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Canopus

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Posts posted by Canopus

  1. Posted · Report reply

    About this time last year I met a 20 year old and became friends with him. He comes across as quite confident, witty, talkative, has very good body language, and is able to be laid back and casual. Overall a solidly NT personality. He is not academically well educated and he left school with poor GCSEs. He is quite bad at maths but better at English although he doesn't particularly enjoy reading anything. Until he started a foundation year at university last October to study social work he has drifted between jobs in restaurants and takeaways, a carer in a nursing home, and unemployment. His main interest is rap and hip-hop music. Something I am not and will never be interested. Rap lyrics are a strange and incomprehensible language to me.

     

    He describes himself as mixed race of British and Bangladeshi origin. His surname is Bengali but he is visually white with blue eyes and dark brown hair so does not appear foreign.

    What intrigued me is that he commented that I could have AS judging from my mannerism. Later in the year he became adamant that I had AS. Things started looking suspicious. Only one other person I have met has ever mentioned that I could have AS and he had a medical background. How could this unassuming 20 year old know so much about AS and effectively be able to diagnose me?

    It turned out that he had AS himself. He was diagnosed quite young around the age of 5. In secondary school he had support and counselling services. After leaving school he managed to claim some disability benefits. He told me that he was bad at football and team sports as a kid and had communications difficulties with other kids that when described to me had hallmarks of AS traits. When I first met him he didn't have many friends and the two he introduced to me were black but of Christian origin. I interpreted this that he might have had difficulty making friends at school.

    But…

    Somehow he has grown out of AS and has become NT.

    To complicate the situation he became a revert Muslim two years ago at the age of 19 although he is not particularly knowledgeable about Islam nor committed in practising. Only occasionally does he go to the mosque and he doesn't read many books about Islam. He claims that he made dua to Allah and this cured him of his AS.

    Is this really the case?

    One thing that I am aware of is that the Muslim community is very behind the curve when it comes to ASD and mental health

    http://islamicate.co.uk/lets-talk-about-mental-health/

    I have to say that Muslims with AS are extremely rare individuals almost unknown to the AS community. This makes it hard to make comparisons from this angle although he is not from a traditional Islamic background and he understands / is shaped by modern western culture. Over the past year or so his social circle has shifted more towards Muslims – mostly of south Asian origin. He has not embraced Asian culture. His AS had gone before he started getting involved with the Muslim community so they have no knowledge or experience of it.

    I told him that he might never have had AS but was instead misdiagnosed with the condition. He denied that then told me about meetings with psychologists and counsellors when he was a kid and the disability benefits he received.

    Can anybody explain him to me?

  2. Posted · Report reply

    In many respects people are like cars.

     

    Average people are mainstream mass market cars such as a Ford Focus or a Volkswagen Golf.

     

    The lower classes of society are cheap budget cars such as a Dacia or a Korean supermini.

     

    The upper classes of society are executive cars such as BMW, Mercedes, and Jaguar.

     

    The top 1% of society are luxury cars such as Bristol and Rolls Royce.

     

    Highly admired people and celebrities are expensive sports cars such as Lamborghini and Aston Martin. They are rare cars on the road but everybody has heard of them and admire them.

     

    Now, what type of people are very rare cars that next to nobody has even heard of? Cars that are not admired because very few people even know that they exist. Cars where there are fewer than 20 of them left on the road but none of them are worth more than £500 because nobody but the most eccentric of enthusiasts or collectors wants one. Just because something is rare doesn't make it valuable or even collectible for that matter. If you were born as a car then would you really want to be a Talbot Tagora or a Mitsubishi Galant Sapporo? After all, only a small handful of strange people would have wanted to buy such cars when they could have chosen something more mainstream. Could such cars represent people with AS?

  4. Posted · Report reply

    I recent went shopping for smart casual clothes along with a friend. His knowledge of fashion was far greater than mine and he pointed out things like this item is too young for a nearly 40 year old; item X has to be matched with item Y but will not go with item Z; you often have to buy a complete outfit rather than individual items to add to things already in your wardrobe. He also had detailed knowledge of trainers saying things like these are running shoes and these are chilling shoes; this item is worn with jeans and will not go with a tracksuit and vice versa.

     

    I then asked him where he got all this knowledge from but he couldn't really explain. He made out that he just picked it up as he went along in life. Where exactly to people who know about fashion learn it from?

     

    Had I gone shopping on my own then I would probably have come away with a completely different items to the ones I purchased. Historically I just used to buy clothes that appealed to me visually or thought would be appropriate for an occasion - even if they weren't. With hindsight, I have probably mismatched two or more otherwise good items many times when dressing. I also had a preference for more 'neutral' clothing and dislike buying certain designer brands or items that are likely to go out of fashion quickly.

  5. Posted · Report reply

    Are people who don't watch social type TV programmes likely to be socially deprived or have weaker social skills than people who watch them? This applies to NT people as well those with AS.

     

    There is a fraction of society who only watches documentaries, wildlife, news, cartoons, sci-fi, highbrow arts and music, or any combination of these programmes, but they do not watch soaps, dramas, reality TV, or chatshows. Watching this former category of programmes will do very little for somebody socially but the latter category theoretically can affect them significantly socially.

     

    Also, is the reason that people don't watch social type TV programmes is because they struggle to pick up social cues? The mirror image of the original question.

  9. Posted · Report reply

    I find it intriguing that British schools have never taught Dutch despite Holland and Belgium being two of our nearest neighbours. Even the Dutch GCSE is being discontinued due to very few students taking it. There is an argument that a high proportion of native Dutch speakers already know English so there is little point in learning Dutch if you already know English, but was this argument true in the past? Despite Holland being one of the great European maritime nations it has not left its mark linguistically in the rest of the world like the British, French, and Spanish have.

     

    I am thinking now that Britain has left the EU whether the choice of foreign languages taught in schools should be re-assessed. If Britain moves its economic ties away from European countries towards non-European countries then could the nation's linguists end up being people of foreign origin who learn languages from their families and communities whilst indigenous British people slide further into being monoglots?

  10. Posted · Report reply

    Britain has voted to leave the EU but does anybody know if and how it will have any effects on the ASD community? Are there any ways that people in Britain with ASD benefit from the EU?

     

    Also, will leaving the EU devalue GCSEs as a qualification in other EU countries because they will no longer be an EU qualification? Employers in other EU countries might decide to only recognise IGCSEs as they are international qualifications and reject GCSEs as being a dumbed down and peculiarly British qualification in a similar way that O Levels are recognised in other EU countries but CSEs are not.

  11. Posted · Report reply

    Bear in mind that the double / triple science GCSE is a result of the legacy of having three separate science O Levels in biology, chemistry, and physics which also continued as separate subjects into the GCSE era. It would have been unjust to have replaced them by a single GCSE in science except one for the low ability students. There was resentment for many years with double science counting only as two GCSEs when it had replaced three O Levels which is why triple science was created. The double English GCSE results in two separate GCSEs (on the exam certificate) for English language and English literature.

     

    The statistics GCSE should definitely be more widely available even for students of average mathematical ability and available as a GCSE option in state secondary schools for all. Level 2 additional / further mathematics qualifications need to be evaluated, and a future strategy for the subject and where it fits into the grand scheme of things created. Already there are six courses available, in what is quite a marginal subject in terms of numbers taking it, that differ considerably between them. An IGCSE will probably provide the highest level of recognition in the subject but a Level 2 certificate will be the easiest to tailor to the mathematical requirements of all A Levels unless an Ofsted / DfE controlled GCSE is created.

     

    You make a valid point about the optional questions in the O Level exam papers where students could avoid studying calculus, Euclidean geometry, matrices etc. whereas all the questions in both the linear and unitised GCSE courses are compulsory.

  12. Posted · Report reply

    Have the two GCSEs in mathematics for Wales as described above been influenced or inspired by the linked pair GCSEs or is it an independent development?

     

    I'm dubious about making mathematics a dual GCSE on account of the amount of material in the course or its (alleged) difficulty as it's already a highly valued and respected GCSE anyway. I'm even more dubious about giving an A* grade for what is just arithmetic and 'everyday maths' as in the case of the GCSE mathematics - numeracy for Wales. There are no plans to make the IGCSE a dual subject, despite it containing 'real maths' topics not in the GCSE, and it would be badly devalued if the GCSE was made a dual subject.

     

    I don't know much about the linked pair GCSEs (were they very rare) but I have found out that some students with AS prefer the unitised course (all papers taken at the same time) over the traditional course because it separates out different topics onto different exam papers whereas the traditional course combines different topics onto the same exam paper. Several schools for kids with SEN have adopted the unitised course as a result. O Level exams from the 1950s had 3 papers – one for arithmetic, one for algebra, and one for geometry – which has been used as an argument that a unitised course is not a dumbed down course.

  13. Posted · Report reply

    One of the advantages with the iGCSE is that they are comparatively free from political interference and are widely available and understood.

     

    True. It's possible that in 10 years time GCSEs will only be available in NC subjects approved by the DfE and other subjects will either be an IGCSE or another Level 2 qualification. The increase in availability of IGCSEs has cast a long dark shadow over GCSEs that governments cannot afford to ignore when implementing future exam reforms.

     

    Many of the schools we are considering for DS2 (NT) are independent who prefer the IGCSE - but also seem to include some GCSEs - it will be interesting to see what happens there. I am not sure that IGCSEs will follow GCSE over to the 1-9 marking scheme but if not it will make it even more confusing.

    Independent schools offer a mixture of GCSEs and IGCSEs depending on which course they think is better. Some subjects are only available as a GCSE and not an IGCSE and vice versa.

     

    I was informed by a fairly reliable source that Asian Muslim parents prefer GCSEs to IGCSEs. They think that GCSEs are better because they are British whereas IGCSEs are international. IGCSEs are used in Pakistan and other Commonwealth countries. The result is that most independent Muslim schools in England have chosen to offer GCSEs but not IGCSEs. The person who informed me is not happy about this and feels that parents have fallen into a perception trap without understanding the exams. Asian Muslims are a group which is prone to struggling with coursework, although it has been abolished in many subjects in recent years and grades have improved as a result. This is something the educational progressives and the social liberals fail to realise as they strongly believe that GCSEs with coursework benefit ALL students from 'deprived' or 'disadvantaged' backgrounds over all examination courses. They also don't factor in the education system and the exams that students of foreign origin take back in their country of origin. It makes me wonder whether dumbed down GCSEs with coursework really are just a whim of the chattering class with a socially liberal stance who lack understanding of what goes on in the world.

     

    Looking through the AQA qualifications (that my mathematically-gifted ASD son will do) I see they do 4 different GCSEs. plus statistics - that now includes a "double maths" option. I suppose that is not dissimilar to the Science where you can get one, two or three GCSEs depending what course you follow.

    The AQA courses are:

     

    GCSE Mathematics (8300) – The latest course following the GCSE reforms. First exams 2017.

     

    GCSE Mathematics (4360) – The old unitised course with 3 exam papers.

     

    GCSE Mathematics (Linear) B (4365) – The old traditional course with 2 exam papers.

     

    GCSE Statistics (4310)

     

    The 'double maths' option you mention is the GCSE Linked Pair: Methods in Mathematics (9365) Applications of Mathematics (9370). It is an oddball highly unitised course and is not the equivalent of the double science GCSE. It will be discontinued along with 4360 and 4365.

  14. Posted · Report reply

    I have mixed feelings when it comes to Michael Gove. I give him credit for introducing the computer science GCSE, which should have been around decades ago, and abolishing the ICT GCSE that was the butt of many jokes. It's difficult to deny that the GCSE system was not fit for purpose and in need of a serious overhaul but time will tell how effective Michael Gove's reforms are. The reforms fix a number of problems but they could introduce new problems. One particular issue are conflicts between the reformed GCSEs that use number grades and IGCSEs and GCSEs in Wales and Northern Ireland that continue to use the old letter grades. This is cynical but it appears as if today's Conservatives are undoing the reforms to qualifications implemented by Thatcher's Conservatives.

    All roads seem to lead to that target C grade. I am wondering whether the variation of abilities between individual students who hold a C grade are more acute with mathematics than with most other subjects. Whether the new number grades sorts this out remains to be seen but there is still the same pulling and tugging conflict between the 'real maths' and the 'everyday maths' in the reformed GCSE course as there was in the older course.

    I was discussing the issue with a parent as the AS support group who achieved a B grade GCSE in 1990. At the time a B grade required the higher level papers as the foundation level papers only went up to a C grade. He was thoroughly disgusted to find out that it is now possible to achieve a B grade on the foundation level papers that are only one step ahead of KS2 material whereas he had to answer questions on vectors, functions, 3D trigonometry, Euclidean geometry, and plenty of algebra such as quadratic and simultaneous equations. He thinks that making a B grade available from the foundation level papers was a serious mistake and a kick in the teeth for holders of a B grade when it was only available to students who took the higher level papers.

    Every exam board offers a Level 2 qualification in additional / further mathematics in one form or another:

    AQA Certificate Level 2 Further Mathematics (8360)

    Cambridge IGCSE Mathematics – Additional (0606)

    CCEA GCSE Further Mathematics (2335) (Northern Ireland only)

     

    Edexcel IGCSE Further Pure Mathematics (4PM0)

    OCR FSMQ Advanced Level Additional Mathematics (6993)

    WJEC / Eduqas Level 2 Certificate Additional Mathematics (9550) (Wales only)

    I don't think that any of these courses are within the wrath of Ofsted and the DfE which means that they don't officially exist as far as the government is concerned so they are not officially part of the framework and hierarchy of qualifications. It is debatable what the true purpose of Level 2 additional / further mathematics is which probably explains why all but the CCEA course are not GCSEs so Ofsted / DfE doesn't have to participate in this debate. There are significant differences between the courses in terms of content and academic rigour. Rather ironically, the most demanding course is a GCSE. One suggestion that has been put forward is for future Level 2 additional / further mathematics courses to cover the mathematical topics beyond GCSE found in A Level chemistry, geography, electronics, computer science, and economics as well as being an enabling course for A Levels and further education courses in mathematics and physics. The course will then contain topics ranging from differential equations to 3D geometry to rank correlation.

  15. Posted · Report reply

    There must be someone who thinks this mess is a good idea but I can't understand their thinking.

    Michael Gove aka Meddling Mike. Hopefully things will have settled down next year when only the new reformed GCSE courses will be taught and the older GCSE courses have been discontinued by the exam boards. There will only be 6 GCSE exams in mathematics - one from each exam board apart from WJEC / Eduqas which will offer different exams for England and Wales. Currently AQA, Edexcel, OCR, and WJEC / Eduqas offer two older GCSE courses - one linear with 2 exam papers and another that was once unitised with 3 exam papers.

     

    Perhaps what we need is a basic school leavers certificate the covers basic numeracy and literacy and return the Maths course to something vaguely resembling proper Maths

    Has combining the CSE and O Level into a GCSE created a bad compromise in mathematics between the 'everyday maths' and the 'real maths' where one size to fit both ends up as one size which fails both, and it makes it difficult to determine a student's abilities from the grade alone?

     

    If a new CSE / Level 1 qualification covering 'everyday maths' is created then in the longer run consideration can be given for discontinuing the foundation level GCSE mathematics.

     

    Would the value of the GCSE be increased if it included more 'real maths' topics that are not included in the IGCSE such as discrete that I have previously mentioned?

  16. Posted · Report reply

    It is a very confusing mess at the moment as the old style GCSEs are being taught in parallel with the new reformed GCSEs.

    WJEC / CBAC now offers two mathematics GCSEs with A* to G grades that will only be available in Wales, and conversely, mathematics GCSEs from other exam boards will no longer be available in state schools in Wales. The first is a conventional mathematics GCSE and the second called mathematics – numeracy will focus on numeracy and the mathematics needed for everyday life with a small amount of algebra and geometry thrown in. Most students in Wales will take both GCSEs.

    I have some concerns with the mathematics – numeracy course in that although it somewhat approximates what the CSE was and my concept for a separate exam and qualification for 'everyday maths' there is considerable overlap with the mathematics course and it is graded up to A*. Therefore a potential for deceiving employers (outside of Wales?) exists for students who score well on mathematics – numeracy but badly on mathematics that they are good at 'real maths' when they are only good at 'everyday maths'. The mathematics course is also available at foundation and intermediate level, as well as higher level which is a very questionable facility in the presence of mathematics – numeracy. It would be more sensible if mathematics – numeracy was not a GCSE but another Level 1 qualification and therefore graded differently, and the mathematics GCSE was only available to higher level in Wales.

    A GCSE in further mathematics is offered by CCEA in Northern Ireland but it is not available in England. It consists of two exam papers – the first for pure and the second for mechanics and statistics – so it is the closest of the further / additional mathematics course to the AS Level. The exam papers also appear to be tougher than those from the AQA Certificate Level 2 Further Mathematics.

    The CCEA mathematics GCSE is the only one that is unitised now that those for England, and shortly Wales, are linear.

  17. Posted · Report reply

    I had a quick look at syllabuses for iGCSE(Cambridge) and GCSE(AQA) and the IGCSE seems well beyond the GCSE. Includes topics like integration, set theory and the like.

     

    Is it the Mathematics (9-1) (England only) (0626) that you are referring to? This course contains differentiation but not integration. I was looking at Mathematics (0580) that does not contain any calculus.

     

    I looked at an AQA Further Maths GCSE paper and a Cambridge Further Maths iGCSE. The former I am pretty confident I could rattle off very quickly and get them all right (other than silly slips) the second I would have found much more taxing - predominately because it assumes you have memoriised more formulae that I am sure I knew 30 years ago but can't call to mind now.

    There isn't a further mathematics GCSE from AQA. It is the AQA Certificate Level 2 Further Mathematics (8360). The Cambridge IGCSE is Mathematics - Additional (0606). Of the two the IGCSE appears to be more advanced and includes several A Level topics whereas the AQA Certificate Level 2 appears to be based around O Level material that was omitted from the higher level GCSE.

     

    There is probably much truth that any level 2 qualifications in further or additional mathematics are enabling courses for A Levels and further education courses in mathematics, physics, and other mathematical subjects rather than qualifications for employers. Some independent schools would not allow students to take further mathematics at A Level unless they already had an additional mathematics GCSE or a mathematics AS Level because it meant that they didn't have to spend time teaching these topics at A Level which would free up time to teach further mathematics A Level topics.

     

    One advantage with AS Levels is that they carry UCAS points whereas level 2 qualifications do not. The result is that if students DO NOT take mathematics to A Level then they will have some UCAS points resulting from the AS Level. If they take mathematics to A Level then only the highest scoring qualification will count. In the late 1990s some independent schools replaced their additional mathematics GCSE with a mathematics AS Level because of this. It was noteworthy that the AS Level had got easier and the P1 paper wasn't much harder than the additional mathematics GCSE and much of the M1 paper was covered by the physics GCSE.

     

    As I have previously stated, much of the conflict within the GCSE course are between basic arithmetic and numeracy vs traditional continuous mathematics like algebra, trigonometry, and geometry. The level 2 qualifications in further or additional mathematics continue with continuous mathematics topics. I think that there should be more consideration for including topics in discrete mathematics into the course. Discrete mathematics is already included at A Level in the form of the D1 and D2 papers. Some of the topics can be successfully taught to higher ability KS2 students as they do not require any prior knowledge in KS3 or KS4 topics.

     

    Experience has revealed that discrete mathematics is not without its opponents including: teachers who have no knowledge of the topics; parents and employers who are only interested in basic arithmetic and numeracy; the education traditionalists who want to restore the curriculum to that of the O Level in the 1950s; and worst of all, middle age people who were burnt by the SMP modern mathematics course of the 1960s and 70s who fear that it is reviving this nightmare of a course by stealth.

     

    The recent introduction of the computer science GCSE adds a new dimension into the overall picture as it includes some discrete mathematics and computational mathematics, so measures need to be taken that introducing discrete mathematics into the mathematics GCSE does not result in a large overlap in topics between the two courses.

  18. Posted · Report reply

    I forgot to include the 4th difference between the GCSE and IGCSE courses…

    4. The GCSE papers contain a list of formulae on the first page but it is not included on the IGCSE papers.

    I have had a good look at both the higher level GCSE and IGCSE exam papers and I think it's unjustified to say that they are VERY different beasts. The IGCSE papers are nothing like the O Level papers from the 1960s. They are about 80% the same as the GCSE papers in terms of content although the style of the IGCSE questions tends to be more of a “factorise this equation” type whereas the style of the GCSE questions tends to involve more 'real world' situations.

    The reason why most independent schools adopted the IGCSE was because it was all examination rather than because it was academically more rigorous than the GCSE. There was much dissatisfaction with the coursework component in the GCSE and the complications it caused for students taking the exam in Y9 or Y10. Some independent schools that adopted the IGCSE reverted to the GCSE after coursework was abolished and it became all examination.

    A discussion concluded that improving the standard of mathematical ability of students is ambiguous as it conflates two completely different issues:

    1. Improving the prowess of higher ability students in 'real maths' topics by ensuring that the higher level course is sufficiently rigorous and contains topics of a breadth and depth to prepare students for the mathematics A Level and other mathematical courses in further education, and is also of a comparable standard to the higher level course taken by students in foreign countries.

    2. Improving the prowess of all students in 'everyday maths' by ensuring that they are proficient in basic arithmetic and numeracy. This is mostly KS2 material.

    Initiatives to raise standards in (1) will not raise standards in (2) or vice versa.

    The only possible way to determine the ability of students in both (1) and (2) is to have two separate exams with two separate grades. Combining (1) and (2) into the same subject or exam makes it impossible to determine weaknesses in either (1), (2), or both from the grade alone.

    The Government initiative of ensuring that every 16 year old achieves a GCSE grade C usually manifests in practice as a grade C in the foundation level GCSE. The foundation level GCSE is mostly arithmetic and 'everyday maths' although there is a bit of algebra and geometry. A student who achieves a grade C in the higher level GCSE will have knowledge of advanced topics not included in the foundation level but may be weak at basic arithmetic and numeracy whilst showing strengths in algebra or trigonometry. Therefore the Government's target grade paradoxically results in GCSE holders who's mathematical abilities are invariable and indeterminate.

    Possible complications with having separate exams and separate qualifications for the 'everyday maths' and the 'real maths' include:

    1. The alleged 'cruelty' of subjecting students to too many exams, although people who hold this view seem to forget that students who took O Levels in the 1980s usually only studied 8 subjects whereas it is quite common for students today to take 12 GCSE subjects.

    2. Whether high ability students should take the 'everyday maths' exam before Y11 – possibly even in Y8 – or whether it should be deferred until the end of Y11.

    3. Should mathematics – in one form or another – be a compulsory subject to the end of Y11? If opportunities to take the 'everyday maths' exam before Y11 are commonplace then some students will be happy with it and have no wish to study 'real maths' to (I)GCSE level.

    IMO the additional mathematics GCSE is a controversial subject. It is a slimmed down AS Level with the same topics but it is only a GCSE and quite an obscure subject that doesn't appear to be particularly valued by employers or further education. An AS level has public recognition and is worth a lot more than an additional mathematics GCSE is. There is also a statistics GCSE but this appears to function better as a standalone subject than the additional mathematics GCSE does.

  19. Posted · Report reply

    I have recently compared the mathematics GCSE and IGCSE courses.

    The similarities are:

    1. They are both Level 2 qualifications.
    2. They are both all examination with no coursework.
    3. They both have two exam papers.

    The differences are:

    1. A calculator is allowed for both of the IGCSE exam papers but it is only allowed for one of the GCSE exam papers.
    2. The IGCSE course contains certain advanced topics not included in the GCSE course such as set theory, matrices, and more advanced geometry.
    3. A higher proportion of the marks appear to come from arithmetic type questions in the GCSE course than the IGCSE course.

    It is probably easier for students to achieve a particular grade with the GCSE course than it is to achieve an identical grade with the IGCSE course – although this will also depend on individual students and for some the reverse could be true.

    My cynical view is that ever since the GCSE replaced the CSE and the O Level a conflict of interest has emerged between being sufficiently academically rigorous at higher level and providing the breadth and depth of advanced topics to prepare students for the mathematics A Level and other mathematical courses in further education, and to ensure the mastery of basic arithmetic and numeracy for everyday life and (less technical) employment. This could explain why calculators are prohibited for one of the GCSE exam papers and a higher proportion of the marks appear to come from arithmetic type questions. The second point of interest is probably less of an issue for many students taking the IGCSE which is why the course contains more 'real maths' and less arithmetic.

    A manager stated that mathematics was a subject that benefited from having a separate CSE and O Level with different topics. The O Level was designed around 'real maths' like algebra, trigonometry, and geometry whilst the CSE mostly focused on 'everyday maths' like arithmetic and money calculations. The managed believed that every student, regardless of ability, should have taken the CSE and higher ability students also taken the O Level. That way it would be easy for employers to determine how good applicants were in basic arithmetic and numeracy irrespective of their ability, or lack of it, in more advanced topics. A CSE grade 2 is equal to a GCSE grade D but the CSE always held more respect amongst employers than the GCSE because it was a qualification in its own right whereas a lower grade GCSE looks poor in comparison. A CSE grade 1 was a reliable indicator to an employer that an applicant was proficient at basic arithmetic and numeracy, although they may lack knowledge of the more advanced topics found in the O Level. The equivalent GCSE grade C is ambiguous and therefore almost meaningless. Did the student take the foundation or the higher level GCSE because they are technically different courses? If the student took the foundation level then it's probably safe to say that they are proficient when it comes to 'everyday maths'. If the student took the higher level then are they weak at 'everyday maths', 'real maths', or a bit of both. It's impossible to tell.

    Would it be a good idea to bring back the mathematics CSE and replace the GCSE by the IGCSE? The government target will then be moved from a GCSE grade C to a CSE grade 1 and the IGCSE will be an optional subject for high ability students? I personally see it as a win-win situation.

  20. Posted · Report reply

    What do you think of the mathematics GCSE? Is it too easy, too difficult, right or wrong choice of topics, etc?

     

    Mathematics was the first main GCSE subject to abolish coursework and become all examination. Do you think that this was a good or a bad move?

     

    The current GCSE consists of two papers - one where a calculator is required and one where a calculator is prohibited. Is this a good idea or not?

  23. Posted · Report reply

    Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house.

     

    Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

     

    Then 27 burnt sausages jumped out of the bin and rubbed grease into the wallpaper and a brand new settee.

     

     

    I use this short poem with kids as a test of social maturity to find out if they laugh or not. Experience has revealed that kids with AS are more likely to find it amusing than NT kids do.

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