I think it is fair to say that over the many years the Education process has changed drastically. From when GCSE's first were taught in 1986 and students took their exams 2 years later in 1988.
But what does changing and altering exams actually do? The brain hasn't changed for thousands of years, our brains clearly can't keep up, as students are made to face challenging questions at the end of year 11 and year 13. They learn topics such as Quadratic Equations and how to find the area of a triangle using the formula 0.5absin(θ) of which most adults say are invaluable skills and have forgotten what most of them are.
recent studies have shown that students are very unhappy with the new GCSE as certain students have very little practice material and have no previous year's grade boundaries. There has been a lot of push and protest put towards the English literature GCSE as a petition was set up to try and bring the exam to open book to ensure the students don't make the GCSE about memory. It looks like it will not be changing but it had over 150,000 signatures and was debated in parliament and the fact it will not change only shows the very little power the students have in their own future.
The new system of 1-9 only confuses employers, parents, and students. Simply what is the point in changing to numbers when for years it has been G-A*? What does it accomplish that is helpful? It only makes it confusing for students as to understand what they are aiming for.
Overall exams are stressful and also very confusing to those involved in the process. Grade boundaries are becoming tighter and subjects are becoming more demanding. The future of the students is not in their hands and in fact, they have very little power over the future successes. So, in the future, if you see any change in Education you shouldn't be surprised as it has been happening for the last 35 years.
Bethan Sturdy
Waldegrave school
