GCE / GCSE

[Debra]

dup!

[Debra]

[quote user="Debra"]....the older boys will be interns at lycee by then so a house move won't affect them![/quote]but should I be putting them in for GCSE's as well, where possible, or are they pretty much useless now and they'd be better off just concentrating on their BAC?!

[YCCMB]

Depends. Where are they likely to be spending the rest of their lives? Where will they want to study if they go on to University? Where will they ultimately want to live and work?

I know...How long is a piece of string?

Here's a thought. The UK system, whether you like it or not, whether it is riddled with faults or flawless, has the advantage of being sufficiently flexible to cope with the considerable influx of pupils from all corners of the globe, pick 'em up, deal with 'em and get them up to speed with whatever they need to be doing to complete the UK requirements. If your children ultimately return to the UK, and have to slot back into the UK system, then the system will have measures in place to bring them up to speed. There are even measures in place in most areas to teach adults to  GCSE level in English and Maths as well (the two GCSE subjects that seem to be a requirement for a number of jobs, particularly in teaching or education).

If it's likely that your children may wish to study at a UK University, then there are entry requirements in place for students who have not been through the UK education system. By that stage, AFAIK, GCSE's are of less relevance, because A and AS levels are more important.

I'd even venture to suggest (although it may be a little controversial) that unless someone leaves school at 16 in the UK, in which case the GCSE is the only qualification they'll have, then GCSE's are almost irrelevant anyway. Certainly, the further someone progresses with their education, the less relevant their GCSE results will become.

[EmilyA]

Interestingly when I was in the UK recently looking at secondary schools for my granddaughter, the deputy in one school said they were thinking about doing ibacc to avoid the political football that is GCSE. It was a very impressive state secondary school, where the pupils made excellent progress.

By the way, in response to the much earlier post about January entry being for re-sit, then the answer is no, these will be early entry exams. It is all much more complicated now, in terms of who does what and when.

[idun]

 Our eldest had very little french before he started maternelle and  as we had deliberately moved to somewhere with no other brits within 20 miles, there was certainly no english at all at school. His younger brother picked more french up from his brother before he started maternelle.

Both boys started maternelle when they were just over 3 years old.

As I knew of british kids who had returned to the Uk to attend uni once they had their Bac, I would never have thought about mine doing any british qualification whilst in France.

[Thibault]

Returning to the original point about grade inflation - I have been an A level examiner for over 15 years and it is very clear to me that standards have changed during that time.  Not only has the specification been somewhat 'watered-down' but the requirements for achieving particular levels of marks have been also.  I can remember for one module that I marked around five years ago, the Chief Examiner was concerned that results were 'lower' than the other two modules for that level - so every year, the requirements for what was considered knowledge, or analysis or evaluation were weakened.  The fact that the module content was different and required different skills than the other two was disregarded - all that mattered was that the distribution of marks followed the same pattern, regardless of how well or how poorly the candidates answered the question