I agree to a certain extent about the paperwork and so on. A lot of it is unecessary SO LONG AS YOU ARE A GOOD TEACHER. A good teacher can walk into a classroom and totally own it, improvise a lesson with no preparation and be able to recall details about everyone they teach with little effort because they care enough to bother to do so. However, so few people are good teachers. I'd like to say I am but I am not sure that is true. I just know my own weaknesses enough to hopefully avoid them.
As for the grades thing. I don't think that it has got any easier in A level science. I have seen some of the modern A level papers (and taught the syllabus for more than a year) and compared them to my memories (and some actual questions) from when I did A level biology. I would say that they are mostly the same in terms of difficulty and in some cases harder (the A level questions in biology now sometimes throw evil little curveballs which are nasty if you get caught out by them - most of my time teaching 'exam technique' has been spent teaching how to spot these and defeat them). The difference is in the application. You can now resit A levels ad infinitum. In fact, you can resit individual modules until you get the grades you want in that module and then submit for an A level. There is also the addition of coursework of which there is a lot more these days.
I'd also argue the internet as a big influence. Exam revision research is so much easier when the past papers and marks schemes are all available online. Then there are a plethora of revision websites with interactive quizzes and revision notes. And that is just the legal side of it. There are websites which offer coursework essays for a price which are of dubious legality. Access to these things cannot help but influence the overall grades.
I do however agree that thinking is no longer a requirement in education these days. Which is why I try so damn hard to make the little sods think as much as possible because, unfortunately, it seems as though I am the sort of sadistic bastard of a teacher I used to hate while at school :)
"I agree to a certain extent about the paperwork and so on. A lot of it is unecessary SO LONG AS YOU ARE A GOOD TEACHER."
So rather than have good and bad teachers (and work on sorting out the bad ones) the government has seemingly decided to standardise everyone by beating as much individuality out of them a possible. Hurrah for averageness! Averageness is inclusive! Averageness doesn't leave anyone feeling left out!
God yes.... lets make sure everyone is the same... Not a good situation. Its slightly better in FE than in schools, though. More individuality is allowed in general, which is good.
As for the grades thing. I don't think that it has got any easier in A level science. I have seen some of the modern A level papers (and taught the syllabus for more than a year) and compared them to my memories (and some actual questions) from when I did A level biology. I would say that they are mostly the same in terms of difficulty and in some cases harder (the A level questions in biology now sometimes throw evil little curveballs which are nasty if you get caught out by them - most of my time teaching 'exam technique' has been spent teaching how to spot these and defeat them). The difference is in the application. You can now resit A levels ad infinitum. In fact, you can resit individual modules until you get the grades you want in that module and then submit for an A level. There is also the addition of coursework of which there is a lot more these days.
I'd also argue the internet as a big influence. Exam revision research is so much easier when the past papers and marks schemes are all available online. Then there are a plethora of revision websites with interactive quizzes and revision notes. And that is just the legal side of it. There are websites which offer coursework essays for a price which are of dubious legality. Access to these things cannot help but influence the overall grades.
I do however agree that thinking is no longer a requirement in education these days. Which is why I try so damn hard to make the little sods think as much as possible because, unfortunately, it seems as though I am the sort of sadistic bastard of a teacher I used to hate while at school :)
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So rather than have good and bad teachers (and work on sorting out the bad ones) the government has seemingly decided to standardise everyone by beating as much individuality out of them a possible. Hurrah for averageness! Averageness is inclusive! Averageness doesn't leave anyone feeling left out!
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Its slightly better in FE than in schools, though. More individuality is allowed in general, which is good.
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