I’m going to be true to my word and this post isn’t going to be about BREXIT.

… ummm … oh … ummmm … (imagine me swaying from foot to foot as I try to think of a way to sweeten this)… well … ummm … it “sort of” is … but also “sort of” isn’t.

According to an article in TES today there is a whole raft of policies that may or may not go ahead, which they’ve called Brexit “paralysis” and in the article it states that a “series of other policies, including initial teacher training reform, academy chain accountability and Year 7 resits are also expected to be held up – or dropped altogether.” Oh, if only this insane idea was dropped, I swear I will promise to do something outrageous (more outrageous than you usually are? I hear you ask!) if it does get dropped, but to be honest I think our government are backed into a corner to deliver this and there is no way of backing down gracefully without admitting that they gauged public support for this idea wrongly (you can find links to ALL my blog posts on this topic -> on this post).

The idea of these tests being shoved aside comes after I received a letter via my MP from the House of Commons (I was worried when I saw it on the mat when I opened the door on Tuesday) from Nick Gibb, which sets out clearly the government’s intention. It states that “we have been clear that the Year 7 resits will not be implemented in the next academic year. We do, however, plan to publish sample test materials in December 2016 to help schools prepare. We will consult on the details of implementing the resits, and results will be provided in due course“. 

Nothing new to me in that letter and also didn’t answer one of my questions about when there will be a public consultation. Which, brings me (nicely) to some important points that have been bugging me, linked to the DFE’S “so-called”protocols (never seen them? check out the current version) which states:

 Am I being stoopid? Those schools involved in the trial won’t have a years notice will they? Unless they already know that they are involved? In which case, it may suggest that they are in support of the tests and I’d even go one step further and suggest that this would introduce some bias into the trial. Maybe we can ask schools to boycott involvement in any such trials … hmmm food for thought!

The protocols also mention :

Finally onto another linked topic – we still haven’t had the results from the consultation (the page is still saying that they are analysing the feedback) about the changes Ofqual want to make to how the top grades in the new GCSE are awarded. The numbers it affects arent massive (I wrote about my views at the end of April) but it is the principle of the matter and it is a change in the middle of the course. Year 10 now have less than 52 weeks until they will have sat their final Maths GCSE paper and the goalposts are being moved, which is just plain wrong.

In other happier news … I’m probably sat in the bar at Scarman House, Warwick University (my old stomping ground) at the Edexcel annual Maths conference! Have a great weekend.