Making Sense of A-Level Grades, What Options does a Disappointed Candidate Have? Options

[Cyrilla]

Anything that gets reduced to targets and performance measures loses its value in my opinion. There are many things of value that are intangible and unquantifiable, and professionals are no longer trusted to do their jobs properly.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) , wholeheartedly.

It is interesting to see that in Finland, whose education system is wonderful and very successful by a whole host of criteria, teachers are highly-respected professionals who are trained properly and who are totally trusted to do a good job - and, unsurprisingly, that's precisely what they do.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif)
They also, I believe, do not have an inhuman inspection system...

Indeed - they don't.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

[serendipity]

Teachers are often barred from teaching students how to pass examinations. We had a local policy which banned us from mentioning examination technique in any way, even down to not talking about time management, making sure you answer the correct questions, not being allowed to instruct children that if they think they know the answer but are not 100% sure they should write it anyway, as you cannot possibly get a mark for an empty space, but the answer might just be right. I was taking a class of primary children for their national tests, and at the old Level A test the teacher read out the questions. The kids really struggled with the concept that they were not allowed to ask anything. My heart was breaking for a child who ended up writing nothing even though for every question she had said "Miss, is the answer..." and called out the correct answer, but didn't have the self-belief to just put it in the box. We were not allowed to help students who had put correct answers but missed the boxes, so those tests where they have to answer by colouring boxes on a computer marking sheet and you can see 25 correct answers that the child has put in the wrong line because they filled in question 17 twice by accident and have not lined it up correctly you aren't allowed to say "Just quickly check you have your answers in the right boxes".

All of that was to make sure we couldn't be accused of "teaching to the test" but if you are going to go on to measure children's achievements by testing them then there is an extent to which you have to show them how to take a test!!

There were some "good" schools who did well by ensuring that children had access to the answers, for example by running a practice test immediately before and using the same questions, writing the answers on the board "For example" and hoping the kids could join the dots enough to realise that the answers were there for the taking. I have no confidence in the tables that say school x is the 10th best in the city when I know some of the ways they got that result.

Where on earth was that? I have never heard of such a thing. Exam technique is and always has been a part of education. Even in the dark ages when I did exams we were given guidance on simple things such as try to answer every question, show your working out, don't spend hours on questions which only carry a few marks and take time to check your paper afterwards. I don't think that is 'teaching to the test' but merely common sense.

[Maria]

Teachers are often barred from teaching students how to pass examinations. We had a local policy which banned us from mentioning examination technique in any way, even down to not talking about time management, making sure you answer the correct questions, not being allowed to instruct children that if they think they know the answer but are not 100% sure they should write it anyway, as you cannot possibly get a mark for an empty space, but the answer might just be right. I was taking a class of primary children for their national tests, and at the old Level A test the teacher read out the questions. The kids really struggled with the concept that they were not allowed to ask anything. My heart was breaking for a child who ended up writing nothing even though for every question she had said "Miss, is the answer..." and called out the correct answer, but didn't have the self-belief to just put it in the box. We were not allowed to help students who had put correct answers but missed the boxes, so those tests where they have to answer by colouring boxes on a computer marking sheet and you can see 25 correct answers that the child has put in the wrong line because they filled in question 17 twice by accident and have not lined it up correctly you aren't allowed to say "Just quickly check you have your answers in the right boxes".

All of that was to make sure we couldn't be accused of "teaching to the test" but if you are going to go on to measure children's achievements by testing them then there is an extent to which you have to show them how to take a test!!

There were some "good" schools who did well by ensuring that children had access to the answers, for example by running a practice test immediately before and using the same questions, writing the answers on the board "For example" and hoping the kids could join the dots enough to realise that the answers were there for the taking. I have no confidence in the tables that say school x is the 10th best in the city when I know some of the ways they got that result.

Where on earth was that? I have never heard of such a thing. Exam technique is and always has been a part of education. Even in the dark ages when I did exams we were given guidance on simple things such as try to answer every question, show your working out, don't spend hours on questions which only carry a few marks and take time to check your paper afterwards. I don't think that is 'teaching to the test' but merely common sense.

Agreed, Serendipity. I've never heard anything like that either! We all spend a long time going through the papers and marks for each question and how to approach it.

[sbhoa]

Teachers are often barred from teaching students how to pass examinations. We had a local policy which banned us from mentioning examination technique in any way, even down to not talking about time management, making sure you answer the correct questions, not being allowed to instruct children that if they think they know the answer but are not 100% sure they should write it anyway, as you cannot possibly get a mark for an empty space, but the answer might just be right. I was taking a class of primary children for their national tests, and at the old Level A test the teacher read out the questions. The kids really struggled with the concept that they were not allowed to ask anything. My heart was breaking for a child who ended up writing nothing even though for every question she had said "Miss, is the answer..." and called out the correct answer, but didn't have the self-belief to just put it in the box. We were not allowed to help students who had put correct answers but missed the boxes, so those tests where they have to answer by colouring boxes on a computer marking sheet and you can see 25 correct answers that the child has put in the wrong line because they filled in question 17 twice by accident and have not lined it up correctly you aren't allowed to say "Just quickly check you have your answers in the right boxes".

All of that was to make sure we couldn't be accused of "teaching to the test" but if you are going to go on to measure children's achievements by testing them then there is an extent to which you have to show them how to take a test!!

There were some "good" schools who did well by ensuring that children had access to the answers, for example by running a practice test immediately before and using the same questions, writing the answers on the board "For example" and hoping the kids could join the dots enough to realise that the answers were there for the taking. I have no confidence in the tables that say school x is the 10th best in the city when I know some of the ways they got that result.

Where on earth was that? I have never heard of such a thing. Exam technique is and always has been a part of education. Even in the dark ages when I did exams we were given guidance on simple things such as try to answer every question, show your working out, don't spend hours on questions which only carry a few marks and take time to check your paper afterwards. I don't think that is 'teaching to the test' but merely common sense.

You wouldn't be able to comment during the test.
If the children didn't know how to handle the test situation the fault was in the preparation.
I think it was just before SATS came into primary schools that one of my childrens teachers was very manipulative in order to get a negative response from the class about the experience. She had them all describe how they felt immediately after a test while suggesting negatives like being over faced by the number of questions. What they had to do was answer however many questions they could in the time and with the right preparation this should have been an uncomplicated and relatively stress free task.

[Martin.Walters]

I`ll be sat down in a class in 7hours ready to do my first AS music lesson. This topic has somewhat scared me !!!

The course will be AS music by Edexcel, ~ I picked up a copy of the syllabus from my local music store, try to get a head start.

Since the HoM plays in a national Orchestra and has 15+ years experience at the college along with another person whos done his Bmus @ RNCM over 20 years ago, im hoping to get the very best out of these 2 years. But it is truly frightening to read these experiences.

Im wondering either theres a genuine mistake or theres a vast underestimated knowledge of the standard required at A2 Music.

You guys are scaring me ! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rain.gif)

[JudithJ]

Anything that gets reduced to targets and performance measures loses its value in my opinion. There are many things of value that are intangible and unquantifiable, and professionals are no longer trusted to do their jobs properly.

It is interesting to see that in Finland, whose education system is wonderful and very successful by a whole host of criteria, teachers are highly-respected professionals who are trained properly and who are totally trusted to do a good job - and, unsurprisingly, that's precisely what they do.

They also, I believe, do not have an inhuman inspection system...

Indeed - they don't.

Do they have an inspection system?
If not, then how have they measured that they are successful by a whole host of criteria?

[Cyrilla]

Anything that gets reduced to targets and performance measures loses its value in my opinion. There are many things of value that are intangible and unquantifiable, and professionals are no longer trusted to do their jobs properly.

It is interesting to see that in Finland, whose education system is wonderful and very successful by a whole host of criteria, teachers are highly-respected professionals who are trained properly and who are totally trusted to do a good job - and, unsurprisingly, that's precisely what they do.

They also, I believe, do not have an inhuman inspection system...

Indeed - they don't.

Do they have an inspection system?
If not, then how have they measured that they are successful by a whole host of criteria?

I don't know the details but I do know that there is no testing until 15/16 and there doesn't appear to be an inspection system.

We are SO obsessed by testing/accountability/inspection etc in this country and this actually, IMO, has the opposite effect from that which is desired...

Here's a small article about the Finnish system: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/educatio...ld-2289083.html

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[BerkshireMum]

I`ll be sat down in a class in 7hours ready to do my first AS music lesson. This topic has somewhat scared me !!!

The course will be AS music by Edexcel, ~ I picked up a copy of the syllabus from my local music store, try to get a head start.

Since the HoM plays in a national Orchestra and has 15+ years experience at the college along with another person whos done his Bmus @ RNCM over 20 years ago, im hoping to get the very best out of these 2 years. But it is truly frightening to read these experiences.

Im wondering either theres a genuine mistake or theres a vast underestimated knowledge of the standard required at A2 Music.

You guys are scaring me ! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rain.gif)

Your best guide will be the results achieved by pupils at your college over the last 2 or 3 years. If they've done OK, then you probably will. It certainly sounds as though your teachers are very experienced, so prepare to enjoy your AS lessons.

For what it's worth, my son did AS Music (Edexcel) with an experienced HoM, got great results and thoroughly enjoyed the year. Sadly for him, this teacher moved on at Christmas of the A2 year. The new HoM was nowhere near as good, and my son ended up wishing he had dropped music after AS. He just scraped an A in A2 performing, although in July of the same year he achieved distinction at DipABRSM. So I think whatever is looked for in A2 performance, it's not what is regarded as good by AB.

Let's hope that your teachers give you continuity over the A-level, and that you work hard and do really well. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)