Why the fuss about GCSE English marking?

[woolymonkey]

Thought I'd post this because the monkey family has been close to the sharp end and reports in the media don't seem to make things clear.  I have no personal axe to grind because Spider managed to pass even with all the problems this year, so he's alright Jack and off to do Science A-Levels.  (In fact, he did great.  Yay! Spider! \o/\o/\o/)  But

Comments

[ivory_goddess]

I agree (despite being one of those who grumbles about grade inflation every year when the results come out) that this particular change was badly mis-handled and manifestly unfair to this year's crop of students. Especially as it's English, which (along with Maths) is essential for practically everything. If it had been History or Biology or whatever it would still have been unfair, but fewer kids would have fond their future opportunities cut so drastically.

Frankly, I'm just glad none of this affects me directly.

[woolymonkey]

Exactly. It's terrible that one of the two essential subjects has descended into this shambles. I thought there was a lot wrong with English Lang GCSE syllabus and marking before this happened, but it was just about keeping up the appearance of a functioning system. Now it's hard to see how it can keep any credibility, but where does that leave 16-year olds, college admissions and employers?

[woolymonkey]

As far as I can see, Maths has been much better managed, both during the inflation period and the big crunch.