It's the row about exam standards again, this time with added *s.
But rather than get bogged down in the argument about whether or not the GCSE is too easy, I thought I'd have a go myself. There are papers from the last few years lying around the internet ...
Gets out giant case full of spare protractors and set squares. Starts writing. Scratches head. Chews pencil.
I'm not sure whether or not it is reassuring or distressing that I feel pretty shaky on bits of the higher tier 2003 maths GCSE.
And I'm satisfied that anyone who aced this French exam demonstrated that they have a functional knowledge of the language.
I would certainly have failed GCSE dance last year.
It depends of course, on how they are marked. Which is what makes this testimony from an exam marker worth reading.
Many of the exam markers who were recent graduates, approached their task with the maturity of a teenager. Loud laughter, talking, messing around, listening to personal stereos and juvenile behaviour was an almost daily occurrence.
At times, I had the feeling that I myself was back at school. This loud behaviour was not only distracting to other markers but also caused some of us to worry that exam scripts were not getting the kind of attention (and marks) they deserved. Although several complaints were made to the supervisors about this distracting behaviour, little was done about it. In fact, someone told me that one of the noisiest offenders had even complained to management about one of the supervisors who told her to "stop talking". (Read it all.)
The kids, as the Who once said, are alright. It's the grown-ups we need to worry about. (Although the Who did once claim to hope to die before they got old, and they've backtracked on that one.)
