Emma Russell                                                                        Feb 2003

The changes in Education

This week it was announced by ministers that A levels and GCSE`s in secondary schools will be replaced by a Baccalaureate. Baccalaureate exams are already used in France, Germany and the United States of America. The government are hoping to start this system in September 2004.

A Levels were first introduced in the 1950`s and GCSE`s were introduced when O levels were phased out in the 1980`s and have caused much discussion and many arguments by Head teachers and Education ministers during the last few years. The education secretary said that A Levels were too narrow and exclusive.

 If there is going to be an English version of the Baccalaureate it will make things far easier to study at universities abroad because they would understand the qualification that a student in Britain would achieve.

Recently AS Levels have been introduced by many schools across the country. This has given a student the opportunity of choosing up to 5 subjects to study for one year and then dropping one or two of these subjects before continuing with the remaining ones. This gives the pupil a much broader education as they are not just studying for the same 3 subjects during the two years of studying.

 I am not sure if these exams have been a success because everyone moans about them as students have to take continuous examinations. Change at schools must always cause complaints because it is very hard after so many years to adjust to new rules. Heads of schools have to change the way their teachers educate the pupils, and new guidelines have to be carried out nationally. This must be very disruptive during the first couple of years for both students and pupils participating in this scheme, and after the fiasco this year with the marking of them, I do wonder if change is a good thing.

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Education is changing rapidly, and we will know by the end of the year if the Baccalaureate will definitely be in force. The Baccalaureate will include English, Maths, and Science and then students will be able to choose from a range of academic and practical courses. Work experience will be a must for anyone who takes the exam as will voluntary work. If the baccalaureate is introduced there will be fewer exams and more internal assessment.

This will give a student much more of an all - round education, and would be more varied on a day to ...

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