Howdy Peeps!
Despite the fact it is exactly 10 weeks until Christmas (!!😆😍🎄🎁🎉🎅👼🐧🌲❄⛄) I’m going to be serious for a minute and talk about my other passion, education.
A small change to the English Literature GCSE: Students were getting an anthology of poetry based around either Conflict or Love. (Which they did was up to the school.) As of the current course AQA have decided to do one big book of all the poems.
The good news is they’ll still only learn 15 poems and they are pretty much the same as they have been the last few years, so pupils can still use old questions as practice. Also, pupils can extend their knowledge by choosing to study the others, this may give them the advantage in the exam as questions are usually about comparing 2 pieces of their choice. The books are also currently free to schools, so there isn’t really any bad news. 😊
Secondly, there is a bigger change coming in 2020: T-levels. The Department for Education announced these a few days ago and they will come into play for the current year 10 (and younger).
In 2020 these T-levels will be offered alongside A-levels. They are basically technical qualifications that require some sort of practical or work-based element.
They include things like construction and childcare (traditionally BTEC or NVQ courses) but also offer things like accounting, business and health science.
They give an advantage to pupils who are more practical because they include the English and Maths skills, which may stop them having to do re-sits. The DfE are talking about getting post-16 students to retake Maths and English if they don’t achieve a C at GCSE, so including them in a course is a friendlier option.
It doesn’t say specifically but it seems that they will be full time so wouldn’t be able to do them alongside A levels.
It’s still early days and stuff may change but the full report is on the Gov website.
Personally, I don’t think it’ll be hugely different from current practical options but if it gives kids more options in their education, I’m all for it.
Laters Peeps,
Anna x
A Peace of Life 