If it was it might explain a lot.
Personally I think the CVA scoring system is just obfuscation and serves no other purpose.
League tables of numbers of kids passing GCSE's or five passes inc Maths and English are next to useless. Surely any form of education, state, private, home, higher or lifelong learning has to have value for the individual or there is no point to any of it unless you subscribe to the socialist model of indoctrination to ensure the "right sort" of model citizen pops out at the other end.
PLP
Citizenship
Learning zones
Community
PHSCE
Sports Sciences
Humanities
Modern foreign languages
and the new definition of what was religious education 'religious and moral' education entering the system and of course the vocabulary of schools.
Having seen at first hand the shockingly poor morals shown by many if not all religions over time and the shameful ways in which modern politicians hijack religions for their own nefarious ends this really is a stretch to bundle religion and morals in the same package!
With the enforced sex education, the extension of the national curriculum to nursery age kids, lessons in debt for primary age kids and the constant pushing of the equality and diversity drivel onto staff and schoolchildren at every opportunity it all becomes to much to bear, at least it has for me.
Link
The number of schoolchildren taking a practical computing course branded of "doubtful value" by Government inspectors has soared six-fold, it has emerged.
The qualification - run by the OCR exam board - has become one of the most popular courses in English schools after entries increased to almost 250,000 last year.
It is believed that the course in information and communication technology is
now offered in as many as half of secondaries nationwide.
The OCR National Level 2 in ICT was taken by more pupils last year than full GCSEs in history, geography, art and French.
Courses can be worth up to four good GCSE passes, fuelling claims that pupils are being pushed onto them to boost schools' league table positions.
A report last year by Ofsted, the education watchdog, found that qualifications such as the one run by OCR were "less demanding" than other mainstream exams.
It said pupils were able to pass "whether or not they had understood what they had done".
But the exam board branded the claims "subjective" and insisted that Ofsted's findings "simply didn't chime" with teachers' own experiences.
"In the past, we have had an unprecedented response from teachers who agree with us that Nationals have revolutionised the teaching of ICT and provide the ideal tool for giving students a stimulating and challenging learning experience," said a spokesman. "Its practical approach to learning, and its industry relevance, has been welcomed by employers."
According to new figures, 242,878 pupils registered for the OCR National Level 2 in ICT in 2009 - a 669 per cent rise in two years.
The course covers practical IT skills needed for business. It also has optional modules in areas such as creating web pages, designing spreadsheets, desktop publishing, creating animation for the internet, computer graphics and planning careers in IT.
The course, which does not feature any examinations, is aimed at pupils aged 14 to 16.
Pupils can take a short version, which normally takes less than a year and is worth one GCSE, or a longer course worth up to four A* to C grades. OCR said the "vast majority" did the shorter version.
According to figures, it is the fourth most popular course in England. Only GCSEs offered by the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance - another of the country's three main exam boards - in English and English literature were more popular. More pupils also took a GCSE in maths offered by the Edexcel board.
But the course is now far more popular than other traditional subjects.
Across the UK last year, only 219,809 pupils took GCSE history, 196,018 got a pass in geography, 193,578 took art and 188,688 gained a GCSE in French.
But last year's Ofsted report was hugely critical of a number of vocational ICT qualifications.
"Over the past decade, schools have moved away from GCSE ICT, which is perceived to be more difficult, to take on vocational courses," it said. "Increasingly, the schools have turned to qualifications that are seen to be less demanding."
"I can see no other logical reason for the following"
The fact that you've included citizenship, PHSCE (basically philosophy from what I remember), humanities, modern foreign languages and religious (and indeed moral) studies, is perhaps why you are yet to make it as a politician.
What worries me the most is that you have taken it upon yourself to educate your son. I shudder to think what kind of indoctrination of your own doing will occur, unless you allow your child (and this goes for children in general) to have access to the broad range of ideas and issues exposed by some subjects such as citizenship, PHSCE, humanities and religious studies. They are not necessary for a profession in medicine, or engineering, but they provide the aspect of education that strictly purposeful (both vocational and academic) subjects do not teach.
It is certainly equally important for a child to be able to do maths as it is for a child to approach an issue with a broad and open mind, to be sensitive to the views of others (even if these views are not personally held) and indeed to have the opportunity to learn about these issues. Especially in such a place as Barrow, where from my personal experience xenophobia and all out racism are acceptable conversation starters, it is important that children posses the skills necessary to understand all aspects of our society before making a conclusion.
Think about the alternative -a society full of Derek Fishers. Now wouldn't that be a hideous and miserable place? You'd do Nick Griffin proud.
Pshce covers sex education, relationships, careers, crime. In short the whole social caboodle. Vital if kids never see their parents or have no role models. The whole of alfs year eleven gained two gcse grade b exams from pshce, increasing the results by twenty percent.
Hello Doug
Who in their right mind would want to be a politician in the UK?
Seriously would you?
I know I wouldn't. There is no problem with the people being governed by the people and some of the people in Westminster are very honest and good people but the current system of fake democracy that exists in the United Kingdom is broken beyond repair, in my opinion.
When I was being educated French was French, Biology was Biology, RE was Religious education etc. There was no need for fancy labelling, citizenship, moral studies etc. These things were covered when they came up in all the subjects we studied. Quite often English, Geography, History, and Biology lessons entered the realms of politics, class, responsibility, crime, etc and more importantly were dealt with when necessary in the home by my family.
The re-modelling that is taking place in state education isn't new. It's been going on for years. The only difference is now we as a family are outside of it and you get to see things in a very different light.
If you 'step outside' for a moment you will see that there is no educational need for this remodelling. What should be going on is an incremental improvement in the individuals education driven by the needs of the individual NOT the state, in my opinion.
With that said state education is the only option for lots of people so it is incumbent upon those who work within it to provide a good individual education. The problem is that the people who voluntarily enter education to teach have been hamstrung by the state. They have to follow state guidelines so every child regardless of individual ability gets the same opportunity. Except that isn't really the case either as another part of the state the quangos and the councils play the deprivation card.
This colours the 'version' of the national curriculum that is taught in Barrow. Again that is just my opinion.
It pays to remember that everything I write on this blog is just my opinion. Nothing more, nothing less. You are free to agree with some of it, part of it or indeed reject it and accuse me of being a racist and a member of the BNP. Your opinion is as valuable to you as mine is to me.
You are even free to assume that my son will allow himself to be indoctrinated by me or anyone else. You have obviously never met him or you would never come to that particular conclusion!
GMTREV
I agree with you that PSHCE may be of use to kids with no parents or 'absent' parents. Many of my an subsequent generations had kids for the 'side benefits' they bring. Taking responsibility for their children wasn't on the agenda. This is indeed a sad reflection on the breakdown of family life in the UK but it is reality for many.
Once 'parent or carer' entered the school vocabulary it would seem that family life was collapsing.
What I cannot get my head round is why there needs to be an exam!
Imagine how the kids would feel if they failed the PSHCE exam. Not only that is it presumed that all the kids who choose not to take the PSHCE exam are going to be equally 'clued up' even though they don't have the piece of paper to prove it?
Derek
Surely it is the ability of the person doing the line of work they have chosen or fallen into is of paramount importance not what type of paper qualifications they possess?
What difference does it make if someone has been schooled to be a good citizen (is that a euphemism for compliant citizen?) or not?
There is a least one case a year where a doctor or a nurse is removed from practice because they don't have the paper proof even though their patients were perfectly happy with their work!
Relying on paper qualifications as proof of skill is as daft as handing over £50 a year to prove that your car is roadworthy for one day but we all do it.
(Read the small print on the back of your MOT and you will understand what I am on about!!)
Derek,
My child is taking OCR GCSE ICT. It is worth 1 GCSE, It is an extremely difficult course as acknowledged by the teacher and by me, seeing the terrific workload involved. (Masses of coursework and two exams in June).
I am horrified that the same exam board allows another ICT course allowing children to come out with the equivalent of 4 GCSE's for ICT, but with a half of the work load. I am basing this on a friend's child who is doing the latter course in another school. (and I am led to believe other schools do, in the area).
When an employer sees my child’s ICT result they will think that their qualification is very poor in comparison as I doubt they will check which version of GCSE they have taken, let alone if they know that there are different exams and difficulties within the same exam subject.
doug I was thinking exactly the same thing.
I assume that employers just glance at qualifications as some of the idiots I work with can do it on paper but not in reality!
Are you totally insane?
Have you ever read about what the BNP is all about or looked into their policies and the reasons they came to their conclusions?
I'll answer my own question.
No. You haven't a bloody clue.