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Bonfire of the BTECs

Last post 10/02/12 at 12:15 by curlygirly, 241 replies
Post started by ScienceGuy on 31/01/12 at 08:20

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  • ScienceGuy avatar
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    Posted by: ScienceGuy 31/01/2012 at 08:20
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    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-16789215

    What are your views on the removal of the majority of equivalent courses from GCSE league tables?
  • existentialtyke avatar
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    Posted by: existentialtyke 31/01/2012 at 08:25
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    About time! Nail technician courses worth double GCSE French or Physics? Many children were pushed into courses to serve the league table interests of the school, not the educational interests of the child. The betrayal of children has been on a huge basis.
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    Posted by: Crowbob 31/01/2012 at 08:35
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     And now those who want to be nail technicians get no recognition and so will be encouraged to take Physics and French. Is that, necessarily, a good thing?

    existentialtyke:
    Many children were pushed into courses to serve the league table interests of the school, not the educational interests of the child.

    So now many students will be pushed into academic courses (that are inappropriate to their needs) to serve the league table interests of the school, not the educational interests of the child.

    Equivalence should be revisited, not abandoned. 

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    Posted by: shirtandtie 31/01/2012 at 08:48
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    Crowbob:
    And now those who want to be nail technicians get no recognition

    Not true.

    It is the school that does not get the recognition.

    If the vocational qualification is truly worthwhile it will be recognised by employers.

    It is very much Wolf's view that many are not, and are only povided by schools to meet the school's needs.

    Crowbob:
    So now many students will be pushed into academic courses (that are inappropriate to their needs) to serve the league table interests of the school,

    How would pushing students towards inappropriate academic courses serve a school's needs?
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    Posted by: danto 31/01/2012 at 08:54
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    Has anyone found a list of the 70 subjects that have avoided the cull?  Have searched around and none of the major news agencies appear to be linking to other documents.
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    Posted by: Crowbob 31/01/2012 at 08:59
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    shirtandtie:

    Not true.

    It is the school that does not get the recognition.

     

    And, by extension, those subjects will not got the recognition WITHIN that school. 

    shirtandtie:
    How would pushing students towards inappropriate academic courses serve a school's needs?

    Because, if they can get a "C", it will add to the school's tally.
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    Posted by: existentialtyke 31/01/2012 at 09:08
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    Equivalence is not being abandoned and some BTECs will stay. However, a curriculum that gave 4 times more worth to fish husbandry than to physics needed changing! I saw many clever working class children pushed into dumbed down routes so the school could do well. That us breach of duty of care and negligence in other waks of life.
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    Posted by: benvanloo 31/01/2012 at 09:15
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    This issue is not to do with the merits of each individual qualification, it is a problem cause and then exacerbated by the presence of league tables.

    Academic courses are great for some, vocational courses have their place and are fantastic for others. Schools have failed some children by using certain courses incorrectly, not to boost opportunities but to inflate the school's position on a league table.

    Of course you can't compare a qualification in hairdressing to one in chemistry, but that is what league tables forced schools to do.
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    Posted by: thehepples 31/01/2012 at 09:33
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    Can anyone tell me where this mysterious LIST of 125 qualifications is?   All the papers are quoting this number but no-one seems to know where it is.  The bbc site quotes "

    The move could make schools less likely to continue to offer such qualifications, and the government has instructed them to wait for its final list before changing their timetables for September 2012." 

    which seems to imply the "LIST" isn't finalised yet. 

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    Posted by: shirtandtie 31/01/2012 at 09:35
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    Crowbob:

    And, by extension, those subjects will not got the recognition WITHIN that school. 

    Indeed they may not, but then it is not the place of schools to provide a vocational education at the expense of an acedemic one.

    Crowbob:

    shirtandtie:
    How would pushing students towards inappropriate academic courses serve a school's needs?

    Because, if they can get a "C", it will add to the school's tally.

    You defeat your own argument; if a child can achieve a "C" in an academic subject then it is appropriate that they should.
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