appears to be reverting to something similar to the one wot I didded, that Michael Gove appears very determined to improve the fortune of whoever publishes Longman's, York', Brodies' Cliff's et al. :-)
, In English literature, exam questions will be designed to ensure that pupils have read the whole book.,
, The course content will include at least one play by Shakespeare, a selection of work by the Romantic poets, a 19th Century novel, a selection of poetry since 1850 and a 20th Century novel or drama. ,
BE, or to paraphrase "The course content will be designed to put lesser mortals off English literature for life"
Oh yes indeed, I think the "success rate" for that in my form was around the 90% rate - which is to say as I recall that was the percentage of classmates who confined themselves to doodling on the "mock" paper to ensure they didn't have to sit the exam proper, which would have meant gaining some familiarity with the set texts. Still, at least, as things stand, they are going to be spared "pukka Chaucer as it was writ" ... I well remember the excursion to go see some of that played out on the London stage by actors speaking it in "English", and the expedition to go see a special screening arranged for schools at a local cinema of "Dr Faustus" with Burton and Taylor [which was "worse than homework"]and the original black and white Lord of the Flies.
M, yes, I read the set books in English right through first, so that I could enjoy them (and most were enjoyable) before "doing" them ruined them for ever for me.
BE, yes we also went on a school trip to see LOTF, I thought it was quite a good film actually.
B, it's the "doing them" that ruins it, isn't it?
MW - Passing trivia - On original release LOTF was given an "X" certificate - I remember that the actor who played "Piggy" was interviewed (also then in glorious black and white) by the BBC about he and pretty much all of the cast not "officially" being able to go and see the film they had all appeared in. By the time my school trip took place the BBFC had brought in a new classification system, and it was then rated "AA" which meant that you had to be 14 or over, and nowadays it carries a "PG" certification. The other "trivia" is the wide spread of running times on the released versions of the film - which range from almost 91 minutes on the AA version released in 1970 to just over 87 minutes for the PG version released in 1990 - supposedly "uncut" from the AA version, in the sense that the BBFC did not require any "cuts" as a condition of awarding the "PG" classification. An almost complete PG version, missing only 6 seconds running time from the 1963 original, was first released in 2006.
BE, NOW That's what I call trivia!
Give that man a Gold Star department: Richard Adams, G education correspondent writing on Gove's announcement:
"Michael Gove unveiled a symphony of major and minor reforms to the way GCSE examinations are conducted in England, saying the new exam-only qualifications with an emphasis on Shakespeare and British history would equip the nation's children to perform in the modern world."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2013/jun/11/michael-gove-gcse-reforms
BE: ""Michael Gove is to conduct a symphony of major and minor reforms to the way GCSE examinations are orchestrated in England, saying the new exam-only qualifications with an emphasis on scores would equip the nation's children to perform on the world stage and help them stave off [something or other]"
BE, I read somewhere that the film makers were worried about the effect of the pig-killing scene on the boys, but stopped worrying when they discovered that one of the boys' favourite off-camera games was throwing lizards into the camera cooling fans to see how many pieces would come out the other end.
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