Shake-up of A-levels confirmed by Gove

[Kardan]

Education Secretary Michael Gove has confirmed changes to A-levels in England that will mean pupils will take exams at the end of two-year courses.

Pupils are expected to being the new A-level courses from autumn 2015.

AS-levels will remain, but as a standalone exam, and leading universities will play a bigger role in maintaining standards.

Labour accused the education secretary of turning the clock back and narrowing young people's options.

Head teachers' leader Brian Lightman said: "This is a classic case of fixing something that isn't broken."

Students in Scotland have a different exam system while the devolved governments in Wales and Northern Ireland will make their own decisions about whether to implement the changes to A-levels.

In a letter to exam regulator Ofqual, Mr Gove says A-levels in their current form do not provide the solid foundation students need.

"The modular nature of the qualification and repeated assessment windows have contributed to many students not developing deep understanding or the necessary skills to make connections between topics," writes Mr Gove.

More from:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-21156370

What a stupid decision really. The fact that they've scrapped modules now essentially means your 2-year study comes down to a single multiple-hour memory exercise for each course. Not only that, but those that take on an A2 course can no longer drop out at AS and still get a qualification, they will have nothing. Those that take on an AS course can no longer extend their qualification if they find they actually enjoyed their first year.

You will no longer get to pick and choose any modules, so you can't choose modules that suit your tastes and interest yourself, such as in Maths. Apparently the top Unis are saying this is a mistake, and if this actually goes ahead, I can see Uni entry requirements dropping somewhat. I remember back at college when everyone complained of a certain module, and our teachers said we should be lucky because they had one big exam at the end of it. Seems like people won't be so lucky anymore.

Changes come into place Autumn 2015, right when I plan on starting to teach...

Thoughts?

[Cerys]

Oh fgs..

It's always changed for our year. Like, our year is always first/second to experience the changes. Makes me angry >.>

I didn't even realise they needed a change. Damn Gove. Lets slaughter him.

[Kardan]

Oh fgs..

It's always changed for our year. Like, our year is always first/second to experience the changes. Makes me angry >.>

I didn't even realise they needed a change. Damn Gove. Lets slaughter him.

They don't need changing, not really.

They changed it in 2010 to extend the grades to an A*, but the thing is, those people that have got A* grades at A-Level haven't even finished University yet, so we don't even know how successful that was or not. So they're just making changes before they even see how previous changes have gone.

And they say it's to prefer you for University. Well, at University you have modular exams at the end of every year, not one huge exam worth 100% of your degree in your final year. *Sigh*

[Chippiewill]

What a stupid decision, all it achieves is to narrow student's options.

Seems he's just making changes to make it look like he's doing something.

[Red]

O god that really would be awful! My school never got to do gcses spread out over 2 years and had all my exams in like the one sitting . It was awful and I actually found Alevels so much easier. I missed the A* change and i feel sorry for anyone who will have to sit through this change. It's bad that its only in england. There should be a unified system for the Uk :S There will probably be a big drop in English students exam performance.

[Kardan]

O god that really would be awful! My school never got to do gcses spread out over 2 years and had all my exams in like the one sitting . It was awful and I actually found Alevels so much easier. I missed the A* change and i feel sorry for anyone who will have to sit through this change. It's bad that its only in england. There should be a unified system for the Uk :S There will probably be a big drop in English students exam performance.

I'm sure that Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland are glad that there isn't a unified system with the idiot that's in charge :P

And with your GCSEs, do you mean all your exams were in Summer rather than split Winter/Summer, or you literally had all Maths exams all in one day, all Science on another day etc.

[Wig44.]

You know, instead of making people sit one exam after 2 years of study (that's ******* madness) he could have fixed the problem he purports there to be (lack of deep understanding) by changing the content of A-levels. A key example in my mind is that there is no calculus in A-level physics, meaning you have to waste time being taught how to apply calculus properly in physics during your first semester at university. The lack of problem solving required in most a-levels is probably the biggest problem. This is going to make things so much worse.

[Glen Coco]

And with your GCSEs, do you mean all your exams were in Summer rather than split Winter/Summer, or you literally had all Maths exams all in one day, all Science on another day etc.

she would have meant one exam for each subject that covered everything they had done in the course, rather than modules so that you have to learn EVERYTHING. this changed for my year (thank god) and we had the modual way