Friday, September 29, 2006

Confusion Over Coursework

Alan Johnson, Education Secretary, recently announced plans to scrap maths coursework, which looks good for Home Educators as coursework was difficult to manage without outside help. On the downside, he also said that all coursework in other subjects will be supervised, which will effectively put the mockers on HEors doing any GCSEs other than maths. International Baccalaureates may look like the better option.

As to the muddle - we thought coursework was originally introduced at least in part so that pupils could improve upon their research skills and learn to draw upon any source of good information, much as they would in the real world. Preventing learners from using these resources completely puts pay to that.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

you sound almost like you think there was a coherent plan in the first place.... ;)

Bishop Hill said...

You would have thought that there was a commercial opportunity for someone to start up an alternative set of qualifications. The universities must be screaming out for something more rigorous.

Carlotta said...

Good point, Jax :) Am off to investigate the original thinking behind cousework all over again, as the more I think about it, the more unclear I am becoming!

and I am sure you are right, Bishop. In fact I think there is huge potential in many areas of HE...educational software that is notn just cobbled together for the next lesson, for example.