St. John Boste CAST7th March 2016

Main Changes to A-level Structure• AS and A levels will be assessed at the end of the

course. AS assessments will typically take place after 1 year’s study and A levels after 2.

• AS and A levels will be decoupled – this means that AS results will no longer count towards an A level, in the way they do now.

• Assessment will be mainly by exam, with other types of assessment used only where they are needed to test essential skills.

• AS levels can be designed by exam boards to be taught alongside the first year of A levels.

New A-Level Syllabi – 3 Phases

The Changes Ahead

The Messy Middle

Schools serving disadvantaged communities and/or with a greater number of lower and middle pupils will be disadvantaged compared to schools with higher attaining, usually more affluent, intakes. This flies in the faith of Catholic Teachings on Social Justice.

It will be a concern for many of our schools.

Performance Tables(Accountability Measures)

• Percentage of students achieving a “pass grade” in English & Mathematics GCSE

• EBacc – Percentage achieving (& possibly percentage entered and Average Point Score)

• Attainment 8• Progress 8• Destination Measure – Overall percentage of

students going to a sustained education or employment/training destination

The Alleged Root of the EBacc

The EBacc Question

The percentage curriculum time in a Catholic school would be increased to 80% as GCSE RE occupying 10% of curriculum time is compulsory. With PSHE and PE occupying another 10% (so 90% in total) there is only 10% of enough time for one other GCSE or vocational qualification available.

Whither the Arts & Technology? Vocational Studies?

The Schools Week Article 12th November 2015 on the E-Bacc not affecting the Arts stated the number of entries “at the end of key stage 4 has only dropped from 618,437 in 2013/14 to 612,348 in 2014/15.” This is in stark contrast to Design Technology where entries at GCSE have dropped from 287,701 in 2010 to 204,788 in 2015. My guess is that this may fall even further.

The survival of Design Technology and the Arts may well depend on how many more subjects are centrally removed from the examination system. When taken as a whole the options available and curriculum studied has substantially narrowed since 2010 … Depending on your educational philosophy this could be viewed as long overdue or curriculum vandalism or somewhere in between.

Performance Tables(Accountability Measures)

• Percentage of students achieving a “pass grade” in English & Mathematics GCSE

• EBacc – Percentage achieving (& possibly percentage entered and Average Point Score)

• Attainment 8• Progress 8• Destination Measure – Overall percentage of

students going to a sustained education or employment/training destination

Calculating Attainment 8

• First reported nationally from Summer 2016 results• Given as a “fine scale” grade, i.e. C+, C or C- for example• As much about a school’s intake as the effectiveness of the

education it has provided

Performance Tables(Accountability Measures)

• Percentage of students achieving a “pass grade” in English & Mathematics GCSE

• EBacc – Percentage achieving (& possibly percentage entered and Average Point Score)

• Attainment 8• Progress 8• Destination Measure – Overall percentage of

students going to a sustained education or employment/training destination

Progress 8 & Baskets

English, English Literature, Maths, Religious Education (PSHE & PE)Plus three from the EBacc Basket and two “open choice”

How would you have to amend these option blocks to ensure all students also gained the Ebacc?

Current “Open Choice” Option Offer

Specialist Pathway

Calculating Progress 8• Progress 8 is a Value Added Measure• Uses Key Stage 2 score as a baseline and

Attainment 8 as an end point• Compared to what other pupils with the same

Key Stage 2 score achieved nationally • Individual pupils Attainment 8 is +ve, same or

–ve• School Progress 8 is the average with “0”

representing expected progress