BBC News School Report 27th March 2014
(Posted on 27/03/14)
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Year 8 students have been taking part in the BBC News School Report, filming and writing articles relevant to today’s news stories:
What Will The Changes To GCSEs Do To Our Future? By Sophie
Have you heard? The GCSEs are changing again. However, they’re warping back into their original state, just like O Levels. O Levels were what GSCE’s were called, way back when our parents were our age. Naturally, we all complain about that big ‘scary’ assessment coming up next week, and our parents scoff and say that we’re getting off easy compared to what it was like, say 25 years ago.
However, the Government has come to the conclusion that the GCSE’s are actually too easy for students and they are very likely going to be switched back to the harder stuff. The changes will be done over the course of the next few years, and it is due to start during the year of 2017, so the students who are turning 13 in this academic year will be the guinea pigs. That unfortunately, means us!
The new system consists of numbers instead of letters, being 1-9 instead of the familiar A*-G we all know today. If the student fails to comply, the will still get a U, for unclassified. Children are scared of what this will bring to our educational system, and how this will affect our lives in the future.
With the new grades, we are bound to get confused with what is happening , and wonder if the grade we get is as good as it should have been.
Students’ hopes for a successful future will be shattered as their workload intensifies and they struggle under the heavy weight of their scores. It pains me to think about what might happen, when the exams are finally taken and the scores could be abysmal.
This isn’t very likely to happen, but with these drastic changes it should not be ruled out as a simple possibility.
On the contrary there are the good parts, such as students warm up to it like the summer sun and pass with flying colors. These changes were meant to make things easier for teachers and markers, hence the reason why it was put forward.
These new GCSEs will change the way our education will be forever, and we can only hope that it is for the best.
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