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Old 09-03-2012, 01:14 PM   #51
Mercutio
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> Labour moving back to the left

Might happen. I'm not sure he can push them that far back, but it could happen.
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Old 09-04-2012, 09:45 AM   #52
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So the reshuffle shows how weak Cameron is. Shame.
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Old 09-04-2012, 10:14 AM   #53
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Our new health secratary believes in homeopathy. I.. just... what the hell.
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Old 09-04-2012, 10:39 AM   #54
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Yeah. And our new equalities Minister is pretty against equality.
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Old 09-04-2012, 10:47 AM   #55
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Worse than May?
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Old 09-04-2012, 10:51 AM   #56
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If you believe Facebook memes. I'm not inclined to trawl through the Hansard to be honest.
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Old 09-05-2012, 03:34 AM   #57
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Our new health secratary believes in homeopathy. I.. just... what the hell.
I knew the man was rhyming slang for a reason.
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Old 09-06-2012, 11:58 PM   #58
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Anyone have recommendations on good books that break down the modern British government? This thread has gotten me very interested in it. Would also appreciate any recommendations for political news from there that you guys visit.
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Old 09-07-2012, 11:48 AM   #59
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What do you want, a primer, a text book, a history?

Try the BBC website. Then go with the Guardian for vaguely left wing and Times/Telegraph for vaguely right.
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Old 09-07-2012, 12:48 PM   #60
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What do you want, a primer, a text book, a history?

Try the BBC website. Then go with the Guardian for vaguely left wing and Times/Telegraph for vaguely right.
Hmm. Any really, but I guess a textbook would be better.

As for the sites, thanks, will check them out.
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Old 09-10-2012, 01:05 PM   #61
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>Quizzing new Equalities Minister about her terrible voting record on equality bills

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“Perhaps looking at voting records isn’t the way to assess what people think about in this world and perhaps actually talking to them is a better way of doing it.”
PAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Although interestingly apparently back in May she openly called for Cameron not to back down to the right wing of his party on the gay marriage thing. I'll give her a chance, but I'd feel much more inclined to trust her if she had made any indication that she regretted her voting record.
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Old 09-18-2012, 01:34 PM   #62
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So. GCSE reform makes me want to kill everyone. Opinions?
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Old 09-18-2012, 01:35 PM   #63
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Is this the two-tier thing they were proposing a while ago?
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Old 09-18-2012, 01:36 PM   #64
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I'm glad I don't have to go through it. I would have tanked without having done coursework.

They are banning coursework, right? Haven't looked at it in too much depth.
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Old 09-18-2012, 01:40 PM   #65
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>Scrapping coursework.

As someone who typically does much better in exams than coursework... that's still really stupid. For one it's not taking into account that people have off days, and for another it's totally different to how things are out in "the real world". Most jobs aren't "can get away with dossing about for 90% of the year and just cram in the other 10%", and education should reflect this need to work consistently.

I do like the single exam board for core subjects thing though. Makes much more sense than competing exam boards whose main selling point is "look at us, our course is more basic so your students will get higher grades and make your school look better!"
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Old 09-18-2012, 01:41 PM   #66
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No, it's now confirmed to be one tier.

Yeah, moving towards no internal assessment, one exam board (which admittedly isn't a bad idea in some ways), making it even harder to pass hike simultaneously driving teachers harder for results and standards.

Man I hate Gove.
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Old 09-18-2012, 01:50 PM   #67
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Quoth my father: "You're only as good as you are on the day."

If my English / Lit. grades had been based on my exams I hate to think how bad I would have done. I bloody worked for those C grades, and the coursework helped a lot. In a more extreme example, I got an A in my ICT coursework (iirc my ICT course was 60% CW) but only a C overall because my brain went to mush during the exams. The single exam board isn't a bad idea though.

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Old 09-18-2012, 02:10 PM   #68
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Yeah my GCSE Music (lol what a waste of time) was made much easier by two 100% coursework marks.

Protip kids: acquire a copy of the mark scheme.
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Old 09-18-2012, 02:16 PM   #69
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In my experience, courses in which the only grade comes from one or two exams are courses where I and most students enrolled in the course have learned the least. Whether you're six years old learning to add or twenty-six taking the medical licensing board exam, it helps to have a course structured such that you have to study the material bit by bit frequently (as is the case in any course where homework and/or weekly quizzes constitute 30% or more of the final grade). When your only grade in the course is a final exam (I have had a few of these) or is a midterm and then a final exam (same), most people I have found (self included) are likely to procrastinate studying for it, followed by cramming for it, followed by forgetting all the information they crammed once the exam is complete because cramming =/= true commitment to knowledge retention.

If the British education system's goal is to make it harder to get a university diploma, then they are on the right track. Many students -- Dave's just one of them who's already testifying that this'd be the case -- will fall through the cracks of an examination-only system. If instead the British education system's goal is to turn out scholars who have true retention of the knowledge their course grades say they do, the best course of action -- no course will guarantee it but I think this is still the best course -- is a structured setup where knowledge is quizzed at least once weekly if not multiple times weekly.
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Old 09-18-2012, 02:24 PM   #70
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Yeah I totally agree. My course is graded entirely on three sets of exams (one after each of the second, third and fourth years), which suits me from a getting-a-good-grade point of view as I examine well but get fairly lazy with coursework, but from a remembering-what-I've-learned perspective.. anything from one year that doesn't get used in the next goes out the window.

These particular reforms are GCSE only (exams taken at 16).
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Old 09-18-2012, 03:22 PM   #71
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Yeah it should be noted that the government has little formal control over Uni courses here.
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Old 09-18-2012, 06:10 PM   #72
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What if they had a system in place where one could pass on exam merit only, but if their exam score isn't above a certain marker, the coursework is factored in as well?
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Old 09-18-2012, 09:03 PM   #73
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Being as I was one of those who could almost always do very little coursework, and still pass solely on exam grades, I have to say, the advantages of examination-based learning, are null. I've learned very little in the courses I've taken, because I never needed to learn the material thoroughly enough to practically apply it, only enough to regurgitate it with the help of multiple choice questions.

Coursework and hands-on based learning are far superior methods for teaching, IMO.
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Old 09-19-2012, 01:06 AM   #74
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Wouldn't disagree with that in the slightest, but the issue with Coursework is that lecturers have some pretty extreme variation in the standards they look for in work- this year for example I submitted two pieces of Coursework to different lecturers, one of which was meticulously researched, referenced and if I may say so, pretty good. The other was at best average and contained more humour than academic thought.

Both got a mid 2:1 (Think that's a US 3.0). No way were they worthy of the same grade.
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Old 09-19-2012, 08:56 AM   #75
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Well, that's a problem with the teachers, not the system, IMO.
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