A report has just come out saying that GCSE science exams have been devalued. This comes as no surprise at all. In the last couple of months I have heard the following:
AS Level students in Son 1's old school, a science college no less, having to be sent on a crash course elsewhere to learn the basics of Chemistry that they need to tackle the subject at the higher level.
A university lecturer in a medical related subject saying that even post A level students come up to university with sufficient in depth knowledge and have to take additional classes to bring them up to scratch.
Son 1 hasn't taken science GCSE yet. But I am reliably informed by other parents that were he to sit the new double-weighted Combined Science exam tomorrow, with no preparation, he could easily pass just on general knowledge gleaned over the years from the Discovery Channel.
I'm no scientist, but it's really not good enough, is it?
1 comment:
Absolutely true. I haven't taught in a classroom for years but I still tutor and the latest syllabus is awful, it goes from very basic stuff, pretty much literally understanding those posh scientific words on the back of a packet of marg, to in the final half year stuff that is so obscure I'm having trouble finding the material to teach it.
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