Importance of grade 4 certificate, For entrance to high school or college Options

[Beagle]

Hello everyone

As I'm from Australia, I'm not too familiar with the English school system. However I've been teaching here for a few years now and I get lots of requests from students asking if I can coach them so that they have grade 4 piano by the time they reach high school or if already at high school, college. I heard some mentions about 11+ and GCSE but I'm still not completely sure about the system here.

What's the significance of obtaining grade 4? Does it help you with getting a scholarship? I'd like to know why I'm pushing some of my students, sometimes beyond their ability, before I do it!

[RoseRodent]

Pretty darned mystified myself! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) Maybe people are misreading requirements for "grade 4 or equivalent" for some kind of scholarship or a school with competitive entry of some kind where music will help them jump up the list and get a place. Schools are allowed to set certain criteria about what will make someone more likely to get a place, even public (state) schools, and one of the things they are allowed is to place an emphasis on music, sports, other specialist subjects, so that if a particular desirable school is a music specialism they reckon they are more likely to get in with a music exam. Usually, though, a statement from an adequately qualified teacher will be quite sufficient for those purposes, a pass is not generally an actual requirement you just write and say yes, little Jenny is of a grade 4 standard.

Grade 4 is the first one to be rated at a particular level according to the national qualifications framework, which is a system that tries to tally up different types of qualifications based on difficulty and the amount of work usually required to get them so they are comparable to each other. It's the way that someone can compare a music exam to a certificate in bricklaying to an apprenticeship in hair colouring to an officer of the day exam on a submarine, they are all so different how could you possibly compare them yourself, so they are given scores and are worth a certain number of points. Perhaps if people are short of points on their academic exams they could really need music exam points to bulk up the number, but this is usually far higher up the chain, more for college entry than for high school!

It's also possible some schools will not permit entry to a GCSE music course without a certain practical grade because teachers (usually mistakenly) believe that will help. Again, a statement should be more than adequate for that purpose, but then you may prefer that they somehow squeak a pass with AB because you wouldn't write such a statement for some! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

I'd ask, though. You have to understand what is making these people tick and why they are in such a hurry to get grades, grades, grades and never mind if they don't learn anything along the way.

[owainsutton]

Puzzled here, too.

Schools using it as a benchmark for entry at age 11 would make sense, particulary if there's a scholarship or other financial assistance involved. No idea why people would have this as a target for leaving school, though, unless it's because they're being misinformed (or misunderstanding) at school, about needing to perform at a Grade 4 standard for GCSE music. No certificate is necessary, though.

However, you mention the 11+, which narrows your location down to one of the few local authorities which has retained competitive entry to grammar schools. (I'm going to guess Kent, because most Aussies never get far from London (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif) ) Maybe there's some peculiarity to the way the local system works which gives kids some extra advantage if they've achieved grade 4?

It would do no harm whatsoever to ask a parent why they are so keen to have that as a goal to work towards...

[miffy]

Generally grade 4 is the minimum guide standard for the performance part of GCSE.
It may also be a guide standard for some music scholarships at secondary school?

[andante]

The music scholarships at our local independent schools (nowhere near Kent (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) ) say grade 5 or working towards it, so I suppose grade 4 would enable you to say you are working towards grade 5, but since they audition they hear the child play, and the standard is often well above grade 5.