The parents of high achieving students often think of selective entry schools as the ideal option for their child. But do these schools churn out well-rounded young adults, or students trained for exams and little else?
An important lesson for teachers.
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The shockwaves from the latest round of school league tables are still reverberating across staff rooms up and down the country. The headlines have been about a drop in the proportion of pupils achieving…
Knowing what the state curriculum authority expects of you is important.
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This week thousands of students across Australia begin their final year of schooling. The certificate they receive will vary from state to state, and their post-secondary plans may be university, an apprenticeship…
Hopefuls emerging from the gruelling Gaokao exams.
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China’s Ministry of Education has announced a major reform of the National College Entrance Examination, known as Gaokao. Under the proposed changes, the entry of new students to higher education will…
Many have argued that exams are pointless, especially in higher education where deep learning is the aim. But they still have their uses.
ZELIG SCHOOL
In recent weeks, students across high school and university classrooms have been breathing sighs of relief. Exams are officially over, and celebrations have begun. For many students, exams seem a necessary…
Getting a low ATAR, or not getting the ATAR you need for the university course you want, can seem like the end of the world. But it’s not.
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The release of this year’s Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) will result in mixed feelings among school-leavers. There are those who will be elated at having achieved a score that places them in…
Tutors may be a good thing for improving test scores, but may be a bad thing if the student becomes overly reliant on the tutor.
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Significant numbers of secondary school students receive additional assistance from private tutors. This requires a measure of time, commitment and sometimes a substantial financial investment. So does…
Testing times for future students.
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The teachers of tomorrow should be eager to prepare for “your future, their future”, according to the National College for Teaching and Leadership’s new teacher-training recruitment campaign. Sadly they…
It’s high stakes when the education minister announces South Africa’s matric results.
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In South Africa, as in many countries, the release of senior secondary school exam results, referred to locally as “the Matric”, causes a media furore every year. At 18-years-old, students either pass…
High intake of take-away foods, red and processed meat, soft drinks, and fried and refined food is a risk factor for poor academic performance.
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As their children submit themselves to the ordeal of all-important end-of-year exams, parents of high school and university students may be wondering what they can do to help. One thing they ought to consider…
When students pay companies to write essays for them, the work they receive in return is often of poor quality. That’s the main finding of new research released by schools exam regulator Ofqual into companies…
It was worth coming back from holiday early.
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Despite a number of dire warnings, overall GCSE results have not been very volatile. Across the country, the number of students getting A* to C grades has increased slightly, by 0.7% points. On the basis…
What if want a chance to get an A*?
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Children’s access to high grades at GCSE is determined by our examination system, which assigns grade limits in some subjects. Known as tiering, this means that some 16-year-olds sit a foundation GCSE…
Let’s wait a year before we do this.
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The number of students entered for a GCSE exam a year early plummeted by 40% this summer. Before 2014, the number of students taking their exams in Year 10 rather than Year 11, particularly in English…
This year’s GCSE results day is predicted to be “chaos” if recent exam reforms cause large fluctuations in students’ grades. Exam boards, teachers and teacher unions are talking of “nervousness”, “turbulence…
Smiles all round at this school in Country Antrim.
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As students across the UK and Ireland consider their next steps following publication of this year’s exam results, news outlets have been quick to produce whimsical comparisons to determine the top performing…
In 2013 the former secretary of state for education, Michael Gove, and his minister of state for schools, David Laws, decided to change the A Level qualifications taken by English and Welsh students with…
A Level results are in and as teenagers pore over their grades, a record number will be able to take up places at university. The results – which show a small decline in the overall pass rate for the first…