Prior to the release of the SAMs last week I received a message saying that Pearsons new “new” SAMs had been bounced back again. I’m not and never have been privy to the details but didn’t follow this up publicly (I do have some scruples!) for fear of scaremongering people and as it turned out … Read more
Last weeks guest posts from Julia Smith ( To Infinity and beyond ) and Ian Hollis ( Why I turned up for Saturday School ) went down a storm so I cheekily emailed Darren Macey at OCR to see if he fancied a visit to my blog … he said yes!! (and who wouldn’t? … have you noticed the blog has had … Read more
I want to take a bird’s eye view of the report and summary that Ofqual published HERE. So let’s remind ourselves “what’s it all about Alfie!” … I’ve listed the four studies with some of the key points from the findings relating to each “study” along with any comments from little ‘ol me. I’m not … Read more
So where are we? 2 weeks on Thursday the vast majority of our cohort nationally will be sitting the penultimate Summer sitting of the linear maths GCSE as we know it and Thursday Ofqual are due to announce the findings of their research project. We were told originally to expect news at the end of … Read more
Occasionally (ok quite a lot of the time!) I see resources and think “ooh that’s a great idea” and last week I was shown OCRs “check in” tests .. which are just brilliant. Check them out in the “Teaching and Learning” section at the bottom of this page Basically it’s a way of assessing the … Read more
I’m just home having spent the last 3 days of the Easter Holiday at Keele University for the annual conference of the Mathematical Association and I’ve come away with loads to think about as you do after events of this type. Subject associations and where they “fit” in the day to day grind of teaching … Read more
I wish Ofqual/DFE would decide how they are going to publish updates, as it really is getting tedious hunting down information about the whole accreditation process. Just don’t be thinking it’ll make me give up because I am a stubborn hard-nosed sod! I am aware that there are more letters of complaints/with comments on winging … Read more
I have previously posted about the accreditation process for the new maths GCSE (I know … LOTS OF TIMES!!) but I cannot let this lie – all I am doing is seeking clarity in the hope that the process is both transparent and fair. The stakes are too high to let this lie. One of … Read more
In the last couple of weeks I’ve come across “several” (that’s me being cagey when I mean “lots of”) teachers that didn’t know about Ofquals Maths GCSE research project (more details -> HERE ) . I didn’t find this startling given that they also didn’t know about the Glenys Stacey letter that effectively asked the exam boards … Read more
Some would say that there is a similarity between me and this picture: over the whole new GCSE accreditation. The most recent events just don’t sit right with me … this GCSE research programme which I blogged about HERE (the day before reported by TES by the way!!!) seems to me to be something thought up after all … Read more
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