tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7440547412159619856.post7904934803770597688..comments2023-09-20T07:13:01.631-07:00Comments on Baccing our students: The Sentamu Suite of Baccalaureates (proposed)Andrew Chubbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13313982459498095917noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7440547412159619856.post-79740189787220417792011-01-14T05:20:57.283-08:002011-01-14T05:20:57.283-08:00The EBacc is meant to be an academic qualification...The EBacc is meant to be an academic qualification, which reveals the schools who fail their pupils in order to push themselves up the league tables (by getting their students to do easier BTECs which are 'equivalent' to multiple GCSEs).<br /><br />If you include a science BTEC and level 2 language qualifications in your plan, then this won't happen at all, and pupils will still be failed. Schools will scrap triple science (the few that still offer it!), and probably even encourage talented scientists to do a BTEC instead of double science gcses.<br /><br />How are students meant to take A-Level sciences or do a science/engineering degree after that?! The number of state school (especially deprived school) pupils with the right qualifications to apply to top universities is already very low, and this would just decrease that number even further.<br /><br />Yes, not everyone wants to go to Oxbridge, but there are currently students with the potential to go who don't realise until too late that their school has ruined their chances of them going to those universities just so the school can rise up the league tables.<br /><br />There's no shame in students who are more practically-talented not getting the EBacc, but there is a huge shame in schools switching pupils to dance, combined humanities and PE GCSEs if those pupils want to go on and do History, language or Economics degrees.<br /><br />(And with regards to ICT, students don't need a GCSE in it for Computing degrees, let alone to be able to use MS Word and Powerpoint well, so I really don't think that it should be compulsory. Minimising students' choice isn't going to make them more engaged with their education)Anonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09784886529714272704noreply@blogger.com