When DFE/Ofqual published some letters in relation to the new GCSE’s I had a vision of someone sat in an office, rubbing their hands, cackling and laughing because it was Christmas Eve. Surely no one would think that you could sneak this stuff under the radar? Think again! Not even the festivities would stop some of us.
Looking through the 2 letters that were published (I’ve included them below as links) I can piece together the following recent events:
10th December 2014 – Meeting with Ofqual and Examining bodies to discuss assessment of problem solving in relation to the new accredited GCSEs.
12th December 2014 – Letter from Ofqual to Pearson that referred to the meeting of 10th December (This was included as an appendix to this letter -> 23rd Dec with 12th Dec … the original wasn’t published on its own). In this one, I am puzzled as to what they mean by this comment:
Surely then this means that everything “we” have been taught as a collective, that we consider knowledge “could” be considered as routine and so no longer “problem solving”. There is a lot of “exam lingo” and what I consider to be “noise” in this letter and for me, what is worrying is the below as it suggested (and has since been confirmed) that we may continue to get additional guidance in relation to the assessments.
23rd December 2014 – Letter to Nick Gibb MP from Ofqual (23rd Dec with 12th Dec ). This letter is in response to a letter from Nick Gibb (dated 24th November) which I can’t seem to find but oh how I’d love to see that!! First comment from me: Does it really take a month for Nick to get a response? I get a faster response from my electricity supplier than an MP and Ofqual … wow!
This is a really interesting letter as it refers to the fact that “Six independent maths experts reviewed the draft specifications, all the sample assessments, the mark schemes and each exam board’s assessment strategy, ahead of accreditation. This panel compared the specifications with each other and looked closely at question types, question style and approach to language”. I would genuinely love to know who these people are … anyone fancy stepping forward and saying “I am Spartacus”?
As an aside comment (picture Miranda talking direct to screen): Can you be truly independent? What makes a “maths expert”?
The level of demand is also mentioned and once again we have this obsession with overseas:
24th December 2014 – Letter to exam boards from Ofqual (2014-12-24-letter-to-responsible-officers). This refers to a teleconference on 23/12 and also a letter dated 3rd December (again I can’t find a copy of that letter). The main gist of this letter is that the level of demand of any additional papers must not differ from that which has been accredited.
I must reiterate I am not against the principle of these changes to GCSE, in fact I quite like them. These constant changes and the uncertainty about what will be the next “thing” isn’t good … I just feel that some people will be ill-prepared and it isn’t us that suffers .. it will be our students; at least whilst some people are on the learning journey, especially if they join the party late or don’t have up to date info as guidance gets updated and so on …
OH MY!! Eureka! Therein lies the crux of the matter … any change of final exams MUST show that over time standards are improving , so what if the dastardly scheme is to ensure that we are ill prepared for the changes?
Don’t you get it Ofqual? There is at least a third extra content and so most of us have started teaching this to our current year 9’s (you can blag most people that it starts in September 2015 but not us at the coalface) and we shouldn’t be in a situation where things can continually change. Here’s a suggestion … what about have all the discussions and get a solid GCSE in place BEFORE we start to teach it? Oh silly me! I forget this is education! Seriously though, it makes me sad that more and more maths education is being built on a football field that has moving goalposts. I genuinely just hope that it isn’t being built on quicksand too!.
THAT ASIDE I LOVE MY JOB!!!!!
