When GCSEs aren't GCSEs

We some stories that are more mainstream and we will be pushing out to the national press.

Do you know exactly what exams your child is taking? You think they will get GCSE’s in certain subjects?  Chances are you are wrong! Not so much wrong but misinformed, they are classed  as GCESE equivalents but may not be recognised.

For example we have reports from some parents complaining that they took the options in year 9 in order to get their child the best qualifications in order to do well in college. The problem is that the courses taken are just so poor that the colleges do not recognise them!

Some schools are offering these OCR National courses in order to try to boost their overall results as they represent the easy option for good results. This then boosts their rating in the result tables and encourages parents to choose the school in question.

Look here to see some past papers.

http://www.ocr.org.uk/pastpapermaterials/pastpapers/gcse/past_papers_2008_january.html

Coursework also counts towards the final mark. In ICT for example some of the titles include:

“Proof I have sent an Email.”

“Proof I have sent an Email with attachment”

“Proof I have received an Email”

All of these require a screenshot. My child in year 3 can do this already so how is this year 11 work? No wonder children in year 5 have passed these exams and that they are not recognised by the colleges. You can look right through the whole course and find nothing that any pupil in junior school does not already know!

What makes matters worse is the fact that the clever kids are now at a disadvantage. They can take the Academic options, sciences say, have a harder workload yet come out with 4 less GCSE’s than the vocational students.

Many parents and students are fuming that they have spent two years studying in School only to have to take Key Skills at College because those two years were wasted and rightly so.